Ronald.phillips

There’s a type of food writer who will insist certain recipes can’t be done without the best, most premium ingredients. I once read an article that said you shouldn’t even bother making a caprese without the finest bufula mozzarella (or, if you must, local cow’s milk mozzarella). This, in my not-so-humble but somewhat…

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It was after a particularly grueling session with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that I started to wonder: When did developers stop putting cheats into their games to help the less talented among us get through the tricky bits? When I was a kid, a little bit of Up Down Left Right A and Start together, and a little older, a little /~noclip saved me no end of bother. These days, if you look for cheats for any modern game online, the best you’ll get is to be sassily told to “git gud.”

Sorry, a little context: I play games, but I’m not a Gamer, or a Nintendo Person, so in 2023 I resolved to remedy this. So many discussions at work fly past me because while I’ve heard of Cliff Bleszinski and Hironobu Sakaguchi, I couldn’t tell you their oeuvre without Googling. Part of my self-education was to watch every Zero Punctuation compilation to speedrun the last decade of games development. Another part was to seek out some classic games that I’d never played through ignorance, weakness, or my own stupid fault.

The first step on this journey only required me to go to the bookshelves in my living room, ironically. I bought my Pokémon Go-loving wife a Nintendo Switch at the start of 2020 so she could play Let’s Go Pikachu!. Not long after, a friend handed me their copy of Breath of the Wild and said I should give it a play. But it’s been sitting on my bookshelf for three years, as I subconsciously resisted the urge to give it a go. This, I’ll admit, is because I’ve always had the notion that Nintendo games are Hard Work.

And that was my belief up until a month ago, when I thought I’d better try Breath of the Wild before Tears of the Kingdom came out. I figured I’d give it half an hour, the smallest of toes dipped into the world, so that I could say I’d tried and that it wasn’t for me. And before you can say “I need to be up at seven in the morning for work,” it was long past midnight. Since then, Breath of the Wild has consumed my every waking moment. It is, without a doubt, one of the most engrossing and immersive games I have ever played, despite my frustrations.

Nintendo

It’s why I felt compelled to write this, because I want to spread the gospel to non-gamers who might feel similarly like they’ve missed the bus. Especially since we can hope that the older game might fall in price as people seek out its replacement. Or, given the current situation with Nintendo persistently keeping the prices of its older first-party games high, at least it won’t get any more expensive. But, to undermine my own argument, I’d say that if Tears of the Kingdom is half as good as Breath of the Wild, it’ll probably be the first game that’s worth the $70 fee Nintendo’s trying to push consumers into accepting.

Despite its age (it is from 2017, after all), Breath of the Wild feels cutting-edge, and part of that is how deep it is. When I started playing, I worried that it would be yet another soulless open-world grind-a-thon, a feeling not soothed by the presence of Far Cry-esque towers you need to conquer to open up areas of the map. But the one thing that this game has that sets it apart from its genre-mates is a level of curation that continues to surprise me.

It plays out on a sprawling map, but it never feels like you’re traversing through an empty void. The density of what’s available means that, despite spending a month or so covering just half of Hyrule (I’ve only recently reached Goron City), I never stop finding new stuff. And there are some assets that have been reused, like the standard template for enemy camps, but you never feel that they’ve been copy-pasted to pad out the space. This Hyrule feels hand-made, with every detail sweated beyond any player’s comprehension.

Even a philistine like me can appreciate the level of craft, not just in its layout, but how it has been built. Take the chemistry engine, which seems like such a simple idea you wonder why it hasn’t been a part of open worlds forever. By giving each material its own properties, you can take advantage of more than just weight physics to help you solve puzzles. Thanks to YouTube, once I understood how Shock Traps worked, I was able to start making real progress in the shrine quests that put you face to face with a particularly murderous killbot.

And the game’s critical path is left so completely wide open as to almost not matter at all, giving you total freedom. Rather than giving you a set series of missions, you unlock the main quest line after the first hour, and then can tackle it in any way you wish. I’ve seen more than a few Straight To Ganon speed runs where expert players take a bare-footed Link to defeat the title’s big bad within minutes of being able to leave the tutorial area. I love, too, how the landscape gently nudges you toward the safer areas where you can level up before you’re let loose on the harsher climates of, say, Death Mountain.

Nintendo

This works so well that when you’ve gotten a little way along you start picking up weapons that aren’t total garbage. Recently, I was cornered by a Guardian Stalker, very much a one-hit kill villain you can only ever hope of running out of view from. But, trapped in the North Lomei Labyrinth, I had no option but to try and fight without dying. And I managed to hack off its legs, one by one, until it flopped on its side, unable to shoot me with its laser. The feeling of exhilaration and satisfaction after so many deaths, was one for the ages. You don’t need to git gud in the grindy sense, you just need to spend enough time in the world to gently, naturally evolve how you play the game until things get easy.

And this is when I realized there was a good reason developers don’t put cheats into their games any more. Because a good title, like Breath of the Wild, rarely prescribes how you navigate and solve its world. If you’re not a fighter, you can devote your energies to stealthily circumnavigating your foes. When you grasp the game’s physics engine, you can use a well-placed remote bomb to send a venom-spitting Lizalfo hurtling down the side of a cliff. The only thing I can’t do yet is take on a Lynel – the game’s super-tough mini-boss – and not get rinsed, because I’m not sure I’ll ever learn the art of parrying.

Now, that may be deficiency enough that I never actually finish the game, since that’s rarely an impediment to getting to the fun bits. Take the shrine quests, which (mostly) offer the most enjoyable physics puzzles since Portal, give or take the aforementioned combat trials. Part of this is because the puzzles can be hard but are never unfairly-formatted, and there’s almost always a solution that’ll come to mind if you just walk around for long enough. The fact there’s no time limit or villain trying to force you to hurry up helps matters considerably.

I have gripes, but they’re all mostly nitpicks. The Switch’s hardware limitations means that the game’s draw distance can sometimes be a problem. If you’re looking for a spot out of sight of enemies to land your glider on, it can only be once you’re inches from the ground that it’ll finally render a camouflaged Lizalfo. And Nintendo’s policy of never being entirely open with the player to encourage experimentation means you’ll need to have some YouTube tutorial channels bookmarked to help you navigate some of the more baffling bits.

Simon Parkin’s essay about Breath of the Wild in The New Yorker quoted original series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, who described Hyrule as a “miniature garden you can put into a drawer and revisit any time you like.” And this speaks to something I’ve found about the game, that it’s less of a video game and more of a place that you can choose to visit. This vast, pastoral paradise, which you can roam around on foot, climbing mountains or on horseback. A land only spoiled by the regular appearance of a zombified enemy crawling up out of the ground to ruin your reverie.

In a way, as much as I enjoyed having No Man’s Sky as my lockdown game of 2020, I wish I’d been braver and tried Zelda back then. I’d have rather spent time inside Miyamoto’s miniature garden, now lovingly tended by Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma. And I think I’m going to have to try and get this finished as quickly as possible so that I’m ready to continue my journey in Tears of the Kingdom.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-this-non-gamer-fell-in-love-with-the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-123054845.html?src=rss

We can all appreciate that April showers bring May flowers; but when those showers also bring dampness to your basement and water damage to your foundation, that appreciation wears thin. For those who live in parts of North America experiencing a rainy early spring, the deluge coming from the downspout might seem like…

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UPDATE : July 9, 2023

The article has been updated to include new signatures added for SSL, DNS and NTLM protocols.

 

UPDATE : May 22, 2023

On July 18, 2023, Microsoft will be deprecating a subset of signatures found in the "NetworkSignaturesInspected" action type of Advanced Hunting. With the recent integration of Zeek providing advanced protocol parsing capabilities, which result in better visibility into full network sessions compared to the raw packet bytes found in the "NetworkSignaturesInspected" action type of Advanced Hunting today, the effort to consolidate will provide a better overall experience for our customers by reducing the signatures that serve similar functions without the added benefits provided by the new Zeek alternative. For customers currently using the "NetworkSignaturesInspected" action type, here is a list of signatures that will be deprecated, referenced alongside their alternatives available in Advanced Hunting: 

 

Protocol / Signature Name	Old Action Type	New Action Type
SSH	NetworkSignatureInspected	SshConnectionInspected
FTP_Upload	NetworkSignatureInspected	FtpConnectionInspected
FTP_Client	NetworkSignatureInspected	FtpConnectionInspected
HTTP_Client	NetworkSignatureInspected	HttpConnectionInspected
HTTP_Server	NetworkSignatureInspected	HttpConnectionInspected
HTTP_RequestBodyParameters	NetworkSignatureInspected	HttpConnectionInspected
HTTPS_Client	NetworkSignatureInspected	SslConnectionInspected
DNS_Request	NetworkSignatureInspected	DnsConnectionInspected

 

Steps you can take now:

Your organization might be using a "NetworkSignatureInspected" action type in your Advanced Hunting queries and custom detections. Particularly, you might be using a Signature Name that is going to be deprecated soon. Please update your queries with the new action types so that you can leverage this valuable data and avoid breaking your current custom detections.

 

An example of your old query:

 

DeviceNetworkEvents  
| where ActionType == "NetworkSignatureInspected"
| extend AdditionalFields = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| where AdditionalFields.SignatureName == "SSH"

 

 

Your new query:

 

DeviceNetworkEvents  
| where ActionType == "SshConnectionInspected"

 

 

 

-----------

In our previous blog about hunting for network signatures in Microsoft 365 Defender, we described how we used device discovery capabilities to capture some network event information in deeper detail and expose them in advanced hunting with the NetworkSignatureInspected action type. Since then we have made several developments, the most significant being the integration with Zeek. This release has expanded what is possible for generating network detections across Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. That announcement, shared examples of detections created for PrintNightmare and NTLM password spraying attempts.

 

Today, we would like to share a variety of Zeek-based events in advanced hunting that will help you expand your investigation, hunting, and detection capabilities for identifying and addressing network-layer anomalies across HTTP, SSH and ICMP protocols. Using the new Zeek events, we will demonstrate how to perform network threat hunting while also covering some of the MITRE ATT&CK Matrix.

 

Note: As the integration with Zeek continues to mature, more action types will gradually be released over time. With the Zeek integration only supported on Windows devices, these action types will surface for connections to and from Windows device.

 

To identify these action types in your tenant, look for the value ConnectionInspected in the ActionType field of the DeviceNetworkEvents table of advanced hunting. The extra information is stored in the AdditionalFields column as a JSON data structure and has the commonly known Zeek fields per event, which can be parsed. These field names are identical to those that Zeek uses, which are documented on Zeek’s site. You can also check the Schema Reference flyout page on the advanced hunting pages to check for any new action types that were recently released.

 

Link to query

 

DeviceNetworkEvents
| where ActionType contains 'ConnectionInspected'
| distinct ActionType

 

 

The result of this query looks something like this:

 

Figure 1 – Sample result upon checking for ConnectionInspected in the ActionType table

 

The format of the action type will follow the [Protocol_Name]ConnectionInspected standard.

 

Inspecting HTTP connections

 

The HttpConnectionInspected action type contains extra information about HTTP connections, inbound or outbound. In cases where you click on an event of the HttpConnectionInspected action type, the page flyout will parse the additional fields and present them in a  format like the example below:

 

 

Figure 2 – Sample result of an HttpConnectionInspected action type

 

Below, you will find a complete list of fields that this action type can expose and the respective descriptions:

 

Field Name	Description
direction	The direction of the conversation relevant to the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint-onboarded device, where the values are either ‘In’ or ‘Out’
host	The host header content
method	The HTTP method requested
request_body_len	Length of the HTTP message body in bytes
response_body_len	Length of the HTTP response body in bytes
status_code	The HTTP response code
status_msg	The full text message of the response
tags	A set of indicators of various attributes discovered and related to a particular request/response pair.
trans_depth	Represents the pipelined depth into the connection of the request/response transaction
uri	The complete URI that was requested
user_agent	The user_agent header of the request
version	The HTTP version used

 

Let’s look at a few examples of using the HttpConnectionInspected action type. In the first example, you want to look for rare user agents in the environment to identify potentially suspicious outbound web requests and cover the "T1071.001: (Application Layer Protocol) Web Protocols" technique.

 

Link to query

 

// Identify rare User Agent strings used in http conversations
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where ActionType == 'HttpConnectionInspected'
| extend json = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend direction = tostring(json.direction), user_agent = tostring(json.user_agent)
| where direction == 'Out'
| summarize Devices = dcount(DeviceId) by user_agent
| sort by Devices asc

 

 

 

Suppose you have identified a suspicious-looking user-agent named “TrickXYZ 1.0” and need to determine which user/process/commandline combination had initiated that connection.  Currently, the HttpConnectionInspected events, as with all Zeek-related action types, do not contain that information, so you must execute a follow-up query by joining with events from  ConnectionEstablished action type. Here’s an example of a follow-up query:

 

Link to query

 

// Identify usage of a suspicious user agent
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where Timestamp > ago(1h) and ActionType == "HttpConnectionInspected"
| extend json = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend user_agent = tostring(json.user_agent)
| where user_agent == "TrickXYZ"
| project ActionType,AdditionalFields, LocalIP,LocalPort,RemoteIP,RemotePort, TimeKey = bin(Timestamp, 5m)
| join kind = inner (
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where Timestamp > ago(1h) and ActionType == "ConnectionSuccess"
| extend TimeKey = bin(Timestamp, 5m)) on LocalIP,RemoteIP,LocalPort,TimeKey
| project DeviceId, ActionType, AdditionalFields, LocalIP,LocalPort,RemoteIP,RemotePort , InitiatingProcessId,InitiatingProcessFileName,TimeKey

 

 

In another example, let’s look for file downloads from HTTP, particularly files of executable and compressed file extensions to cover the "T1105: Ingress tool transfer" technique:

 

Link to query

 

// Detect file downloads
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where ActionType == 'HttpConnectionInspected'
| extend json = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend direction= tostring(json.direction), user_agent=tostring(json.user_agent), uri=tostring(json.uri)
| where uri matches regex @"\.(?:dll|exe|zip|7z|ps1|ps|bat|sh)$"

 

 

The new HTTP action type will unlock a variety of possibilities for detection on this protocol. We  look forward to seeing the queries you come up with by sharing your contributions with the community.

 

Looking at SSH connections

 

The SshConnectionInspected action type will display information on SSH connections. While decrypting the entire SSH traffic is not possible, the cleartext part of the SSH session initiation can provide valuable insights. Let’s look at the data found in the AdditionalFields section.

 

Figure 3 - Screenshot of additional fields that SshConnectionInspected generates.

 

The fields depend on the activity that was observed. Some of these fields might not appear depending on the connection. For example, if the client disconnected before completing the authentication, you will not have an auth_success field populated for that event..

 

Below, you will find a complete list of fields that this action type can expose and the respective descriptions:

 

Field Name	Description
direction	The direction of the conversation relevant to the Defender for Endpoint-onboarded device, where the values are either ‘In’ or ‘Out’
auth_attempts	The number of authentication attempts until the success or failure of the attempted session.
auth_success	The success or failure in authentication, where ‘true’ means successful user authentication and ‘false’ means the user-provided credentials are incorrect.
client	The version and type of client used to authenticate to the SSH session.
host_key	Host public key value
server	SSH server information
version	SSH protocol major version used
uid	The unique ID of the SSH session attempt

 

Let’s look at a few advanced hunting examples using this action type. In the first example, you want to look for potentially infected devices trying to perform "T1110: Brute-Force" against remote servers using SSH as an initial step to “T1021.004: Lateral Movement - Remote Services: SSH”.

 

The query below will give you a list of Local/Remote IP combinations with at least 12 failed attempts (three failed authentications on four sessions) of SSH connections in the last hour. Feel free to use this example and adapt it to your needs.

 

Link to query

 

// Detect potential bruteforce/dictionary attacks against SSH
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where ActionType == 'SshConnectionInspected'
| extend json = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend direction=tostring(json.direction), auth_attempts = toint(json.auth_attempts), auth_success=tostring(json.auth_success)
| where auth_success=='false'
| where auth_attempts > 3
| summarize count() by LocalIP, RemoteIP
| where count_ > 4
| sort by count_ desc

 

 

 

In the next example, let’s suppose you are looking to identify potentially vulnerable SSH versions and detect potentially unauthorized client software being used to initiate SSH connections and operating systems that are hosting SSH server services in your environment:

 

Link to query

 

// Identify Server/Client pairs being used for SSH connections
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where  ActionType == "SshConnectionInspected"
| extend json = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| project Server = tostring(json.server),Client = tostring(json.client)
| distinct Server ,Client

 

 

Figure 4 - An example result with a short description of the different components

 

The results above describe breaking down the SSH banners to identify the different components. A short analysis of the banners shows that the server is Ubuntu 22.04, running OpenSSH version 8.9, and the client software is WinSCP version 5.21.3. Now, you can search these versions online to verify if they are vulnerable.

 

Note: The query above can be used to surface potential "T1046: Network Service Discovery" attempts, as attackers may try to search for unpatched or vulnerable SSH services to compromise.

 

Reviewing ICMP connections

 

The IcmpConnectionInspected action type will provide details about ICMP-related activity. The breadth of fields generated creates opportunities for some interesting detections. Here’s an example of the human-readable view of the event as shown on the event flyout page

 

Figure 5 – Sample result of an IcmpConnectionInspected action type

 

 Below, you will find a complete list of fields that this action type can expose and the respective descriptions:

 

Field Name	Description
direction	The direction of the conversation relevant to the Defender for Endpoint-onboarded device, where the values are either ‘In’ or ‘Out’
conn_state	The state of the connection. In the screenshot example OTH means that no SYN packet was seen. Read the Zeek documentation for more information on conn_state.
duration	The length of the connection, measured in seconds
missed_bytes	Indicates the number of bytes missed in content gaps, representing packet loss.
orig_bytes	The number of payload bytes the originator sent. For example, in ICMP this designates the payload size of the ICMP packet.
orig_ip_bytes	The number of IP level bytes that the originator sent as seen on the wire and taken from the IP total_length header field.
orig_pkts	The number of packets that the originator sent.
resp_bytes	The number of payload bytes the responder sent.
resp_ip_bytes	The number of IP level bytes that the responder sent as seen on the wire.
resp_pkts	The number of packets that the responder sent.
Uid	Unique Zeek ID of the transaction.

 

Let’s explore a few examples of hunting queries that you can use to leverage the ICMP connection information collected by Defender for Endpoint.

 

In the first example, you wish to look for potential data leakage via ICMP to cover the "T1048: Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol" or "T1041: Exfiltration Over C2 Channel" techniques. The idea is to look for outbound connections and check the payload bytes a device sends in a given timeframe. We will parse the direction, orig_bytes, and duration fields and look for conversations over 100 seconds where more than 500,000 were sent. The numbers are used as an example and do not necessarily indicate malicious activity. Usually, you will see the download and upload are almost equal for ICMP traffic because most devices generate “ICMP reply” with the same payload that was observed on the “ICMP echo” request.

 

Link to query

 

// search for high upload over ICMP
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where ActionType == "IcmpConnectionInspected"
| extend json = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend Upload = tolong(json['orig_bytes']), Download = tolong(json['resp_bytes']), Direction = tostring(json.direction), Duration = tolong(json.duration)
| where Direction == "Out" and Duration > 100 and Upload > 500000
| top 10 by Upload
| project RemoteIP, LocalIP, Upload = format_bytes(Upload, 2, "MB"), Download = format_bytes(Download, 2, "MB"),Direction,Duration,Timestamp,DeviceId,DeviceName

 

 

 

Below is an example result after exfiltrating a large file over ICMP to another device on the network:

 

 

In the last example, you wish to create another hunting query that helps you detect potential Ping sweep activities in your environment to cover the "T1018: Remote System Discovery" and "T1595: Active Scanning" techniques. The query will look for outbound ICMP traffic to internal IP addresses, create an array of the targeted IPs reached from the same source IP, and display them if the same source IP has pinged more than 5 IP Addresses within a 10-minute time window.

 

Link to query

 

// Search for ping scans
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where ActionType == "IcmpConnectionInspected"
| extend json = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend Direction = json.direction
| where Direction == "Out" and ipv4_is_private(RemoteIP)
| summarize IpsList = make_set(RemoteIP) by DeviceId, bin(Timestamp, 10m)
| where array_length(IpsList) > 5

 

 

Identifying the origin process of ICMP traffic can be challenging as ICMP is an IP-Layer protocol. Still, we can use some OS-level indications to narrow down our search. We can use the following query to identify which process-loaded network, or even ICMP-specific, binaries:

 

Link to query

 

DeviceImageLoadEvents
| where FileName =~ "icmp.dll" or FileName =~ "Iphlpapi.dll"

 

 

 

Inspecting SSL connections

 

The SslConnectionInspected action type contains extra information about SSL connections, inbound or outbound. In cases where you click on an event of the SslConnectionInspected action type, the page flyout will parse the additional fields and present them in a  format like the example below:

Figure 6 – Sample result of an SslConnectionInspected action type

 

Below, you will find a complete list of fields that this action type can expose and the respective descriptions ( sourced from Zeek SSL log documentation )

 

Field Name	Description
direction	The direction of the conversation relevant to the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint-onboarded device, where the values are either ‘In’ or ‘Out’
version	The SSL/TLS version that the server chose.
cipher	The SSL/TLS cipher suite that the server chose.
curve	The elliptic curve the server chose when using ECDH/ECDHE.
server_name	The value of the Server Name Indicator SSL/TLS extension. It indicates the server name that the client was requesting.
established	Flag which indicate if this ssl session has been established successfully, or if it was aborted during the handshake.
subject	Subject of the X.509 certificate offered by the server.
issuer	Issuer of the signer of the X.509 certificate offered by the server.
resumed	Flag to indicate if the session was resumed reusing the key material exchanged in an earlier connection.
client_issuer	Subject of the signer of the X.509 certificate offered by the client.
client_subject	Subject of the X.509 certificate offered by the client.

 

In the following example query, you wish to search https connections to external IP that use self-signed certificates :

 

Link to query

 

 

DeviceNetworkEvents 
| where ActionType == "SslConnectionInspected"
| extend AdditionalFields = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend issuer = tostring(AdditionalFields.issuer), direction = tostring(AdditionalFields.direction)
| where direction == "Out" and not(ipv4_is_private(RemoteIP))
| where AdditionalFields.issuer matches regex @"CN=\S+$"

 

 

 

 

Inspecting DNS

 

The DnsConnectionInspected action type contains extra information about DNS connections, inbound or outbound. In cases where you click on an event of the DnsConnectionInspected action type, the page flyout will parse the additional fields and present them in a format like the example below:

 

Figure 7 – Sample result of an DnsConnectionInspected action type

 

Below, you will find a complete list of fields that this action type can expose and the respective descriptions (sourced from the Zeek DNS log documentation)

 

Using this action type we can explore and investigate the DNS traffic of each managed endpoint. In the following example we will try to identify potentially suspicious DNS traffic directed towards a DNS server that is not listed in the DNS server configuration of any managed endpoint:

 

Query Link

 

let knownDnsServers =
 DeviceNetworkInfo
 | where isnotempty( DnsAddresses)
 | mv-expand todynamic(DnsAddresses)
 | where DnsAddresses !in("::", "127.0.0.1","0.0.0.0")
 | distinct tostring(DnsAddresses);
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where ActionType == "DnsConnectionInspected"
| extend AdditionalFields = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend Direction = tostring(AdditionalFields.direction), QueryType = tostring(AdditionalFields.qtype_name), Query = tostring(AdditionalFields.query), Answers = todynamic(AdditionalFields.answers)
| where Direction == "Out" and QueryType == "TXT" and RemoteIP !in(knownDnsServers) and isnotempty(Answers)

 

 

 

Inspecting NTLM traffic

 

For network connection with NTLM authentication we’ve create “NtlmAuthenticationInspected” action type. By clicking on the AdditionalFields the page flyout will parse the additional fields and present them in a format like the example below:

 

Figure 2 – Sample result of an NtlmConnectionInspected action type

 

Below, you will find a complete list of fields that this action type can expose and the respective descriptions (sourced from the Zeek NTLM log documentation)

 

 

Field Name	Description
direction	The direction of the conversation relevant to the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint-onboarded device, where the values are either ‘In’ or ‘Out’
username	A 16-bit identifier assigned by the program that generated the DNS query. Also used in responses to match up replies to outstanding queries.
hostname	Hostname given by the client
domainname	A descriptive name for the class of the query.
server_nb_computer_name	NetBIOS name given by the server in a CHALLENGE.
server_nb_domain_name	NetBIOS domain name given by the server in a CHALLENGE.
server_dns_computer_name	DNS name given by the server in a CHALLENGE.
server_tree_name	Tree name given by the server in a CHALLENGE.
success	Indicate whether or not the authentication was successful.
server_version	The server NTLM version.
version	The client NTLM version.

Using using this action type we can track NTLM authentication that were observed on managed endpoints. In the following example we will try to identify multiple failed logons in short interval against internet-facing :

 

Query Link

 

let devices = DeviceInfo
|summarize arg_max(Timestamp, *) by DeviceId
| where IsInternetFacing
|distinct DeviceId;
DeviceNetworkEvents
| where ActionType == "NtlmAuthenticationInspected" and DeviceId in(devices)
| extend AdditionalFields = todynamic(AdditionalFields)
| extend Direction = tostring(AdditionalFields.direction),username = tostring(AdditionalFields.username), success = iff(isempty(AdditionalFields.success),  false, tobool(AdditionalFields.success))
| where isnotempty( username) and not(success) and Direction == "In"
| summarize Attempts = make_set(username) by SourceIP = LocalIP, bin(Timestamp, 10m),DeviceId
| where array_length(Attempts) > 3

 

 

More information

 

Understand which versions of the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent support the new integration here:

• What's new in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint | Microsoft Learn

Find out more details about the integration in our ZeekWeek 2022 presentations:

• ZeekWeek 2022 - Zeek for Windows: The Journey to Run on All Endpoints - Elad Solomon
• ZeekWeek 2022 - Zeek for Endpoint: Detection and Device Discovery - Boaz Wasserman

View the open-source contribution in Zeek’s GitHub repository:

• Microsoft's Port of Zeek for Windows - zeek/zeek (github.com)

Previous announcements:

• Ignite: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Announcements at Microsoft Ignite 2022
• Corelight: Zeek is Now a Component of Microsoft Windows (corelight.com)
• Zeek Project: A few questions and answers on Zeek and Windows

This post contains spoilers through the fourth episode of "Yellowjackets" season 2.

In the first few episodes of "Yellowjackets" season 1, it seems like present-day Taissa (Tawny Cypress) is doing the best out of all the known survivors. She's a rich, well-regarded politician running for a New Jersey state senate seat, with a loving wife, Simone, and a cute son named Sammy. But by this point in season 2 of "Yellowjackets," we're starting to wonder if Taissa's actually the worst off. Her sleepwalking habits have now isolated her from her family and have put her wife in a coma, and at this rate it doesn't seem like she'll be able to hold onto that senate seat for much longer. Even Natalie, staying at Lottie's purple cult, has got a new friend. But Taissa lately has no one left in her life who can understand her. At least, no one except Van.

Adult Van (Lauren Ambrose) is revealed at the end of "Old Wounds" to be the person Taissa has traveled all this way to see. They don't say anything to each other before the credits roll, but when Van sees Taissa walk into the room, she makes a face that's filled with mixed emotions. There's a lot of history between these two characters, and not all of it is good. 

With the confirmation of adult Van, "Yellowjackets" has now raised the question of why she and Taissa are no longer together. They're still on good terms in the teen storyline, so what sort of dark, crazy stuff happened that would make adult Tai go fourteen episodes without ever mentioning her? Well, Cypress has her own theory.

The Queen Of Compartmentalization

"I think that [Taissa] has compartmentalized [Van]," Tawny Cypress told TV Line in a recent interview. "Put her away in a box when they ended their relationship. She says how many girls she f***ed in college and all this other stuff. It didn't even dawn on her to connect with Van again until the other Tai came out and told her to do so."

As fans can recall from adult Taissa's season 1 heart-to-heart with Shauna, young post-wilderness Taissa went out and did everything she'd originally planned to do, continuing along the plans she made for herself back in high school as if nothing out of the ordinary ever occurred. Throughout season 1, she clearly wants to think of those 19 months in the wilderness as some separate period of her life, one with no bearing on anything that happened to her before or after. If she has to get rid of Van in order to maintain that illusion, so be it. 

"I think she is too much into making her life as perfect as possible and she's a narcissist so, she's not just thinking about old, past relationships," Cypress speculated. But as "Yellowjackets" has made abundantly clear by this point, you can never just ignore your past. Maybe that's why Bad Taissa is so much scarier and more violent than what we've seen from any of the other survivors so far. Taissa's tried the hardest to bury everything that happened, so when the past does come back to the surface, it returns with far more of a vengeance than she expected. It turns out that if you try to lock something away for 25 years, it's going to be angry at you when it finally gets out. 

Where Van And Taissa Go From Here

But now that Taissa's seems to realize that compartmentalizing isn't a great long-term strategy for dealing with trauma, it looks like she might let Van back into her life after all. But does Van want Taissa back in her life? It's not clear yet. There's still nearly a year's worth of wilderness drama for the teen characters to deal with, so there's no telling what sort of other horrible stuff will happen that might keep adult Taissa and Van apart. 

On the other hand, "Yellowjackets" is currently lacking in endgame couples to root for. Sure there's Jeff and Shauna, but those two are already together, so there's not a whole lot of dramatic tension there. Taissa and Van, meanwhile, still have a lot of obstacles to go through before they can ever get back to the bliss of their happy teenage relationship in the wilderness. Adult Taissa still has a family she cares about, even if that family increasingly wants nothing to do with her. We don't know what the deal is with Van exactly, but it certainly seems like she's already got a comfortable life for herself without Taissa around. 

Whatever happens with these two, we can at least trust that next week's episode will finally give us the long-awaited proper introduction to adult Vanessa Palmer. What's she been up to these past 25 years? What questionable coping mechanism has she found for herself? Next week's episode promises us some answers on this front. Taissa may have tried to put Van away in a box, but the show itself has no intention of doing the same. 

Read this next: Every Yellowjackets Main Character, Ranked

The post Tawny Cypress Knows Why Tai Cut Van Out Of Her Life in Yellowjackets Season 2 appeared first on /Film.

Here are the best USB-C car chargers to keep your devices topped off while you're on the go.

This article contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets."

In the second season of "Yellowjackets," Misty Quigley (Christina Ricci) and her reluctant bestie Natalie Scatorccio (Juliette Lewis) have been separated — one friend being kidnapped by a cult will do that. So now, Misty has a new partner in (solving) crime, Walter Tattersall (Elijah Wood). They're both part of the "Citizen Detective" online forum (Misty's username is "AfricanGrey," Walter's is "PuttingTheSICKInForensics") and Walter is hot on the trail of the disappeared artist Adam Martin (Peter Gadiot).

Misty always downvotes his theories — for good reason, because Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), another of her semi-friends, is the one who killed Adam. Misty even helped her clean up the crime scene back in season 1. However, Walter is a longtime admirer of "AfricanGrey" and when Misty turns to the forum for help in finding Natalie, he orchestrates an in-person meeting between them — both of them show up to it having gleaned each other's real names. As of the most recent episode, "Old Wounds," they're on a road trip to upstate New York to find Natalie.

Now, Misty is maladjusted and Walter doesn't seem entirely on his rocker either — are they heading for a dark conclusion? Speaking to Harper's Bazaar, Wood was asked about Walter calling himself "a Moriarty looking for his Sherlock" and if that's a hint of his future with Misty. Wood answered:

"I don't know that [Misty and Walter] will get adversarial — not in this season, at least. Although all those hints certainly suggest that possibility. Who knows where [their relationships] could go? But it definitely crosses into darker territory than one would initially have imagined it going into."

What are some of those other hints?

On Two Different Pages

Walter is enamored with Misty due to her investigative instinct and their shared love of musicals. When she accuses him of being a "Yellowjacket obsessive," Walter retorts that he actually thinks that her 19 months in the wilderness is "the least interesting thing about her." Even so, Misty isn't returning Walter's feelings. She finds him off-putting — finally, someone makes her feel the way she does everyone else.

The strongest tell that they aren't on the same page is when they check into a bed and breakfast. The clerk asks if they just want one room. Walter replies "Probably" before Misty cuts him off with a firm "No." So, he backtracks and agrees with her. When they head up the stairs to their separate rooms, she declines his offer to carry her back. Once they're in their rooms, though, the episode goes split-screen, showing how closely their actions mirror each other (such as placing the remote control in a plastic bag to not leave fingerprints).

Will these similarities bring them closer together? Or will Misty decide Walter is too accurate a reflection for comfort? Before I read Wood's interview, I wasn't expecting Walter to make it out of this season alive — he's getting dangerously close to the most unstable character on "Yellowjackets." However, Wood implies that Walter and Misty's relationship will carry on past season 2.

While he could just be saying that to conceal spoilers, I'm reminded of one of Ricci's previous roles: "The Addams Family." Morticia and Gomez are two deeply weird people, but they're the perfect match for each other. More darkness could be the very thing Misty and Walter need to come together.

New episodes of "Yellowjackets" stream on Showtime every Friday and air on television every Sunday.

Read this next: Every Yellowjackets Main Character, Ranked

The post Yellowjackets' Misty and Walter are Headed Into Dark Territory, Says Elijah Wood appeared first on /Film.

The retro shooter revival has certainly been a wild ride, with a lot of inventive ideas mixed into the nostalgic vibes. Prodeus is part of that trend that doesn’t try to rock the boat too much. It’s very traditional, mixing together modern arena shooter trends (in part due to the developers having worked on Bioshock Infinite and Doom 2016, among others) with classic style and flow. It also may just be one of the best of this genre due entirely to how well it executes on every single idea and concept, making up for its derivative nature with tons of gibs and violence that never fail to pump one’s blood.

The premise of the game is that mankind is at war with both the monsters of the Chaos dimension, and the powerful Prodeus AI that created the world of mortals. You are the vessel, someone who has decided to fight against both forces and kick them out. Problem is the vessel starts the game pulling a move that balances power too far in the favor of Chaos, so they need to try and fix their mistake via shoot and bang (and some punch).

Prodeus has a nearly non-existent narrative outside vague hints and a handful of set-pieces that give some context to events in a few levels. What is there does the job of setting the stage for the carnage to come, really kicking in once the first of the Prodeus forces appear and you see Prodeus possessed monsters fighting their Chaos brethren. It’s mainly an excuse plot, but not wholly ignorable as it dresses up select moments and makes the campaign stand out more as a result.

The real reason you’re here is for that campaign, and it is clearly made by people who have a strong understanding of map design (down to getting map designers from the Doom modding community). Prodeus is a mostly linear affair, with some open areas for large scale fire fights, but there’s real attention paid to making memorable moments. For example, one map will have you dodging sniping from enemies in a central tower as you make your way there towards level end, then backtrack as Prodeus units enter the field and cause mass chaos. A late game level has you infiltrating a space station, causing the flow of the level to shift from area to area. Another had you manipulating the acid fill of the area to help reach higher areas. The game never stops finding ways to make every level feel unique.

That’s an impressive accomplishment, as the game never gets too inventive with enemy types. There’s a close sticking to the usual Doom era monster types, like possessed soldiers (non-hitscan this time, but still accurate), imps, pinkies, pain elementals, ect ect. Prodeus units are also just these units again minus possessed soldiers, but with a blue and white electro look that are faster, smarter, and stronger. How these enemies are used is what keeps things exciting, as every skirmish rarely feels the same as a previous one, leaving plenty of options for getting on the offensive.

You get a lot of options too. There are three tiers of weapons for nearly every category, and they all remain useful the whole way, even your fists. Prodeus lets you rapid fire your fists by alternating your punches quickly, meaning it is perfectly viable to save ammo by duking it with lower tier enemies and turning them into gooey paste with your bare fists. Your pistol has an alt fire that has better aim with a three shot concentrated fire, allowing for headshotting options early on.

Once you get the shotgun is when you really start to realize how fun this arsenal is. The shotgun is very similar to the Doom one, with strong range, plus has an alternate charge fire that can be used for mid-range sniping that gives off a strong fire shot. It’s viable the entire game, a strong work horse weapon, and you only get crazier stuff from there. The shredders are nothing special for dual SMGs, but the grenade launcher can get tricky with sticky bombs that go off only when you take your finger off the alt fire button.

The plasma gun has a homing beacon you can shoot out for complicated arcs to spread your fire where you really want it. The auto shotgun’s alt fire can send bullets as ricochets for trick shots. You can rev up the chaingun ahead of time for more controlled firing. The arc rail is both a lightning gun and a rail gun, ideal for sniping from long distances. The swarmer is a ridiculous rocket weapon great for clearing out mobs and taking down high end enemies quickly with a swarm of smaller rockets. Heck, you even get an extremely accurate revolver weapon that can pierce multiple enemies.

What’s even cooler is that there’s added replay value via the shop. Some of the game’s best weapons require ore found in levels to buy, as do the double jump and dash, which completely change up what you can do and find in levels. It encourages you to go back to old levels and explore them more, making you practice against enemies more in the process and improve your combat prowess – which you will need.

To say things get hectic later is an understatement. The flow of levels is usually to have smaller skirmishes between open areas with large mobs of enemies every which way, especially in the back half. Things get absolutely bonkers as Prodeus units and Chaos forces go at each other, all while you make the situation more explosive. When Prodeus wants to, it will show you some of the most bloody and bombastic battles the retro shooter can provide.

Helping with this is the game’s style. At default, Prodeus uses a sort of pixel filter alongside simplistic animations to make every enemy look like a monster from the earlier years of the FPS, just cranked up on modern hardware. It’s like Doom 64 on steroids, with a cool red and blue centered color scheme to further feed you information on what enemies are around. Some effects can be a bit much, like the pixel smoke and the after flash of the plasma gun at close range, but its otherwise quite readable and exciting. It’s sort of like a 90s The Web sort of look was lightly coated over the Doom aesthetic, and it really works, especially with Marathon and Halo style grand architecture at spots. The sheer amount of blood and viscera is also greatly appreciated, and somehow never manages to get in the way of the action.

Helping is the score, done by Doom mod scene composer James Paddock and famed voice of “Triad Members” Andrew Hulshult, a solid mix of downbeat and grimy. It’s a nice collection of low down metal, taking notes from Doom 2016 while still managing their own sound. The stand out track is definitely Hulshult’s Spent Fuel, which has a hypnotic, deep beat as the song builds up and down with the carnage via absorbing guitar work. There’s a dynamic music system in here, so the score shifts in intensity based on what’s currently happening, further adding to the ability to read the situation, making good play feel as easy as breathing. The strong sound design helps, with monster sounds and crunchy noises with every action.

That not enough for you? The game also has full proper multiplayer, co-op play, and a map editor with full community support. It’s also still being updated as of writing, with new weapons being added in. The studio seems pretty focused on continuing to build the game for some time, including having mapping contests, so you can expect a healthy selection of people to play with for a good while if the campaign wets your appetite.

This is some real good shooter stuff, a great blend of modern and classic gameplay and graphical touches. Despite a lack of new ideas, Prodeus really gets what makes these sorts of shooters so fun and nails down just about every detail. The game was in development for a long while, only reaching early access in 2020. They took their time and made that time really count, resulting in a very refined experience. All of the style and the focus on support of community projects just shows how much they get their audience, what made the FPS such a long lived genre in the first place, and makes one excited for what the team does next. The forgiving checkpoint system and high selection of difficulties even makes it approachable for those new to the genre. It’s one of the easiest games in the retro FPS craze to get into, and well worth the cost of admission.

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Prodeus was first posted on April 17, 2023 at 10:41 am.
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Gender has become a hot political topic, and drag shows have become the battleground for a conservative war against self-expression. Fire-and-brimstone-spewing lawmakers are creating legislation to shut down drag shows and penalize anyone who performs drag around children. The biggest point of contention seems to be drag events at libraries, where performers read age-appropriate books to children. While it's entirely possible that some parents are just afraid that their children will learn to read and think for themselves, they claim that drag queens are "indoctrinating" children. 

There's just one massive flaw in that logic: drag performers have been around forever and have been a huge part of pop culture for decades, so why are they only a concern now?

Drag has existed for centuries but had a boom in mainstream popularity in the 1990s, popularized by Madonna's "Vogue," which brought the drag culture of New York City ballrooms into people's living rooms via MTV. Gender-bending was nothing new, of course, but for the first time, seeing this style of expressive performance was accessible to the masses. For a young, confused child who felt like a freak because gender roles often felt genuinely painful, seeing people who transcended the binary was life-changing. Though it may be viewed as flawed by some, seeing films like "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar" as a child showed me gender-non-conforming joy for the first time, and gave me hope for happiness in my own future. As drag bans continue, these movies will become even more of a lifeline for young people whose gender just doesn't fit.

The Nuances Of Drag And Gender

Before we dig into the magic of the movies, it's important to note the difference between drag performers and transgender individuals, because the two are not one and the same. Drag is a performance, often including cross-dressing, and a form of expression that does not necessarily reflect the gender or sexuality of the person doing it. To put it simply: not all drag queens are transgender (or even queer!) and not all transgender or gender non-conforming people do drag. One of the best early examples of drag in Hollywood is "Some Like It Hot," where two cisgender, heterosexual men dress as women because they are on the run and in hiding. 

They had to release it without the approval of the Hays Code because of the cross-dressing elements, but the public didn't care and made "Some Like it Hot" a hit all the way back in 1959. Drag is big in comedy, and troupes like Monty Python and the Kids in the Hall used it much like Shakespearean players of old, giving us the giggles with depictions of men in dresses. 

Transgender and other gender non-conforming people might use drag as a form of self-expression, of course, and there are absolutely trans and non-binary drag queens and kings who embrace the outlet. Unfortunately, some audiences don't understand the difference, and the proliferation of drag performed by cisgender men in cinema has given people the wrong idea about transgender women. There are a lot of nuances and conflicting views even within the trans community — more than I can dig into here. For a thorough look at the impact of these kinds of films from a variety of transgender and non-binary voices (and not just my own), make sure to check out the documentary "Disclosure," streaming on Netflix. 

Finding Gender Joy For The First Time

The first time I ever saw any kind of intentional gender play, it was Robin Williams pretending to be an English nanny (with a Scottish accent) in order to spend more time with his kids during a messy divorce in "Mrs. Doubtfire." While comical, it was a means to an end for the character and not a part of who he really was. Then my babysitter rented "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar" and I saw true gender-bending joy. Here was Patrick freaking Swayze, a sex symbol who oozed masculinity in his other roles, playing a sweet, maternal drag queen who just wanted to help people be true to themselves and spread a little beauty in the world.

"To Wong Foo" is a drag Cinderella story with a happy ending, and though it's a little dated and lacking in drag authenticity outside of a RuPaul appearance at the beginning, it was paramount to learning to accept myself as a kid who didn't feel like a boy or a girl. While I would love to see a remake with actual drag queens and trans creators involved, "To Wong Foo" was pure cinematic joy for me as a child, with a message all about learning to accept yourself, standing up your yourself, and loving yourself. It felt like a celebration for those of us whose gender isn't neat and tidy, and such celebrations could be tough to find.

Finding Power In Breaking The Binary

I was raised as a little girl but more often felt like I was a boy. Other than Disney's "Mulan," there weren't exactly any representations of my experience at the movies. The closest thing I could find was "Boys Don't Cry," which told the story of murdered trans man Brandon Teena, and that was as far from joyous as possible. Reality is terrifying and depressing enough when you exist outside of the gender binary, so I didn't need reminders of the potential hell I could face if I lived authentically to myself. Instead, I needed heroes, and drag performers are the colorfully costumed heroes of breaking the binary.

Other films followed pretty early in my adolescence, primarily "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." My parents introduced me to "Rocky Horror" because they were dressing as the characters for Halloween, and I could identify with creator Richard O'Brien's confusion about gender and sexuality, portrayed through the many characters. The most powerful of them all was Tim Curry's Dr. Frank-N-Furter, who strutted around in fishnet stockings and commanded the entire castle. He wasn't explicitly a drag queen but absolutely transcended gender norms. Though the language used in the film is up for debate, his incredible power from existing somewhere between masculine and feminine is still undeniable. I wanted some of that for myself and found a kind of faux-femininity through Frank that helped me fit in and feel fierce. 

Finding Love For Myself

Because I was a suburban white kid in the southern United States prior to the streaming era, I didn't have a lot of access to international films or even most indies, but I managed to snag a copy of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" from my local video store when I was a young teenager. Here, I was given another beautifully flawed example of someone who exists outside of the basic boy/girl dynamic. Like all of the other examples on this list, Hedwig was played by a cisgender man, though it's notable that Hedwig herself isn't exactly trans. 

She decides to have gender reassignment surgery in order to escape a bleak future in East Berlin and marry a man who will take her to America, but she was perfectly happy living as a boy before. When the surgery is botched and her husband leaves, she's trapped with a body that doesn't feel right and is desperate for someone who understands. John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig was revelatory because I knew exactly what it felt like to perform femininity as a means of survival, but the story had an even more powerful message beyond that. 

Hedwig spends most of the movie seeking her other half, believing in the idea from Plato's Symposium that all humans were originally two and we were split by the gods. At the end of the film, she learns that she's a whole person without anyone else and that she isn't wrong because of her unique situation — she's a beautiful expression of the in-between. She's a complex character whose trauma left her bitter and flawed, but that complexity felt closer to reality and made me feel seen. People are messy, and gender can be messier still, and that's okay.

Finding The Greater Queer Canon

Digging further into drag performance in film history led me to Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary masterpiece "Paris is Burning," following drag ballroom culture in New York City. This was drag at its most authentic, as an expression of not only gender defiance, but other marginalization due to sexuality, race, and socioeconomic status. The AIDS crisis raged and many of these incredible young people only had the ballrooms in which to feel anything other than fear and sorrow, and it's an incredibly powerful thing to see. "Paris is Burning" was fictionalized with the FX series "Pose" in 2018, and though the series was a bit soapy at times, it was heartfelt and gave some truly incredible transgender performers a moment to shine for a broader audience. "Paris is Burning" was foundational, but it was far from the only film about the trans experience that helped shape my worldview. 

There were other movies, too, like "XXY," an Argentine drama about an intersex teenager, and "Tomboy," Céline Sciamma's look at trans-masculinity at an early age. The further down the rabbit hole I got in exploring films about gender, the more comfort I found in the beauty and the passion of existing as your most authentic self, even when archaic and misguided societal norms say otherwise. Drag performers were the gateway drug to self-discovery and self-expression, which I think is something everyone should be encouraged to do.

Drag Is Big, Bold, And Beautiful

Trans and non-binary adolescents are at a much higher risk of suicidal ideation than their cisgender peers, and a big part of that is isolation. People in their communities, including their families, might not be accepting of their gender exploration, and that can be absolutely brutal. Many hide that part of themselves until they are older and can safely express who they are. 

Seeing fictional depictions of joyous gender expression outside of the binary can be a lodestone, a way to experience even a bit of that joy in otherwise oppressive situations. For others, it's a way to recognize something in themselves for the first time. Even for cisgender, heterosexual people, an appreciation of drag can provide a way to step outside of social norms in a "safe" way, and can help them realize that the boundaries of the binary aren't as simple as they seem. 

The crackdown on drag performances is part of a larger attack on the rights of transgender and non-binary people, with pundits asserting that drag is always sexualized and children seeing drag acts is harmful. I argue the opposite: drag and other forms of gender expression can help children feel more confident in themselves and potentially have the language to advocate for themselves. Even if it just leads to a love of the colorful world of drag culture, it can give young queer kids a home and young straight kids a better understanding of their LGBTQ+ peers. 

A better understanding of ourselves and each other can lead to a better future for all of us, and drag performers are on the front lines of self-expression and understanding.

Read this next: The 20 Most Important LGBTQ+ Directors

The post Drag Roles In Movies Can Be A Lifeline For Kids Whose Gender Doesn't Fit appeared first on /Film.

This post contains spoilers for the two-episode premiere of "Barry" season 4.

Paul Rudd is a funny guy. He's funny on screen in roles in movies like "Ant-Man," "This Is 40," and "Clueless," but he's also apparently funny off-screen, where he seems to lend ideas to writers on both projects he's a part of and projects he has nothing to do with. In a recent interview, Rudd revealed that Judd Apatow used a real-life argument from Rudd's marriage in the "Knocked Up" script, and Marvel President Kevin Feige even says it was his idea to explore the quantum realm in the latest "Ant-Man" sequel.

It sounds like the actor loves to pitch ideas that might make for good comedy, and he did just that in a conversation with "Barry" co-creator and star Bill Hader that led to one of the show's most eclectic music choices. Hader appeared on The Prestige TV Podcast this week to unpack the highly anticipated return of his pitch-black HBO comedy, and Rudd's name came up in a conversation about Gene Cousineau's (Henry Winkler) ridiculous one-man show. When it came to picking the tune that would play when Vanity Fair reporter Lon O'Neil (Patrick Fischler) stepped into the theater, Rudd had the perfect idea for over-the-top mood music.

Rudd Suggested A Ridiculous Needle Drop

"I've gotta give Paul Rudd credit," Hader told the podcast, "because I was telling him about the sequence, and I go, 'Oh, I need good music playing when [he] comes in,' and Paul said, 'Oh, you should get that choir singing 'Desperado.'" It wasn't just any choir Rudd had in mind, either, but a children's choir. Judging by the vocals heard in the episode, the cover of the classic song by Eagles came from The Langley Schools Music Project, which posted a version of the song to YouTube back in 2013. How Rudd knew about this bizarre cover is anyone's guess, but the comedian thought it would be the perfect fit for Gene's utterly over-the-top theatrical "interview" with Vanity Fair.

"That was Paul Rudd's pitch," Hader confirmed, "And I called him after we cut it, and I was like, 'Dude, it's so funny.' And he goes, 'Oh, does it work?' and I go, 'Oh my God, it is so funny. Thank you so much.'" The filmmaker went on to explain that he initially pictured more traditional theater-going music, and cites the score from "To Kill a Mockingbird" as an example. "You know, the kind of music that's playing when you come into a theater and the lights go down," Hader explained. But Rudd, who it should be noted doesn't even work on this show and seems to have been just chatting with Hader when the idea came up, knew exactly what the situation called for.

Gene's Ego Is On Full Display

The filmmaker laughed when he recalled Rudd's pitch, and it's easy to see why. Even the original 1973 version of "Desperado," written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley, would've been hilarious in this context. The narrator of the song is sharing some very heavy wisdom with the titular desperado, who has chosen a tough and lonely path. "You better let somebody love you/Before it's too late," Eagles sings in the soulful tune, and it's the kind of platitude that Gene probably imagines he shared with Barry in the made-up version of this story in which he's the heroic main character.

The lyrics here reveal a total misunderstanding of Barry as a person, with Gene implying -– as he does in the stage show -– that he did everything he could to save the poor soul from his darker impulses. The fact that the song plays out not with Eagles singing, but the voice of a child, makes the whole thing that much funnier. There's an unspoken punchline in the choice to have Gene, clueless and egotistical, play a song in which a young kid pretends to have the world-weary wisdom of a heroic narrator. It's a needle drop that adds yet another layer of absurdity to this story of Hollywood hangers-on trying to squeeze some fame out of a decidedly bleak situation. And apparently, as with so many great things, we somehow have Paul Rudd to thank for it.

Read this next: The 18 Best Crime Dramas In TV History

The post Barry Season 4 Features a Surprising Behind The Scenes Contribution From Paul Rudd appeared first on /Film.

This post contains spoilers for "Yellowjackets" season 2.

Everyone always wants to know who the Man With No Eyes is on "Yellowjackets" ... but does anyone ever ask how the Man With No Eyes is on "Yellowjackets"?

In all seriousness, the visually-challenged specter remains one of the biggest mysteries of Showtime's captivating horror/thriller puzzle box series part-way through its second season. Is he merely the psychological manifestation of Taissa's childhood trauma from her grandmother claiming she could see a being with no eyes shortly before her death? This was also the first time Taissa glimpsed him, although we've no idea if her grandmother saw the same individual or someone else. He's continued to haunt Taissa in season 2's '90s flashbacks, seemingly guiding her to trees with that mysterious symbol carved into them. But does he actually exist outside of Taissa's imagination? And if so, what is he ultimately after?

Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. The Man With No Eyes hasn't done anything flat-out evil so far. Okay, he sorta almost led Taissa off a cliff, but it's dark in the Canadian wilderness at night and that could've been an honest mistake. There's no need to go all J. Jonah Jameson on him and declare him a public menace just because he's tall and pale and doesn't emote very much. (Not that I can personally relate or anything.) It's not like he's out here telling children to commit horrific acts of violence against themselves, unlike certain ominous phantoms who shall remain nameless.

For now, "Yellowjackets" fans will simply have to speculate as to whom or what the Man With No Eyes really is and what's he after, if anything specific. We can, however, answer the question of why he looks the way he does, vitamin D deficiency aside.

'It's A Lot'

As we all learned in kindergarten, you should never judge a book by its cover. That being said, when the "book" is an eyeless figure who only certain people seem capable of seeing (one who also wears a funeral suit and never speaks), it's not unreasonable to have some questions you'd like to ask them. 

Tawny Cypress, who plays Taissa in the present-day on "Yellowjackets," was unsurprisingly tight-lipped about the Man With No Eyes while being interviewed by TVLine. Nevertheless, she confirmed "he's just as scary in real life" as he is on the show thanks to the gnarly practical effects used to bring him to life. Cypress explained:

"Yeah, it's an entire prosthetic that goes over his face and eyes that like, makes that look. Yeah. But it looks really natural. I can't figure out ... I don't know, he says he can see so, I don't know. He's so tall and thin, it's crazy, and he's in that suit, that funeral suit. It's a lot."

Similar to Din Djarin in "The Mandalorian," The Man With No Eyes is portrayed by multiple actors in "Yellowjackets." Brahm Taylor (The Uninvited in "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina") played the character in season 1 prior to Brody Logan Romhanyi (a fellow Archie-verse alum who went uncredited for portraying a demon on "Riverdale") depicting him in season 2. Cypress didn't specify which actor she was referring to during her interview, but it seems they enjoy terrifying their co-stars in-between takes (as they should!).

"He loves it. I was like, 'You need to go to conventions with this look because this is going to get people going.' He loves it," Cypress added.

New episodes of "Yellowjackets" premiere in the Showtime app and on Paramount+ on Fridays and air Sundays at 9/8c on Showtime.

Read this next: The Best TV Episodes Of 2022, Ranked

The post Yellowjackets' Horrifying Man With No Eyes is a Gnarly Practical Effect appeared first on /Film.

The low code/no code movement provides simplified app generation – but it needs to be understood to be safe.

The post The Security and Productivity Implications of Low Code/No Code Development appeared first on SecurityWeek.

(Welcome to Best Action Scene Ever, a column dedicated to breaking down the best, most effective action sequences throughout the genre. In this edition, we circle back to Jackie Chan's stunt-acular action classic, "Police Story.")

Before Jackie Chan ever crossed the shores of the American mainstream during his Hollywood heyday in the 1990s, the actor/director/stuntman extraordinaire had been hard at work in Hong Kong cinema, churning out hit after hit for decades in his native country. One of his most memorable successes came only a scant handful of years before he finally crossed over into global appeal: 1985's "Police Story," directed by and starring Chan as Chan Ka-Kui, followed the rogue cop on his relentless quest to take down a drug lord, babysit a key witness played by Maggie Cheung, and subsequently clear his own name after being framed by his powerful enemies

The movie — which, quite honestly, could've had several different scenes come up as a contender for this column — kicks off with a jaw-dropping raid on the villainous Chu Tao (Yuen Chor) that crescendos with multiple cars plowing through a small hillside town, ups the ante with a frightfully risky stunt involving a runaway bus, and even throws in some deceptively complex bits of slapstick humor and complex physical comedy for good measure. Yet with so much to choose from, this action/comedy somehow manages to top itself with its concluding set piece set at a shopping mall that features a little bit of everything executed on an improbably high level.

The Scene

Throughout the film, Chan's tireless cop Ka-Kui has remained in dogged pursuit of the powerful gang leader Chu Tao, going to whatever lengths necessary to arrest him and, most importantly, prove his guilt. Hilariously enough, the path to achieving that goal ends up becoming less direct than the straightforward cop would prefer. The crime boss' secretary Salina Fong (Brigitte Lin) is rounded up in the opening raid and compelled to testify at Chu Tao's upcoming trial (we're not 100% sure the legal proceedings as depicted in the movie fully check out, even for one set in 1980s Hong Kong, but just go with it), making her a prime witness and a top target from her own former employer. Naturally, Ka-Kui is recruited to serve as her personal bodyguard for the next 24 hours, which hardly goes according to plan.

Having escaped from both the police and Chu Tao's criminal racket, Salina finally regains a sense of agency from both rival organizations and sets out to take control of her own fate ... by stealing her old boss' incriminating computer data right out from under him. It's never made clear exactly what she means to do with this information, whether blackmail Chu Tao or hand it over to the police to secure her own freedom. (Again, who's to say this evidence would actually be admissible in court, but that's not exactly the point here!) But this juicy setup provides the momentum to bring the story to a head, turning the unexpected location of a shopping mall into the place where all three competing parties intersect in spectacular fashion.

Thanks to Chan's direction, incredible fight choreography, and some brazen (reckless?) stunt coordinating, this scene has since become immortal.

Why It Works

The ol' maxim of "Keep it simple, stupid" applies to many different aspects of life, not least of all screenwriting. Although action filmmaking in particular can get away with incredibly convoluted plots on occasion if placed in the right hands, this generally tends to be helpful advice for keeping action sequences clear, coherent, and engaging so that storytellers can focus on adding all sorts of elements to spice things up. The final set piece of "Police Story" follows this to a T, despite the considerable length of the final sequence. Clocking in at almost 15 minutes, the setup and subsequent fight at the mall carries viewers through to the ending credits. None of it would've worked if not for Chan and co-writer Edward Tang's insistence on establishing the basics of the action.

It helps that, despite her murky motivations, Salina's inciting action of stealing the data sets up a very easy-to-follow sequence of events. Ka-Kui needs the evidence and Salina (who's the only living witness who can clear his name) intact to put Chu Tao behind bars for good. Chu Tao simply can't afford to lose that data, forcing him to send in everything he's got against both of our heroes. And through it all, Ka-Kui increasingly wavers between doing his job as a police officer, doing the right thing by Salina, and losing what little control he has left -- a spiral that began when he was first framed by Chu Tao and his men for the murder of a (secretly traitorous) chief inspector.

The simplicity of the story allowed Chan and his team to go overboard with the stunt work: smashing any visible pane of glass in sight, jumping over escalators, and — famously — Chan sliding multiple stories down a pole.

The Key Moment

Tone can be an impossibly fine line for any filmmaker to ride. Push too much in the direction of humor, and even the most death-defying stunts won't pack the punch they need in order to land with an audience. Pull back and go darker, and you risk creating an atmosphere where over-the-top action feels jarringly out of place.

"Police Story" tells its story with a noticeable amount of earnestness right from the opening scene, charting a deadly shootout between the police and Chu Tao's forces ... with a surprising amount of screen time dedicated to one police officer wracked by trauma and stress at the prospects of being in his first engagement. From there, however, Chan's Ka-Kui is depicted as an almost absentminded slacker: capable of earning commendations and promotions from his higher-ups with his bravery in the face of danger, but with no compunctions about staging a home invasion just to prove a petty point to Selina that she needs his protection. Throughout the film, Chan pokes fun at his own character (and, by extension, his rapidly ascending reputation as a movie star) as a chauvinistic pig, but manages to dial it back once the story takes a darker turn and Ka-Kui becomes much more desperate, compelled to take his own superior officer hostage to escape custody so he can prove his innocence.

The key moment comes in the movie's final seconds. Having thoroughly exhausted himself fighting off a small army of henchmen and barely managing to protect Salina, Ka-Kui survives long enough for the police to arrive and take Chu Tao into custody. But after his girlfriend May (an underused Maggie Cheung) is put into danger, our hero snaps and gives the villain the karmic beatdown he deserves. As the energetic main theme kicks in and ends things on a triumphant note, the final freeze frame tells a decidedly different story -- one that the 1988 sequel dives into further. This uncomfortable ending feels fully earned thanks to the careful setup earlier, yet still manages to coexist with scenes of Chan performing a one-man "Abbot & Costello" routine where he answers multiple phones at once at a police station.

"Police Story" is a fascinating artifact, preserving a very specific moment in Chan's career. Years later, it still holds up every bit as much as it did when its first fans got to experience its thrills and kills for the first time in theaters.

Read this next: Jackie Chan's 15 Greatest Fight Scenes Ranked

The post The Mall Sequence In Jackie Chan's Police Story Is The Best Action Scene Ever appeared first on /Film.

Increasing our attention on cybersecurity at VA is an absolutely critical component of our vision and its focus on operational excellence. Our highest priority is protecting our Veterans’ personal information and ensuring our systems and services are available to care for our Veterans, their families, and care providers. Moreover, we believe that we don’t get the right to deliver on the next set of feature improvements to our product and services unless we first create and maintain a secure environment that is shielded against cyber attacks.

The digital footprint of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is vast, including over 500,000 desktops at over 2,000 locations, interfacing with over 1,000 systems. The significance of size makes the tasks of security in this environment very challenging. It’s made more difficult by the diversity of systems, the age of those systems, and the fact that they don’t share a common structure or architecture. 

To address this risk and complexity, the federal government expends a lot of effort on establishing security policies, which helps establish baseline requirements for good cybersecurity practices and configurations, but policy alone is insufficient. It’s much easier to create security policies than enforce them. Policies are often created that are unrealistic to enforce. Others may not be at the right level of specificity to be actionable.  Still others may be the result of an external mandate that is not aligned with the overall risk-based priorities of the organization. As a result, there’s a temptation to conclude that because you’ve defined a comprehensive set of policies and rolled them out as requirements, you’ve solved the problem; yet policies and their enforcement are only one component of a strong cybersecurity program.

VA has many security policies that drive a great number of processes around compliance checking. Even the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) audit, conducted each year by our Office of the Inspector General (OIG), is highly focused on whether VA is adhering to our own policies. This isn’t wrong. However, auditing compliance with security policy isn’t equivalent to auditing the organization’s security. To ensure a highly secure environment, we must complement security policy with a deep technical assessment of our security posture and engineering efforts.

We need to increase our focus on risk-based assessments of our current security posture. We must constantly assess where we feel the greatest risks are that need mitigating. These assessments should ask:

• What is your most worrisome theory of how you might be breached?
• How would threat actors get in or exploit your information and systems?
• If the breach occurs, what is the most valuable asset, intellectual property, or service that would be vulnerable and how significant is the risk?
• What precise mitigations do you need to bet on to reduce these risks?
• How good is our response and remediation capabilities?
• How will we measure our progress?

Embrace a secure framework.

Executive Order (EO) 14028 requirements provide many focus areas for improving our nation’s cybersecurity—namely, deploying secure government cloud services, implementing Zero Trust architecture government-wide, and mandating multifactor authentication and encryption. But more than simply being a federal mandate, VA embraced Zero Trust Architecture as our security framework because it is powerful. It is comprehensive yet simple to understand. At its heart, it has a simple premise: assume you’ll be breached and then ask, “What can they get their hands on?”. There should be no implicit trust by virtue of having gained access to the Intranet.

It’s easy to find recommended implementation paths for Zero Trust, but it’s not a project with a beginning and an end. Nor can you write up an execution plan that works for all organizations. Zero Trust creates a solid framework for implementing robust security in an organization, but the implementation order needs to reflect your view of the greatest risks in the organization. For us at VA, there are a number of areas we focus on:

• Get to 100% multifactor authentication (MFA) and drive MFA exemptions to zero. This means having non-name/password alternatives for people who are having issues with using the primary MFA method (PIV cards for those of us at VA).
• Get to 100% of systems using single sign-on (SSO), enabling us to manage permissions more centrally.
• Eliminate simple name and password authentications, including service accounts, and find ways to further secure and validate access granted to service accounts.
• Enforce endpoint protection on 100% of devices and ensure all devices meet baseline configuration requirements. For BYOD devices, either require that they run end point protection or assume the worst and restrict their access accordingly.
• Completely isolate the most mission-critical systems from our Intranet. This is a significant investment that takes time and focus, but the Intranet is a popular target for phishing attacks and provides too much risk of lateral movement once threats gain access.
• Challenge our defenses. Our environment is incredibly complex and has so many projects going on that the risk of vulnerabilities being inadvertently introduced is high. We must continuously and aggressively look for vulnerabilities via ongoing sweeps and red team exercises.
• Deploy great monitoring to look for indicators of compromise. The tools in this area are getting better all the time. 
• Focus on robust and rapid incident response. Measure and set goals for our response through metrics like Mean Time to Containment (MTTC) and Mean Time to Remediation (MTTR).
• Drive towards regular audits of user access lists, and ultimately, build the needed linkages to HR systems to automatically remove account access upon job change or termination.

We can and must make these multiple investments simultaneously, since most will take time to come to fruition. An example of this is achieving least privileged access, a difficult technology and business process challenge.

We must measure and track our progress relentlessly. For us, we focus on the most pressing near-term goals through our OKRs—Objectives and Key Results (OKR). We establish a set of OKRs that represent our highest priority cybersecurity efforts, drive hard to accomplish the goals we set, and edit the list as we accomplish more or the environment changes.

In my view, organizations shouldn’t be too enamored with maturity models. These models aren’t well calibrated to the degree of implementation difficulty and are generalizations, while breaches are specific. I think they’re best used as a list of potential investments to use in assessing your strategy. You still have to figure out which investments you believe will yield the greatest improvement in security per erg of energy expended.

Leverage FITARA and ATOs as hard gates

In an organization as complex as VA, people have many competing priorities and real-time distractions that divert attention from even high priorities like cybersecurity. As a result, there must be forcing functions that drive compliance. Fortunately, there are two such gates for all projects in the federal government: Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) compliance and the Authorization to Operate (ATO) process. All projects must pass through these two gates. We leverage FITARA to ensure all IT projects have a good plan in place for cybersecurity and that clearly articulate the people who are accountable. We use the ATO process to assess our true level of system security—and that the project maintains a high expected security level—not just that it adheres to our cybersecurity policies. In addition to reviewing compliance against cybersecurity policies, we push for a true technical assessment of the residual cyber risks of operating the system and a discussion of whether they are acceptable risks for the organization. In the end, the Authorizing Officer (AO) must feel that they are personally signing off on the risk for the entire organization and must take that responsibility seriously.

Drive clear cybersecurity responsibilities for Shadow IT

Shadow IT is inevitable in any organization, and we have much more than I’d like at VA. We can’t fully eliminate it, but it can’t be a place where cyber risk is introduced. We need to ensure a strong cybersecurity skillset in the team that owns and manages the Shadow IT system. This isn’t easy, since the organization’s non-IT businesses often own Shadow IT, and technology is not their mission. That’s what’s most scary about Shadow IT. We need to ensure that if the business is insistent on owning the system, they understand and adhere to all cybersecurity requirements in the organization. This is a great place to use FITARA and ATO as hard gates that Shadow IT systems and services must pass through. This depends on ensuring the organization’s CIO reviews all Shadow IT investments, so that they go through these gates, and that the CIO feels personally accountable for the security of the Shadow IT system, even if he or she doesn’t have day-to-day responsibilities for managing it. It’s one of the toughest mismatches between authority and accountability in the CIO role.

Build deep cyber skills within the organization

As I mentioned, in an organization as vast as VA, it’s easy to focus solely on cybersecurity policy adherence rather than the technical assessment of cyber risk. The reality is that deep technical assessment and mitigation planning necessitates strong cyber skills. Even policy adherence roles benefit from a strong technical understanding of cybersecurity. With the high demand for cybersecurity skills in the market, building these skills internally is critically important. It also represents a valuable career path for an IT professional, including veterans, who represent half the OIT team. We are working to increase our focus on building strong cyber skills and career paths in the organization, driving the effort across our cyber workforce recruitment, hiring, and retainment efforts. We believe that we have a huge opportunity to onboard smart individuals, build their cyber skills, and in so doing, build a skillset that results in a rewarding and fulfilling career for them and an enduring asset for VA.

Be paranoid, very paranoid

Security is a space where the adage that it’s impossible to prove a negative is particularly apt. There is no way to prove that your organization is secure from cyberthreats. Even if you could, cyber attacks are getting more sophisticated all the time.  I’ve read intrusion scenarios that have left me amazed at the multi-step process to exploitation—scenarios that had to be explained to me multiple times before I truly understood them. The evolving speed and rapid adoption of AI only enhances these risks by making it easier to parse through large volumes of data to find patterns and potential vulnerabilities in software code as examples. The threats to an organization will always increase, and so too must our readiness for new threats supported by our ability to remediate and recover from them.

Reflecting on all of this, not only is it impossible to prove that your organization is secure, it’s impossible to prove your organization hasn’t already been exploited. Hackers will gain entrance to an organization, insert a vulnerability, and wait to exploit it until they have all the information they need or the time is right.

The only appropriate posture under these circumstances is to assume you’ve been breached, theorize how it’s done, and work as hard and as fast as you can to close the vulnerabilities. In short, you need to be continuously paranoid about being exploited to to give your organization a good chance that you won’t be.

Threat actors associated with the Vice Society ransomware gang have been observed using a bespoke PowerShell-based tool to fly under the radar and automate the process of exfiltrating data from compromised networks. "Threat actors (TAs) using built-in data exfiltration methods like [living off the land binaries and scripts] negate the need to bring in external tools that might be flagged by

My first post on this topic didn't result in a great deal of engagement, but that's okay. I wrote the first post with part II already loaded in the chamber, and I'm going to continue with this topic because, IMHO, it's immensely important. 

I've see more times than I care to count findings and reports going out the door without validation. I saw an analyst declare attribution in the customer's parking lot, as the team was going on-site, only to be proven wrong and the customer opting to continue the response with another team. Engagements such as this are costly to the consulting team through brand damage and lost revenue, as well as costly to the impacted organization, through delays and additional expenses to reach containment and remediation, all while a threat actor is active on their network.

When I sat down to write the first post, I had a couple more case studies lined up, so here they are...

Case Study #3
Analysts were investigating incidents within an organization, and as part of the response, they were collecting memory dumps from Windows endpoints. They had some information going into the investigations regarding C2 IP addresses, based on work done by other analysts as part of the escalation process, as well as from intel sources and open reporting, so they ran ASCII string searches for the IP addresses against the raw memory dumps. Not getting any hits, declared in the tickets that there was no evidence of C2 connections.

What was missing from this was the fact that IP addresses are not employed by the operating system and applications as ASCII strings. Yes, you may see an IP address in a string that starts with "HTTP://" or "HTTPS://", but by the time the operating system translates and ingests the IP address for use, it's converted to 4 bytes, and as part of a structure. Tools like Volatility provide the capability to search for certain types of structures that include IP addresses, and bulk_extractor searches for other types of structures, with the end result being a *.pcap file.

In this case, as is often the case, analyst findings are part of an overall corporate-wide process, a process that includes further, follow-on findings such as "control efficacy", identifying the effectiveness of various controls and solutions within the security tech stack to address situations (prevent, detect, respond to) incidents, and simply stating in the ticket that "no evidence of communication with the C2 IP address was found" is potentially incorrect, in addition to not addressing how this was determined. If no evidence of communications from the endpoint was found, then is there any reason to submit a block for the IP address on the firewall? Is there any reason to investigate further to determine if a prevention or detection control failed?

In the book Investigating Windows Systems, one of the case studies involves both an image and a memory dump, where evidence of connections to an IP address were found in the memory dump that were not found in application logs within the image, using the tools mentioned above. What this demonstrates is that it's entirely possible for evidence to be found using entirely different approaches, and that not employing the full breadth of what an analyst has available to them is entirely insufficient.

Case Study #4
Let's look at another simple example - as a DFIR analyst, you're examining either data collected from an endpoint, or an acquired image, and you see a Run key value that is clearly malicious; you've seen this one before in open reporting. You see the same path/file location, same file name. 

What do you report?

Do you report, "...the endpoint was infected with <malicious thing>...", or do you validate this finding? 

Do you:
- determine if the file pointed to by the value exists
- determine if the Run key value was disabled  <-- wait, what??
- review the Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Core/Operational Event Log to see if the value was processed
- review the Application Event Log, looking for crash dumps, WER or Application Popup records for the malware
- review the Security Event Log for Process Creation events (if enabled)
- review Sysmon Event Log (if available)
- review the SRUM db for indications of the malware using the network

If not, why? Is it too much of a manual process to do so? Can the playbook not be automated through the means or suite you have available, or via some other means?

But Wait, There's More...
During my time as a DFIR analyst, I've seen command lines used to created Windows services, followed by the "Service Control Manager/7045" record in the System Event Log indicating that a new service was installed. I've also seen those immediately followed by a "Service Control Manager/7009" or "Service Control Manager/7011" record, indicating that the service failed to start, rather than the "Service Control Manager/7036" record you might expect. Something else we need to look for, going beyond simply "a Windows service was installed", is to look for indications of Windows Error Reporting events related to the image executable, application popups, or application crashes.

I've seen malware placed on systems that was detected by AV, but the AV was configured to "take no action" (per AV log messages), so the malware executed successfully. We were able to observe this within the acquired image by validating the impacts on the file system, Registry, Windows Event Log, etc.

I've seen threat actors push malware to multiple systems; in one instance, the threat actor pushed their malware to six systems, but it only successfully executed on four of those systems. On the other two, the Application Event Log contained Windows Error Reporting records indicating that there was an issue with the malware. Further examination failed to reveal the other impacts of the malware that had been observed on the four systems that had been successfully infected.

I worked a PCI case once where the malware placed on the system by the threat actor was detected and quarantined by AV within the first few hours it was on the system, and the threat actor did not return to the system for six weeks. It happened that that six weeks was over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, during a time of peak purchasing. The threat actor returned after Christmas, and placed a new malware executable on the system, one that was not detected by AV, and the incident was detected a week later. In the report, I made it clear that while the threat actor had access to the system, the malware itself was not running and collecting credit card numbers during those six weeks.

Conclusion
In my previous post, I mentioned that Joe Slowik referred to indicators/artifacts as 'composite objects', which is something that, as an industry, we need to understand and embrace. We cannot view artifacts in isolation, but rather we need to consider their nature, which includes both being composite objects, as well as their place within a constellation. We need to truly embrace the significance of an IP address, a Run key value, or any other artifact what conducting and reporting on analysis.

Bleeping Computer warned this week about compromised web sites "that display fake Google Chrome automatic update errors that distribute malware to unaware visitors." The campaign has been underway since November 2022, and according to NTT's security analyst Rintaro Koike, it shifted up a gear after February 2023, expanding its targeting scope to cover users who speak Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. BleepingComputer has found numerous sites hacked in this malware distribution campaign, including adult sites, blogs, news sites, and online stores... If a targeted visitor browses the site, the scripts will display a fake Google Chrome error screen stating that an automatic update that is required to continue browsing the site failed to install. "An error occurred in Chrome automatic update. Please install the update package manually later, or wait for the next automatic update," reads the fake Chrome error message. The scripts will then automatically download a ZIP file called 'release.zip' that is disguised as a Chrome update the user should install. However, this ZIP file contains a Monero miner that will utilize the device's CPU resources to mine cryptocurrency for the threat actors. Upon launch, the malware copies itself to C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome as "updater.exe" and then launches a legitimate executable to perform process injection and run straight from memory. According to VirusTotal, the malware uses the "BYOVD" (bring your own vulnerable driver) technique to exploit a vulnerability in the legitimate WinRing0x64.sys to gain SYSTEM privileges on the device. The miner persists by adding scheduled tasks and performing Registry modifications while excluding itself from Windows Defender. Additionally, it stops Windows Update and disrupts the communication of security products with their servers by modifying the IP addresses of the latter in the HOSTS file. This hinders updates and threat detection and may even disable an AV altogether.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Matt Reeves' 2022 film "The Batman" featured the title character in yet another rebooted continuity, this time even darker and grittier than ever before. Batman (Robert Pattinson) was seen as a pale-skinned, stoic outsider, rarely making public appearances as Bruce Wayne, preferring to use his fists to ignite fear in the hearts of the criminal underground. He didn't smile and seemed incapable of experiencing happiness. The Riddler (Paul Dano) was reimagined to resemble the real-life Zodiac Killer, and murdered people on the regular. Gotham City was more corrupt than ever, and it is tantalizingly suggested at one point that Bruce Wayne's late father might have opened the door for massive corruption to leak into the city's legislature. Sadly, that moment is walked back. 

Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz), meanwhile, is a stolid and bitter woman living in poverty with multiple cats and her at-risk girlfriend Annika (Hana Hrzic). Technically, the screenplay never makes it explicit that Selina and Annika are lovers, but the subtext is in place. Selina Kyle is also known as Catwoman, of course, meaning she will have to possess the outrage, the cat burglary skills, and the fighting acumen of a comic book supervillain. Like Batman, she is stoic and determined, more prone to anger and despair than happiness or contentment. Given its bleakness, it's no wonder that "The Batman" was so often compared to David Fincher's 1995 serial killer film "Se7en." 

Kravitz's fight training, as explained in a 2022 behind-the-scenes video, was something she had been doing since she was a girl. And it turns out that Robert Alonzo, a second unit director and the film's supervising stunt coordinator, had once been hired as a young Kravitz's martial arts coach when she was 10. 

Put Me In, Coach

Alonzo began working professionally as a stunt performer back in the mid-1990s, appearing on episodes of "Nash Bridges" and "Big Bad Beetleborgs." In film, he began his career working on "Swordfish," and the Jet Li film "The One." He has since appeared in dozens of high-profile Hollywood features including "Collateral Damage," "The Scorpion King," "Cradle 2 The Grave," "Spider-Man 2," "Mission: Impossible III," "Star Trek," and way too many others to list here. Most recently, he did stunts and/or fight choreography for "Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood" and "Ad Astra." Kravitz was born in 1988, so Alonzo was already working on shows like "Charmed" and "Roswell" when he was giving private lessons to her. 

"For Zoë and myself," he said, "it was a bit of a reunion for us. I used to actually teach Zoë private lessons in martial arts when she was ten years old."

Alonzo pointed out that, while he had worked with the actress many years before, training her in 2020 was particularly difficult. "The Batman" was in the middle of filming when the world locked down because of Covid, requiring Alonzo to give most of his training remotely. He was still able to communicate what needed to be done, however, and could even recall the precise martial arts that Selina Kyle would have been trained in. Alonzo said:

"Given the required social distancing, we've implemented video training so that they can learn technique and stance work. [...]  A lot of her style is more evasive and in tune with using the style of, say, tai kwon do and capoeira and hapkido."

Staying Sharp

Kravitz, meanwhile, recalled only how difficult the training was. Because of the Covid-related lockdowns, Kravitz had to take several months off, and retaining her martial arts knowledge was difficult. She said:

"The first couple months of training was, you know, it was intense. I would hobble home. I started training in November 2019, and then we shut down in March for six months and I tried my hardest to just kind of remember everything I'd learned. [...] Rob Alonzo and his whole team are just incredible people, really dedicated to it feeling real and feeling accurate."

In addition to realistic fighting styles, Kravitz's stunt moves were also evocative of, well, a cat. The evasiveness that Alonzo mentioned above was, to the audience's eye, very much like a cat trying to avoid being picked up by its owner. "The Batman," like many of the more recent superhero fare, deliberately stays away from using the characters' colorful superhero names. As such, Catwoman's feline attitudes and themes had to remain academic, communicated either through the character's personal circumstances -- she owns cats -- or her physicality. Hence the cat-like fight moves and the black cat suit. It was only incidentally that Selina's Catwoman mask possessed a pair of pointed tips on the top, making it look vaguely like cat ears. 

"The Batman: Part II" is currently in production. It operates in the same world as the upcoming "The Penguin" TV series, but will exist outside of the ballyhooed upcoming connected DC Universe.

Read this next: Batman Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

The post Zoë Kravitz Kinda Began Catwoman Training for The Batman When She Was 10 Years Old appeared first on /Film.

The year is 2021: projects delayed by the pandemic are finally moving forward and the phrase "The Movies are Back!" has lost all meaning. But you're willing to let that go because news has just dropped that Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult are set to co-star in a violent comedy as Dracula and his bug-eating assistant, Renfield. At long last, The Movies will actually be Back because that's exactly the kind of unhinged, perfect casting that will save the industry!

Except that year is now 2023, "Renfield" is tanking in theaters, and more importantly, the movie isn't even half as fun as we thought it would be.

On paper, "Renfield" has all the makings of a good time: Cage's Dracula is a scene-stealing weirdo, Hoult is anchoring the movie with as much pathos as one can muster for a bug-eating multi-century murderer, and the action is campy as hell with gore frequently splattered across our screens. So where exactly did it all go wrong?

It might have something to do with the fact that — despite the promise made by the premise — this movie only spends so much time on the relationship between Renfield and Dracula. The other half of the runtime is dedicated to an extremely thin and utterly uncompelling plotline about Awkwafina's Rebecca Quincy, a cop whose father was murdered by the mob. What does New Orleans mobster crime have to do with the story of Dracula and his souring relationship with Renfield? I've seen the movie and I'm still not sure.

But wasting time that could be dedicated to the vampiric odd couple isn't even the biggest blunder that the film makes. The real fatal flaw of "Renfield" is that it squanders the talents of proven onscreen maniac, Nicholas Hoult.

The Role He Was Born To Play

Much fanfare has been made about the fact that "Nicolas Cage as Dracula" is one of the greatest ideas ever. Because, y'know, obviously. But there hasn't been enough hype about the genius behind casting Nicholas Hoult as Renfield. A mere glance at Hoult's resume will confirm why he's perfect for the role: crazed chrome-mouthed Nux in "Mad Max: Fury Road"? The menacing yet oafish emperor of "The Great"? The scheming, powdered-wig-wearing aristocrat of "The Favourite?" Hoult is incredible at being a maniacal little weirdo, which is exactly the personality that Bram Stoker's R.M. Renfield is known for.

The deranged, fanatically devoted servant presented in "Dracula" is literally locked up in an insane asylum for the bulk of the novel. Under the thrall of the Count, he's absolutely unhinged, casually feeding on flies, spiders, and birds. It creeps out everyone in his vicinity, as does his fascination with blood and weird ramblings about his master. His gleeful, unsettling energy is the kind of energy that I can easily picture Hoult pulling off. Unfortunately, my imagination is all I have: in "Renfield," that character is essentially scrapped for something more subdued.

Of course, I don't expect this twist on the vampire classic to follow every aspect of "Dracula" to the letter — the fact that it pokes fun at the lore is half the fun. But the movie does want us to believe that this version of Renfield existed once, a long time ago. We just never get to see it for ourselves. We're told that Renfield was once fully under Dracula's thrall, and committed heinous acts for his master without thinking twice. But by the time we meet him, centuries have passed and he's reluctantly treading on in Dracula's employ until an act of heroism inspires him to change.

Let Nicholas Hoult Be Weird, Dammit!

If hiding Renfield's reprehensible side is an effort to keep him likable then all I can do is shake my head in disappointment. If anyone can pull off going from an absolute monster to a sympathetic character in 90 minutes, it's Nicholas freaking Hoult. He's been nailing it for the past 20 episodes of "The Great," where the erratic psycho Emperor Peter III has slowly become a charming (if occasionally punchable) presence. We went from rooting for his murder to dreading his inevitably dark fate. The grand scheme to make us care for him has gone ridiculously well because Hoult always has us in the palm of his hands.

Hoult uses his face like a pro: playing up his boyish charms whilst pulling off heinous or disturbing acts. When he needs to, he hams it the hell up (huzzah!), whether that be abrupt murder in "The Great," or going totally apes**t in "Fury Road." In both cases, those are characters we end up rooting for with teary eyes.

Where is any of that in "Renfield," a movie that seems like the perfect place for Hoult's particular skillset? The movie is hilarious when Ben Schwartz goes wild as the buffoonish heir to a mob empire, and impeccable when Cage is snarling through razor-sharp teeth as the sauntering, uber-entertaining Drcaula. So how is there no space for Renfield to shine too? Isn't this movie named after him?!

Only occasionally does Renfield let loose, in too brief glimmers — like swallowing an entire ant farm to attack enemies with severed arms, still actively gushing blood. That particular scene comes late in the film, a quick glance at the lunatic that could've been. Hoult knows how to swing for the fences, and it's a shame that "Renfield" doesn't grant him the chance to prove it.

Read this next: The Best Horror Movie Performances Of 2022

The post Renfield's Biggest Problem is That It Doesn't Let Nicholas Hoult Be Weird Enough appeared first on /Film.

It's genuinely surprising that the peculiar Transylvanian family residing at 1313 Mockingbird Lane was never updated for modern audiences until 2022. "The Munsters" TV show ran on CBS for only two seasons in the mid-1960s and then sat dormant for decades until Rob Zombie finally revived the series, transforming it into a Technicolor feature film that eventually landed on Netflix. The final product served as more of a prequel to the TV series that focused on the bizarre courtship between Herman (Jeff Daniel Phillips) and Lily (Sheri Moon Zombie) before settling down with Lily's grandfather The Count, their son Eddie and their niece Marilyn. 

Regardless of whether you're a fan of the 2022 film or not, (/Film's review wasn't exactly kind), Zombie felt like the perfect choice to direct. "The Munsters" was a dream project for the musician and filmmaker who had long been obsessed with the original series and subsequent TV movies featuring Fred Gwynne returning to the Frankenstein-esque role he made famous. For evidence of Zombie's passion for the material, look no further than the MTV Cribs episode showing mountains of memorabilia and an original poster of the 1966 Universal movie "Munster, Go Home!" that advertised "America's Funniest Family in their First Full-Length Feature in Technicolor."

For now, it seems that Zombie has no plans to do a follow-up to his take on "The Munsters" after being put through the wringer just to get the film financed and completed during the pandemic. Zombie has the unique opportunity to go back and forth between directing and making music, and right now he has his sights set on his upcoming summer tour with Alice Cooper and making another record, according to a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. 

Zombie's Dream Project Wasn't Ideal

Getting any movie made is always an uphill battle, and Zombie has fought hard to get his indie horror filmography in front of audiences for decades. After directing several of his own music videos, Zombie's feature film debut, "House of 1000 Corpses" is somehow celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new Blu-ray and Best Buy exclusive SteelBook from Lionsgate. In short, he's paid his dues as a filmmaker and it sounds like "The Munsters" may be his last film for the foreseeable future, telling EW:

"'The Munsters' was exhausting. That was an exhausting movie to make. It took almost five years of non-stop pushing. And then, being in a foreign country, during the height of COVID, was not as much fun as you would think! So the whole experience was very draining."

The original TV series was filmed on the backlot of Universal Studios, but due to budget restraints, Zombie and crew traveled to Budapest, Hungary to shoot their version. After numerous attempts to get "The Munsters" made, Zombie had to go through a lot of adversity in order to get his vision in front of cameras, and it doesn't sound like he has any intention right now to try and repeat that process all over again. 

With multiple films under his belt at this point, Zombie really doesn't have much else to prove, and the loyal fanbase that he's amassed over the years has plenty of his horror movies to revisit until he decides to take on directing again. His only real reason to make a sequel to "The Munsters" is to revisit the iconic characters again, a luxury he was able to enjoy with his Firefly family trilogy of "House of 1000 Corpses," "The Devil's Rejects," and "3 From Hell."

Zombie Doesn't Need To Make Another Family Film

After making his mark in mainstream franchise horror with "Halloween" and "Halloween II," and making a true backwoods horror classic in "The Devil's Rejects," Zombie seems content to rest on his laurels. He's probably thought about where he could take the Munster family next, but he's adamant about not making another "Munsters" movie:

"I won't and I don't want to. The only reason I would ever want to is because I like making sequels. You have so little time with the first movie to develop these characters. Towards the end of 'The Munsters' film you go, okay, now they're all set, you can really jump in with what they're all about."

With the Firefly trilogy, Zombie got to mold Captain Spaulding, Baby, and Otis into new horror icons, which isn't easy to do. With the "House of 1000 Corpses" 20th anniversary happening now, it's as good a time as any to recognize Zombie's impact on the horror genre. "The Munsters" fulfilled a lifelong dream for Zombie, but there's no need to revisit the characters in a sequel that probably no one is really that interested in seeing, including his diehard fans. 

Read this next: Horror Remakes That Are Better Than The Originals

The post Rob Zombie Says Making The Munsters Movie Was Exhausting, And He Won't Make Another One appeared first on /Film.

While movie remakes are popular across genres (Anyone remember the 2018 remake of Garry Marshall's "Overboard"?), the horror genre is especially susceptible. The genre is unique insofar as its scares endure more than most. Where comedies and action movies, for instance, are inextricably linked to their time of release, a scary movie is a scary movie. With a fresh coat of paint, what was new three decades ago can seem fresh again.

A curious contemporary trend has emerged in which relatively recent titles are remade just a few years after their original releases. Released just 14 years after the first "Cabin Fever," the remake used the exact script as the original. Recently, horror filmmaker Anthony DiBlasi released "Malum" in select theaters. "Malum," a remake of DiBlasi's 2014 indie "Last Shift," isn't quite a shot-for-shot remake so much as it is a reimagining. With more money and more experience, DiBlasi revisits his demonic fable in a new context. 

Remakes have long been unfairly maligned. Though in some cases, they're even better than the originals. While fans remained mixed on what a remake should ultimately accomplish, the broad brushstrokes are there for filmmakers to reinterpret good ideas constrained by budget or decade of release. Here, we'll be looking specifically at 10 low-budget horror movies — all great in their own right — that could benefit from a remake.

Horror In The High Desert

Whether Dutch Marich's "Horror in the High Desert" gets a remake or not, it remains one of the scariest found-footage movies of the century. Structured as a faux-documentary, Marich's low-budget shocker uses several talking heads to explore the case of hiker Gary Hinge (Eric Mencis), who disappeared while hiking the Great Basin Desert. For the first hour, "Horror in the High Desert" speculates on what might have happened. Was it simply an accident? Was it foul play? Is Gary simply lost? As frightening as some of the suggested theories are, the truth is considerably more horrifying.

Unfolding in a breathless 20-minute climactic beat, Marich treats the audience to a genuinely terrifying foray into the darkness. The scares unsettle without seeming like too much, and in those moments, Marich cements himself as a horror auteur. It's in the early moments, however, where a remake could spruce things up. "Horror in the High Desert" takes a while to get going, and despite the committed work of an unknown cast, it very much feels like an indie production. The television graphics, interview staging, and true crime pantomime feel too uncanny. They're close to the real thing, but not quite. A remake could tighten the early moments, better ensuring the audience is fully invested by the time the terror arrives in earnest.

The House At The End Of Time

Alejandro Hidalgo's "The House at the End of Time" is one of the best international ghost stories of the last decade. Hidalgo channels a distinct Venezuelan lens in his merging of haunted houses and time travel, augmenting the entire enterprise with touching cultural specificity. It's unlike any haunted house movie that's come before, no doubt accounting for why it remains the highest-grossing horror movie in Venezuelan history. In 2016, New Line Cinema purchased the remake rights. However, in the years since, there's been no update on where the project stands or whether it's even going to happen at all.

A U.S. remake would no doubt dull some of Hidalgo's cultural touches, though it would expose domestic audiences to the original. Horror remakes, especially international horror remakes, are gateways for transnational cinema. They are springboards for the original release, opportunities for new audiences to discover and appreciate horrors beyond their own borders. A good story is a good story, and "The House at the End of Time" has a scary good one. It's worth giving this gem one more chance to shock audiences everywhere.

The Dorm That Dripped Blood

For the casual horror fan, "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" might simply be that movie Jamie Kennedy's Randy Meeks rattles off while on the phone with Ghostface in "Scream 2." For "Melrose Place" fans, "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" was the movie debut of Daphne Zuniga. Filmed at the University of California, Los Angeles, the film is a slasher in the purest form. Several students stay behind during the Christmas break to clear out an abandoned building, unaware that a killer is stalking the halls. "The Dorm That Dripped Blood" might not innovate, but with a meager $150,000 budget, it spills plenty of blood with style. 

Nevertheless, directors Stephen Carpenter and Jeffrey Obrow create a consistent level of tension, including a protracted chase scene late in the film. A remake with a bigger budget would fit well within the current horror landscape. Revitalized slasher series like "Scream" and "Halloween" are making big bucks at the box office, so now is as perfect a time as any to drag this overlooked slasher into the new age.

Ghostwatch

"Ghostwatch" is one of the scariest movies ever made. The infamous BBC production terrified an entire generation, prompting thousands of complaints from "traumatized viewers," some of whom were allegedly convinced the movie they were watching was real. An early iteration of the found-footage format, "Ghostwatch" splits its time between television studio and camera crew as host Michael Parkinson takes viewers through an investigation into an allegedly haunted house in Northolt.

As a precursor to the simmering scares of later subgenre entries like "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Outwaters," "Ghostwatch" might well be the granddaddy of found footage horror. It strikes a verisimilitude that's rarely been seen since, and while most of that is innate to its distribution (a Halloween night television premiere in 1992), the final moments suggest a much larger paranormal world. Contemporary filmmakers could add some money to the ghostly coffers and explore a world governed by the undead. Given the links between the antagonistic spirits and technology, a remake could easily springboard into a cautionary, modern tale.

Sole Survivor

Released in 1984, "Sole Survivor" was "Final Destination" before "Final Destination." What it lacks in budget, star power, and scale, it more than makes up for in the sheer savagery of its existential terror. Slasher fans especially hold "Sole Survivor" in high regard, but more casual audiences have likely never heard of it. That's a shame. Director Thom Eberhardt (who also directed "Night of the Comet" the same year) accomplishes a lot with an estimated $350,000 budget. However, with more money, the full thrust of his conceit could be explored.

Anita Skinner stars as Denise, a television advertising executive who survives a deadly plane crash as the film opens. As the titular sole survivor, Denise grapples with survivor's guilt and the unfortunate appearance of several specters. Something from beyond isn't happy she's survived, and it's looking to reclaim her. Part slasher, part mood piece in the vein of "Carnival of Souls," "Sole Survivor" is as terrifying as it is mysterious. Eberhardt paints a world of miraculous scale, though the budget often constrains some of his best ideas. While there's power in suggestion, a remake could easily take "Sole Survivor" to the next level.

Dog Soldiers

It's not fair to rag on Neil Marshall. This is the man responsible for "The Descent" and "Dog Soldiers," after all. Beyond his cinematic offerings, he's helmed some of the best episodes of "Game of Thrones," including the Emmy-nominated "The Watchers on the Wall." Yet, in recent years, the master of frenzied genre cinema has directed some duds. His latest movies, "The Reckoning" and "The Lair," seem inexplicably removed from the person behind them. How is "The Lair" a Neil Marshall movie? The aforementioned "Dog Soldiers," Marshall's directorial debut, is long overdue for a remake. Better still, it would get Marshall back to his roots and remind contemporary audiences why he was once the most exciting voice in horror.

"Dog Soldiers" follows a group of military men battling werewolves in the Scottish Highlands. With a £2.3 million budget, it was undoubtedly low budget, accounting for some unfortunate production constraints. At times, the action is obscured, the lighting is a bit too dark, and Marshall creatively guides the camera away when the effects aren't quite convincing. It's still a classic werewolf movie. However, with the benefit of today's technology, it could be even more. There's a dearth of good werewolf movies released lately (the last might well be 2022's "The Cursed"), and no film is better poised to bring lycanthropes back than "Dog Soldiers."

The Hallow

Horror fans are more than familiar with the indie-to-franchise pipeline. Studios poach new talent, though rather than giving them the funds needed to explore their original vision, they saddle them with IPs. After the success of "The Taking of Deborah Logan," director Adam Robitel was tapped for "Insidious: The Last Key." Lee Cronin's debut, "The Hole in the Ground," was all the executives needed to hand him "Evil Dead Rise." Corin Hardy's Sundance smash, "The Hallow," got him the gig directing "The Nun," the highest-grossing entry in "The Conjuring" universe. Arguably the most gothic entry in the franchise, "The Nun" is excellent and serves the argument that Hardy should be given another shot at "The Hallow," this time with the budget to match his vision. 

In "The Hallow," a conservationist and his family are targeted by fairies in the woods outside their rural Irish cottage. Like many indie creature features, "The Hallow" suggests more than it shows, exploiting sound design and motivated staging to imply the horror. When the action shifts to exteriors, "The Hallow" is just a little too dark — a purposeful technique to hide the low-budget monster effects. It's supremely effective, but fae horror remains an untapped well. If "The Hallow" were remade with a larger budget, it could be the incentive studios need to unleash more fae horror into the world.

The Void

When Universal Pictures scrapped the practical effects for Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.'s prequel "The Thing," effects artists Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. took to YouTube to share some of the work they'd done — work the studio later replaced with computer-generated effects. They'd later leverage this exposure into the 2015 release "Harbinger Down," a movie meant to celebrate practical monsters in all their glory. The monsters looked great. The rest? Well, it's a low-budget horror movie. A similar fate befell Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie's "The Void." Kostanski would go on to direct the sensational "Psycho Goreman," but "The Void" remains a beguiling exercise in what could have been.

When grotesque, Lovecraftian creatures besiege a rural hospital, a ragtag band of survivors must endure a hellish, interdimensional nightmare. Like "Harbinger Down," "The Void" has great monsters — some of the best this century's seen — but the movie never coalesces into anything more than an effects reel. A remake could easily give the filmmaking duo the budget to match the story with the effects. While Kostanski and Gillespie raised $82,000 through IndieGoGo for the keystone monsters, a remake with more financial backing would not only augment the effects but also the story itself. 

Banshee Chapter

Like "The Void," "Banshee Chapter" is Lovecraftian horror in its purest form. While mainstream audiences have been given bits and nibbles of cosmic horror (Alex Garland's "Annihilation" was released theatrically, after all), the subgenre is most often relegated to the indie video-on-demand sphere. In recent years, we've seen "Color Out of Space," "Mandy" (both Nicolas Cage vehicles), and "Glorious." All were festival hits that later arrived on streaming. Cosmic horror relishes in the unknown, but sometimes, a little more budget (perhaps something akin to Guillermo del Toro's canceled "At the Mountains of Madness") would be nice.

Blair Erickson's "Banshee Chapter" is the perfect low-budget shocker to remake. Loosely inspired by Lovecraft's "From Beyond," the film follows journalist Anne (Katia Winter) as she endeavors to track down her missing friend. There are government conspiracies, unusual drugs, and entities from another dimension. "Banshee Chapter" manages a lot with a little, though there's no denying its best ideas are unfortunately relegated to off-screen moments. There isn't enough money to dive that deep into the cosmos. Nevertheless, "Banshee Chapter" is one of the best indie horror releases of this century, and if any film deserves a comeback, it's this one.

Grave Encounters

The first "Grave Encounters" cost somewhere between $120,000 and $2 million. It grossed $3.6 million worldwide. The second cost $1.4 million, grossing an estimated $8 million, though those numbers are difficult to verify. Movie accounting is strange, but there's no doubt "Grave Encounters" was a cheap little thing that made some dough (It did, after all, get a much more expensive sequel). It was one of the first found-footage horror movies to capitalize on "Paranormal Activity's" success, leveraging the burgeoning availability of streaming to generate considerable word-of-mouth. While it hasn't endured like its inspirations, it's one of the last decade's better ghost stories. If only those ghosts looked good.

Where "Paranormal Activity" never shows too much of its, well, paranormal activity, "Grave Encounters" doesn't hide anything. The early tension is strong, but the terror dissipates as soon as the CGI baddies show their faces in the latter half. They're not convincing by any stretch. Although audiences certainly know they're watching a movie, the documentary verisimilitude cultivated earlier evaporates almost entirely. These ghosts are of the YouTube scare prank variety — gray, distorted faces, all digital and blurry. Despite some missteps, "Grave Encounters" deserves credit, and were it to be remade, a little more money could go a long way in better designing its spirits. With a bigger budget, "Grave Encounters" could actualize the funhouse feel it aspires to.

Read this next: 14 Horror Movie Flops That Became Cult Classics

The post 10 Low Budget Horror Movies That Deserve Remakes appeared first on /Film.

"The fact remains that Google Chrome is the arbiter of web standards," argues FSF campaigns manager Greg Farough (while adding that Firefox, "through ethical distributions like GNU IceCat and Abrowser, can weaken that stranglehold.") "Google's deprecation of the JPEG-XL image format in February in favor of its own patented AVIF format might not end the web in the grand scheme of things, but it does highlight, once again, the disturbing amount of control it has over the platform generally." Part of Google's official rationale for the deprecation is the following line: "There is not enough interest from the entire ecosystem to continue experimenting with JPEG-XL." Putting aside the problematic aspects of the term "ecosystem," let us remark that it's easy to gauge the response of the "entire ecosystem" when you yourself are by far the largest and most dangerous predator in said "ecosystem." In relation to Google's overwhelming power, the average web user might as well be a microbe. In supposedly gauging what the "ecosystem" wants, all Google is really doing is asking itself what Google wants... While we can't link to Google's issue tracker directly because of another freedom issue — its use of nonfree JavaScript — we're told that the issue regarding JPEG-XL's removal is the second-most "starred" issue in the history of the Chromium project, the nominally free basis for the Google Chrome browser. Chromium users came out of the woodwork to plead with Google not to make this decision. It made it anyway, not bothering to respond to users' concerns. We're not sure what metric it's using to gauge the interest of the "entire ecosystem," but it seems users have given JPEG-XL a strong show of support. In turn, what users will be given is yet another facet of the web that Google itself controls: the AVIF format. As the response to JPEG-XL's deprecation has shown, our rallying together and telling Google we want something isn't liable to get it to change its mind. It will keep on wanting what it wants: control; we'll keep on wanting what we want: freedom. Only, the situation isn't hopeless. At the present moment, not even Google can stop us from creating the web communities that we want to see: pages that don't run huge chunks of malicious, nonfree code on our computers. We have the power to choose what we run or do not run in our browsers. Browsers like GNU IceCat (and extensions like LibreJS and JShelter> ) help with that. Google also can't prevent us from exploring networks beyond the web like Gemini. What our community can do is rally support behind those free browsers that choose to support JPEG-XL and similar formats, letting the big G know that even if we're smaller than it, we won't be bossed around.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After an unexpected week off, we're back to talk about the calm before the storm as we discuss this week's gaming news, Everspace 2, Minecraft Legends, Jedi Fallen Order, and a lot more.  This week's music:  Metallica - Too Far Gone

Several government cybersecurity agencies united to urge secure-by-design and secure-by-default software. Releasing "joint guidance" for software manufactuers were two U.S. security agencies — the FBI and the NSA — joined with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the cybersecurity authorities of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, and New Zealand. "To create a future where technology and associated products are safe for customers," they wrote in a joint statement, "the authoring agencies urge manufacturers to revamp their design and development programs to permit only secure-by-design and -default products to be shipped to customers." The Washington Post reports: Software manufacturers should put an end to default passwords, write in safer programming languages and establish vulnerability disclosure programs for reporting flaws, a collection of U.S. and international government agencies said in new guidelines Thursday. [The guidelines also urge rigorous code reviews.] The "principles and approaches" document, which isn't mandatory but lays out the agencies' views on securing software, is the first major step by the Biden administration as part of its push to make software products secure as part of the design process, and to make their default settings secure as well. It's part of a potentially contentious multiyear effort that aims to shift the way software makers secure their products. It was a key feature of the administration's national cybersecurity strategy, which was released last month and emphasized shifting the burden of security from consumers — who have to manage frequent software updates — to the companies that make often insecure products... The administration has also raised the prospect of legislation on secure-by-design and secure-by-default, but officials have said it could be years away.... The [international affairs think tank] Atlantic Council's Cyber Statecraft Initiative has praised the Biden administration's desire to address economic incentives for insecurity. Right now, the costs of cyberattacks fall on users more than they do tech providers, according to many policymakers. "They're on a righteous mission," Trey Herr, director of the Atlantic Council initiative, told me. If today's guidelines are the beginning of the discussion on secure-by-design and secure-by-default, Herr said, "this is a really strong start, and an important one." "It really takes aim at security features as a profit center," which for some companies has led to a lot of financial growth, Herr said. "I do think that's going to rub people the wrong way and quick, but that's good. That's a good fight." In the statement CISA's director says consumers also have a role to play in this transition. "As software now powers the critical systems and services we collectively rely upon every day, consumers must demand that manufacturers prioritize product safety above all else." Among other things, the new guidelines say that manufacturers "are encouraged make hard tradeoffs and investments, including those that will be 'invisible' to the customers, such as migrating to programming languages that eliminate widespread vulnerabilities."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

CIO magazine reports on "a growing number of managers and executives dropping degree requirements from job descriptions." Figures from the 2022 study The Emerging Degree Reset from The Burning Glass Institute quantify the trend, reporting that 46% of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill occupations experienced material degree resets between 2017 and 2019. Moreover, researchers calculated that 63% of those changes appear to be "'structural resets' representing a measured and potentially permanent shift in hiring practices" that could make an additional 1.4 million jobs open to workers without college degrees over the next five years. Despite such statistics and testimony from Taylor and other IT leaders, the debate around whether a college education is needed in IT isn't settled. Some say there's no need for degrees; others say degrees are still preferred or required.... IBM is among the companies whose leaders have moved away from degree requirements; Big Blue is also one of the earliest, largest, and most prominent proponents of the move, introducing the term "new collar jobs" for the growing number of positions that require specific skills but not a bachelor's degree.... Not all are convinced that dropping degree requirements is the way to go, however. Jane Zhu, CIO and senior vice president at Veritas Technologies, says she sees value in degrees, value that isn't always replicated through other channels. "Though we don't necessarily require degrees for all IT roles here at Veritas, I believe that they do help candidates demonstrate a level of formal education and commitment to the field and provide a foundation in fundamental concepts and theories of IT-related fields that may not be easily gained through self-study or on-the-job training," she says. "Through college education, candidates have usually acquired basic technical knowledge, problem-solving skills, the ability to collaborate with others, and ownership and accountability. They also often gain an understanding of the business and social impacts of their actions." The article notes an evolving trend of "more openness to skills-based hiring for many technical roles but a desire for a bachelor's degree for certain positions, including leadership." (Kelli Jordan, vice president of IBMer Growth and Development tells CIO that more than half of the job openings posted by IBM no longer require degrees.) Thanks to Slashdot reader snydeq for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Scottish actor Gerard Butler has been headlining some of Hollywood's biggest, most successful, and most talked-about blockbuster releases for three decades. If any 2000s action star has a claim to A-list status, it's him. However, it still feels like not enough people discuss his acting talents.

For most of his career, Butler has prioritized a kind of unapologetically corny and popular cinema that often skews ... controversial, to say the least. Good and campy fun is Butler's bread-and-butter -- whether it's action, romance, adventure, or a musical. The key to appreciating him as a performer is to understand this fact and fall in love with the easy-watching pleasure these movies provide. However, it's also worth noting what deeper dimensions Butler brings to these roles, too. So here's an appraisal of the 12 best Gerard Butler movies. For the unacquainted, these picks will help viewers fall in love with the man's unique brand of crowd-pleasing entertainment.

Nim's Island

What better way to start a list of the best Gerard Butler movies than with one where he plays two classic Butlerian roles? Adapted from the eponymous children's story by Wendy Orr, "Nim's Island" brings together the headline-worthy trio of Butler, Jodie Foster, and Abigail Breslin — then just two years removed from her Academy Award nomination for "Little Miss Sunshine" — for a breezy, old-fashioned adventure tale with a playful meta twist. A girl named Nim (Breslin) lives on a remote South Pacific island and swaps emails with an adventure book author (Foster), who, despite the intensity of her stories, is agoraphobic and deeply neurotic. The author gets pushed to face her fears when the girl finds herself in real-life tropical peril.

Butler plays Jack Rusoe, a widower marine biologist and father of Nim, and Alex Rover, the fictional adventurer created by Foster's Alexandra Rover. While sequestered in her house, Alexandra imagines herself having conversations with Alex. The film is a fun, family-friendly romp buoyed by its strong performances. But what makes it interesting in the context of Butler's filmography is that the dual role allows him to display two vital facets of his star persona: The buff, manly action man, and the sensitive and emotionally accessible father figure-slash-love interest.

Gamer

It takes a certain amount of willingness to properly appreciate Butler's action filmography. His work in the genre is brash, noisy, excessive, testosterone-laden, unsubtle, and, yes, fundamentally ridiculous. While that flavor of cinema can go many ways, the fact remains that, when it does deliver, it delivers handsomely. A good Butler action vehicle whisks the viewer into a realm of pure, unmitigated sensory excitement. To showcase these gloriously trashy Butler vehicles, there's no doubt which one I'd choose first. When you have Neveldine-Taylor, go for Neveldine-Taylor.

In the short but vital directorial oeuvre of the American filmmaking duo, Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine ("Crank"), "Gamer" stands out as a brazen feat of bizarro cinema. Set in a dystopian future where nanite technology allows gamers to control humans as their avatars in video games, the film follows John "Kable" Tillman (Butler). Out of the many death row inmates using a video game, "Slayers," to gain a pardon, he's the most popular and successful. He longs to reconnect with his estranged wife, Angie (Amber Valletta), a paid actress-avatar in the "Sims"-like life simulator "Society." Conspiracies, insurrections, and sci-fi twists ensue — as well as buckets of gonzo sound, fury, and violence that only this particular star-director alignment could yield.

P.S. I Love You

Butler is not the first leading man to spend his career moving between the realms of action and romance. But he's definitely among the ones who seem uncannily made for both genres. Consider his chemistry with Hilary Swank in "P.S. I Love You:" Other actors might have been intimidated by the challenge of playing a character who provides the contextual fodder for the highly emotional performance of a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner. Yet Butler embraces the task with gusto, projecting the warmth and self-evident charm required to make the film's ludicrous premise work.

When I say "ludicrous," I do mean ludicrous. Like "Ghost" by way of a scavenger hunt, "P.S. I Love You" follows Holly Kennedy (Swank), a woman gradually healing from grieving her late husband Gerry (Butler) by ... her late husband Gerry? Before his death, he left her 10 messages to be delivered at strategic moments during her healing process. The film's uninhibited, louder-for-the-people-in-the-back sentiment was met with some resistance by critics at the time. Ultimately, it struck a winning chord with audiences, allowing it to become a worldwide hit. Like the best of Butler's work, it's a movie that understands the immense and fantastical power that a "more is more" philosophy has in popular cinema.

RocknRolla

Some directors have lanes, and Guy Ritchie decidedly has his. Following his early career success with "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch," his subpar films ventured outside of his range. But "RocknRolla" marked a return to form by Britain's quintessential director of stylish postmodern gangster flicks.

"RocknRolla" is one of the projects that allows Butler to combine his chops as a brawny action star with more substantial character work. Here he plays a wittier, more self-aware character. Even though Butler's One-Two is the film's ostensible protagonist, the cast around him offers just as much reason to give "RocknRolla" a watch: Thandiwe Newton, Tom Wilkinson, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba, Mark Strong, Toby Kebbell, and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges all lend their talents to the film's ensemble-based fun. Ritchie lets each of them take turns stealing the show from one another while Butler anchors the whole thing with impressive confidence. The plot could be described as a sort of gangster rat race, featuring a land scam that leaves millions of pounds up for the taking -- bringing London's criminal scene into a no-holds-barred fight for the gold. It's slick Ritchiean fun all the way down!

The Phantom Of The Opera

Is "The Phantom of the Opera" a good movie? Whole arias have been written in favor of and against that hypothesis. But 19 years later, the film community can't agree on an answer to that or the similarly pressing question: "Does Andrew Lloyd Webber make good musicals?" Half the people who read this list will disagree, but here we're going with a resounding YES on both counts.

Can Gerard Butler sing? His gruff, smoky, yet surprisingly melodic baritone makes a counterintuitive musical casting. But what can't be denied is that it was a memorable choice for the role. If the stage version of "The Phantom of the Opera" -- much like Webber's oeuvre -- is defined by its kitschy, operatic opulence, Butler turns out to be just the right guy to translate that into an understandable emotional language for mainstream film audiences. In Joel Schumacher's 2004 film adaptation, Butler's take on the Phantom is as simultaneously fearsome and seductive as it should be. Gaudy maximalism in the musical and the film's take on Gaston Leroux's Gothic tale of forbidden backstage romance has always made them something of an acquired taste. But those who do possess said taste should be broadly satisfied by this film. Arguably, this pick earns the distinction of being the "most over-the-top Gerard Butler movie."

Mrs Brown

In 1997, there was no such a thing as a "Gerard Butler persona" — which might explain why "Mrs Brown" finds him giving one of his most open, delightful, and least recognizable performances. Following a few early stage roles, this was Butler's big-screen debut. The John Madden-directed period drama tells the story of the famed, controversial close relationship between the recently-widowed Queen Victoria (played, for the first of two times in her film career, by Judi Dench) and her late husband's trusted Scottish servant, John Brown (Billy Connolly).

Produced by BBC and originally intended as a television movie, "Mrs Butler" was purchased and released in theaters by Miramax. Its story of friendship and kinship blossoming under the constraints of royal obligation found significant commercial success -- largely due to the typically stellar performances of Dench and Connolly. Dench received her first Oscar nomination for the film, a year before her supporting actress win for "Shakespeare in Love." But the two seasoned stars weren't the only ones who received attention for the film. Many viewers were quick to notice the handsome, fresh-faced, supernaturally charming 27-year-old actor playing John's concerned younger brother, Archie Brown. The rest, of course, is Scottish history.

Chasing Mavericks

For whatever reason, there aren't that many great surf movies out there. Outside of "Point Break" and, uh, "Surf's Up," it's hard to come up with a proper canon for that subgenre. But one movie that necessarily belongs on any list of must-see surf movies worth its saltwater is "Chasing Mavericks."

Notable as the last directorial effort of Curtis Hanson and the second-to-last directorial effort of Michael Apted -- who took over as director when Hanson's health troubles increased -- "Chasing Mavericks" tells the story of real-life surfer Jay Moriarty (Jonny Weston). At age 16, Moriarty became notable for successfully riding Mavericks -- the massive Northern Californian swell that has made the names of multiple big wave surfers. The film tells the story of how he pulled that off, aided by his trusted teacher and best friend Richard "Frosty" Hesson (Gerard Butler).

It's no secret that Butler has the gravitas and charisma required to ace a mentor role. But an even more impressive element of his performance in "Chasing Mavericks" is the degree to which he sells the surfing scenes. Per Los Angeles Times, the actor studied under big wave surfer Grant Washburn to make sure he got it right. His dedication to the role comes through fully in the film, which contains some of the most riveting (fictional) surfing sequences ever shot.

Coriolanus

Spartan king, gangster, surfer, jungle adventurer, Viking chieftain, hero pilot, and first-person shooter video game avatar? Sometimes, it feels as though Butler is deliberately collecting the Infinity Stones of pop-cinema masculinity. Thanks to "Coriolanus," we can add "Italic army commander" to that list. Talk about a guy who likes to face down powerful armies in the Classical Antiquity era.

"Coriolanus" is the strongest of the many screen adaptations of the eponymous William Shakespeare tragedy. The film makes the curious creative decision to preserve the original text while nonchalantly transposing it to a contemporary visual setting. Directed by Ralph Fiennes, the film also stars Fiennes in the role of Caius Martius Coriolanus, the Roman general banished from the city and retaliated by leading its enemies, the Volscians, in an assault against Rome. Butler plays Coriolanus' rival-turned-ally Tullus Aufidius, the commander of the Volscian army, in a performance that decisively proved he could acquit himself perfectly well as a classic thespian. After all, the film sees Butler more than hold his own while delivering Shakespearean dialogue alongside the likes of Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Chastain, and Brian Cox. Not that his comfort with this text should be a surprise! "Coriolanus," the play, had a major role in Butler's trajectory as an actor: Per Biography.com, his first break in the London theater scene came when he got the chance to play the title role in a 1996 production directed by Steven Berkoff.

Reign Of Fire

Every superstar actor has two or three cult movies in their catalog — those controversial, initially panned films that eventually find a small but passionate audience. There's an argument to be made that, forgettable assembly-line actioners aside, Butler's career is made up of nothing but cult films. With a few exceptions, the entries on this list aren't exactly "universally acclaimed" films: They're films deeply cherished by the right viewer, on the right wavelength, with the right amount of appreciation for a certain kind of face-first genre cinema. Out of all the Butler films rejected by the critical mainstream yet treasured by specific subsets of devout fans, one stands tall as not only the cult-iest but the best: "Reign of Fire."

Although remembered for the distinction of being the first blockbuster to make "realistic" CGI dragons a feasible onscreen proposition — enough to influence everything from "Game of Thrones" to "Harry Potter" — Rob Bowman's "Reign of Fire" is no mere technical landmark. The film is one of the most rousing, satisfying, and gorgeous fantasy sagas that Hollywood made in the 2000s -- pans and underwhelming box office be damned. Its post-apoc story of human survivors in a world overtaken by dragons hits just the right spot between soothing familiarity and awe-inspiring newness ... and boasts an ideal leading man trio in Butler, Christian Bale, and Matthew McConaughey.

How To Train Your Dragon 2

Sometimes, stunt casting in animated films can be grating. Other times, it works wonders. Butler as an unfeeling Viking dad named Stoick could have gone either way, really, as could have the "How to Train Your Dragon" series as a whole. Thankfully, this was the franchise that proved DreamWorks was just as capable as Pixar of delivering earnest, visually stunning, dramatically serious CGI animated masterpieces. Fittingly, it also provided Butler with one of the best roles of his career.

"How to Train Your Dragon 2" is not quite as phenomenal as the first film. (A tough bar to clear, to be fair.) But it's an even better showcase for Butler's voice work as Stoick the Vast, as the plot finds the mighty chieftain of Berk settling into a softer, vulnerable, and more emotionally flexible version of himself after the events of the first film. He's immediately challenged in his journey of personal growth by the reappearance of his long-lost wife, Valka (Cate Blanchett), who brings all of Stoick's repressed grief, fear, and love straight to the forefront. Even in animated form, Butler turns out to have impeccable romantic chemistry with his screen partner, and the film allows him to complete Stoick's arc beautifully.

Dear Frankie

Butler, regrettably, hasn't done a lot of small-scale indie dramas -- ones you find in the program of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes. But "Dear Frankie" is so good that it's worth a whole career of them. Directed by Shona Auerbach from a script by Andrea Gibb, the film boasts subtlety, a sense of place, and a generous spirit -- matching the best of British working-class cinema.

The plot follows Lizzie Morrison (Emily Mortimer, also in one of her best film roles), a mother who brought her nine-year-old deaf son Frankie (Jack McElhone) to the coastal town of Greenock, Scotland to steer clear of her abusive ex-husband. Without the heart to tell Frankie the truth about his father, Lizzie claims he's working far away as a merchant seaman. Through a series of coincidences, Frankie believes that his father has finally come to see him, forcing Lizzie to enlist a man known only as The Stranger (Butler) to pretend to be Frankie's dad for one day.

Although that logline could have made for something schlocky or sensationalist, "Dear Frankie" is never less than honest and deeply-felt. This film allows Butler to sink his teeth into a stunningly understated and complex role. It's comfortably the best live-action film of his career, and a reason to hope he returns to the arthouse drama world in the future.

How To Train Your Dragon

The first place on this list couldn't be anything else. "How to Train Your Dragon" is not only one of the best American films of the 21st century, but also one of precious few mainstream movies that have taken Butler seriously: He's an imposing leading man and a platonic old-school macho figure, yes, but dammit, the man also has a heart! The film captures those two dimensions of Butler and layers them on top of one another, allowing Butler's prowess as a heartrending dramatic performer to erupt through the cracks of his — ahem — stoic persona. No single line delivery in Butler's oeuvre has ever been more gut-wrenching or unforgettable than the simple words: "I did this."

That isn't to say there isn't lots of fun to be had with Butler's performance, too. Before anything else, this is a deeply entertaining movie. Butler's wholehearted committed to the goofily serious Viking voice, so you almost forget it's him. He makes for a perfect match with Jay Baruchel's winking, modern-sounding take on Hiccup. Together, they forge a father-son bond for the ages.

Read this next: 13 Tarantino Projects We Never Saw But Wish We Could've

The post 12 Best Gerard Butler Movies, Ranked appeared first on /Film.

As "The Mandalorian" has continued to progress and explore the war culture and complicated history of Mandalore, the Armorer has become an essential character within the overall arc of the series. Played wonderfully by actor Emily Swallow, the Armorer has emerged as a mentor and guide for Din Djarin and, now, Bo-Katan Kryze as they all work together to try and unite the scattered Mandalorian clans across the galaxy. She's steered by a greater sense of purpose that binds the Children of the Watch together and makes it seem like they're destined for greatness. Knowing the history of Mandalorian culture allows her to keep one foot in the past and one in the present, working as a kind of bridge between the ancient stories of the Old Republic and the budding possibilities of the New Republic era.

With how much of a crucial role the Armorer is playing in season 3 of "The Mandalorian," it's somewhat surprising to learn that there was quite a bit of mystery surrounding her involvement in the show beyond the first season. Every actor in "Star Wars" is kept in the dark to a certain extent to prevent any leaks or spoilers, and when Swallow first auditioned for the part, she had no idea what was in store for the character. "I sort of got the feeling that she was a little bit of an Obi-Wan to Mando, but I don't even think that idea crystallized until I sort of saw the whole season," Swallow told ScreenRant. "I don't think I got that sense from what I shot, because I wasn't in that many scenes in the first season, and I wasn't privy to the rest of the script." Thankfully for Swallow, that level of secrecy started to wane once she learned the Armorer would make her triumphant return. 

Get In Where You Fit In

Back when the Armorer was first introduced, she was a stoic, mystical leader trying to keep up the teachings of the Way while her people stayed in hiding on the planet Nevarro. After she crafted his new signet, the Mudhorn, out of beskar, she sent Din on his quest to return Grogu to his rightful parentage. On the surface, she functioned as more of a plot device that sets up Mando's mission. So, naturally, Emily Swallow assumed her part in the story would be coming to a close, telling ScreenRant:

"I didn't really know how the whole story panned out until I got to watch the season with everybody else when it was released. And then I had no idea, honestly, if I was going to come back because I wasn't in season 2. I didn't know how she would continue to fit into the story. When I got the script for the episode of 'The Book of Boba Fett,' things started to really fall into place in a more comprehensive way."

When the Armorer does make her unexpected return right in the middle of "The Book of Boba Fett," she serves a similar purpose for Din Djarin, who's now struggling to master and wield the Darksaber. It's here that the Armorer becomes more of an Arthurian character who teaches Din about the weapon and the ancient lore surrounding it. When Swallow knew she'd be returning, she made sure she understood where the Armorer fit in to the pre-existing canon. "I wanted to know, 'Okay, what of this is new information? What of it is stuff that she's revealing that had been suggested in the past, and what had been prophesied?' I wanted to make sure I was very specific about that," she explained. Now, the Armorer is becoming a very large piece of the sacred text of "Star Wars."

'Wait, I Might Have Job Security?'

The Armorer and the Darksaber are connected by the strict Mandalorian code of the Way and the prophesy that whoever possesses the ancient blade will restore Mandalore to its past greatness once again. So, it's no wonder that her character had to be a big part of the series going forward, a fact that stunned Emily Swallow when producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni broke the news to her (via ScreenRant):

"Then they started telling me that they were laying some of the groundwork for season 3 and things that would be coming up, which was shocking to me. Prior to this, I never found out if I was going to be part of the story until immediately before because of all the secrecy around it. So, I was like, 'Wait, I might have job security?'"

The more time that the Armorer shares with Din Djarin and Bo-Katan, the more her relationship with them mirrors the mentorship roles that have always been a part of "Star Wars," from Luke and Obi-Wan to Luke and Rey. The Way of the Mandalorian is much different that the path of the Jedi, but the Armorer is starting to take up that mantle now that she's becoming closer with both Din and Bo. "It's been really cool with 'The Book of Boba Fett' and the beginning of this season to see that she is more invested in Din," admitted Swallow. "There's a little bit of a softening there, if you can even say that with her."

The Armorer, of course, has just placed Bo-Katan and Din on their own mission to unite the Mandalorian clans, fulfilling what is likely to be her most important role for the rest of the season. But if Mandalore is restored, there's going to be a lot of beskar ore to mine, so don't expect the Armorer to be jumping ship anytime soon. 

Read this next: The Biggest Questions The Mandalorian Season 3 Needs To Answer

The post The Mandalorian: Emily Swallow Thought Season 1 Was The End For The Armorer appeared first on /Film.

According to /Film readers, the "Alien" film series is the greatest horror franchise ever. Yes, the xenomorph-starring series certainly has some strong films. However, it's not the most consistent (more on that later), so I disagree. Throughout horror history, sequels, remakes, and reboots have spawned franchises in sub-genres ranging from slashers to the paranormal. No IP is immune to a barrage of iterations. Sometimes, they work. Other times, well ... They leave much to be desired. 

Whether we're talking heavy hitters like "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Halloween" or offbeat series such as "The Living Dead," there's always a franchise to gnash your teeth on as a horror fan. Ghoulish monsters, vengeful witches, cannibal serial killers, and disturbed sleep demons decorate our favorite storytelling medium with nightmare fuel. But they're not all created equal.

I'm revisiting some of the biggest franchises and have compiled the 15 best ones, ranking them based on effective scares, storytelling, and direction. The usual suspects appear, including "Scream," "Friday the 13th," and "The Conjuring." But there may be a few surprises, too! Flip through my picks, and let us know how wrong -- or right -- I am!

15. Hannibal Lecter

In his 1981 novel, "Red Dragon," author Thomas Harris introduced Dr. Hannibal Lecter to the world. While 1986's "Manhunter" was the first film adaptation of Harris' book, it generated little public interest. But "The Silence of the Lambs", based on Harris' 1988 sequel novel of the same name, raked in $130 million at the domestic box office -- becoming a bonafide success. In "The Silence of the Lambs," Anthony Hopkins stars as Hannibal, alongside Jodie Foster as Agent Clarice Starling. Hopkins gave the character chilling new life, earning an Oscar for the role.

"Hannibal" picked up a decade after "The Silence of the Lambs," with Julianne Moore taking over the role of Clarice Starling -- now a disgraced FBI agent. What made the film work so well was its willingness to try something different. It made a decent bid to live up to the original. However, the film series' two prequels, "Red Dragon" (2002) and "Hannibal Rising" (2007), stand at opposite ends of the quality spectrum. The former film more faithfully adapted Thomas' 1981 book. But the latter failed to achieve anything remotely creative or interesting. Later, a popular television series, "Hannibal," starring Mads Mikkelsen, course-corrected the franchise and offered up something delectable.

The Hannibal Lecter-starring franchise offered a probing glimpse into the mind of a cannibal. While it isn't ranked high on this list, it still became a prominent staple in the horror/thriller arena, successfully incorporating crime and pulpy mystery.

14. Saw

"Saw" debuted during the 2000s' "torture porn" era. Director James Wan employed the genre's gruesome portrayal of humanity, often through graphic mutilations, to dissect wickedness in the modern world. The initial film, written by Leigh Whannell, broke new ground for horror with its primarily one-location, intricate crime-thriller web, and mind-blowing twist. Yes, the film series gets more convoluted as it continues. But each film release became an almost-yearly ritual for horror fans to see the newest entry's inventive blood splatter.

Besides the allure of its central killer, John Kramer, aka Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), audiences flocked to the theaters to see the kill sequences. Each film felt more elaborate than the last. Whether depicting someone falling into a pit of needles, a demented merry-go-round, or a barbed-wire pig pen, the set-pieces set this series apart from other extremist films of this time like "Martyrs," "Hostel," and "High Tension." Viewers thirsted after the blood, brain matter, and dismembered body parts as much as they sought to discover why these deaths were occurring.

However, the non-linear storytelling hurt and muddled the "Saw" franchise timeline. From flashbacks shoehorned into the story and sequels that marred sequences of events, the Saw franchise is a puzzling watch if you're searching for consistency. But across its nine films -- with "Saw X" in the works -- there's plenty to enjoy if "torture porn" is your cup of tea.

13. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

With the 1974 original film, Tobe Hooper commented on the Vietnam War and its lingering effects on the boomer generation. Twelve years later, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" traded its socio-political grittiness for outlandish camp with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2." The franchise never adhered to a single-family dynamic, swapping out relatives like people change their socks.

When it fully celebrated the wacky, as it did with 1995's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation," starring an unhinged Matthew McConaughey, it succeeded in deconstructing its mythos. For better or worse, it made bold moves. Even Leatherface evolved throughout the series history. Sometimes, he's a senseless brute, and other times, they're a gender-busting maniac. 

With the 2022 requel, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," the franchise centered itself with commentary on millennial gentrifiers who travel to small-time Texas and become slaughtered. Throughout its nine films, the franchise never took itself too seriously. Don't expect to dig beneath its layers for any cultural text. Instead, enjoy the ride! Overall, it's a fun franchise -- if not a total mess -- with films perfect for midnight viewings.

12. A Nightmare On Elm Street

Wes Craven found inspiration for "A Nightmare on Elm Street" after reading a tragic story about a young teen who died in his sleep. A real-life terror begat one of the most gruesome mass murderers in horror: Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund). With a claw for a hand, Freddy haunted the dreams of Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) and her friends in the 1984 classic. While the slasher age was on its way out, the film injected the genre with an adrenaline boost. Throughout the '80s, four sequels dropped, as well as a short-lived TV series called "Freddy's Nightmares."

Freddy's reign of terror first came to an end with 1991's "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare." Three years later, Craven returned to the franchise for "New Nightmare," a meta-slasher that saw Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund play fictionalized versions of themselves. As teased at the end of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees eventually went toe-to-toe in an epic battle for 2003's "Freddy vs. Jason." The curtain seemed to finally close on the Freddy saga -- until a remake landed in 2010.

The franchise started off strong before it moved away from what made it so special. Freddy transformed from a menacing sleep demon in the first three films to a paper-thin caricature most known for one-liners in later entries. Even the death sequences lost their appeal. If nothing else, the series is good for a chuckle, intentional or not.

11. Halloween

"Halloween" is like a choose-your-own-adventure book. It's got twists, turns, reboots, and remakes. But to its detriment, it could never stay on course. Much like "Psycho," John Carpenter's "Halloween" cemented many tropes we've come to expect in a slasher: It brought fear into everyone's backyard. Michael Myers embodied the idea of the Boogeyman watching you from afar. It was a totally terrifying horror reinvention -- even audiences agreed. The simple formula of "Halloween" made the slasher easy to imitate and widely inspired the sub-genres boom in the '80s.

Of course, that meant that its sequels had to feature a higher body count, tons of gore, and sex (or at least the suggestion of promiscuity). Over the next four-plus decades, "Halloween" became one of the biggest box-office draws in horror history. Studios churned out 12 sequels, including the David Gordon Green reboot trilogy, which recently concluded with "Halloween Ends." Along the way, Michael Myers came under the spell of a Thorn, appeared on a reality TV show, and saw his backstory get a total "white trash" overhaul. 

A franchise that began as a transcendent mile marker, "Halloween" morphed into a trend-chasing slasher franchise with nothing interesting to say. Sadly, it left its most compelling aspects -- such as the mystique surrounding its antagonist -- on the cutting room floor. Still, "Halloween" remains a cultural phenomenon and continues to define terror for several generations of horror fans.

10. Paranormal Activity

In 2009, the axis of the horror world shifted with the release of "Paranormal Activity." Not since 1999's "The Blair Witch Project" did a found footage flick shock audiences in such an indescribable way. Fear found a new home with Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat), and it wasn't going to take any prisoners. With its low-budget feel, the film proved that haunted houses could still be terrifying. Through the power of suggestion, it became a film that mercilessly put the audience in the front-row seat for one of the most unsettling found footage films of all time.

In the vein of "Saw," sequels and a prequel were churned out almost yearly. Each offered strong scares, especially "Paranormal Activity 3" and "The Marked Ones," which wormed beneath the fingernails. What could or could not be lurking in the darkness was the series' greatest asset: It knew human imagination is the most frightening thing. Holding the monster back is far scarier than exposing it to the light. "Paranormal Activity" lets fear run rampant and we were at the mercy of the filmmakers. We couldn't escape, but perhaps we didn't even want to try.

9. Alien

When you watch "Alien," a creeping sense of dread looms over the film -- even when the xenomorphs are off-screen. There's something magical about Ridley Scott's creation's ability to make everything feel claustrophobic and earnest. The introduction of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) gifted horror with one of its greatest, gun-toting protagonists. Unsurprisingly, the film sparked a decent franchise. I know what you're probably thinking: "Alien" isn't exactly horror. But it has all the hallmarks: terrifying imagery, carnage candy, and an overwhelming sense of panic.

As the series progressed, starting with the much-lauded "Aliens," action sequences became a crucial component of the film series. At times, these action scenes usurped the films' horror. Through the next two sequels, "Alien 3" and "Alien: Resurrection," the story becomes mangled with too many ideas -- not to mention the bizarre presence of a Ripley clone. 

I suppose points should be given for at least trying something different -- even if those ideas were bungled in execution. Two prequels followed but they never felt like "Alien" films. The same could be said for the two "Alien vs. Predator" movies. Versus situations -- here's looking at you "Freddy vs. Jason" -- never reach their full potential and instead read like milquetoast fan fiction. Still, "Alien" is one of the most popular horror franchises. The films are action-packed and bloody, and that keeps horror fans tuning in again and again.

8. Friday The 13th

According to Victor Miller, Sean S. Cunningham sought to explicitly rip off "Halloween" with the creation of his own holiday-themed slasher. "Friday the 13th" riffed on slasher conventions laid out by its predecessor but upped the body count with way more blood. While infusing a whodunnit element, the 1980 film -- starring Betsy Palmer as the vengeful matriarch Pamela Voorhees -- became a box office juggernaut. The 1980 film jumpstarted one of the biggest horror franchises in history. 

Jason Voorhees made his first appearance in the franchise in the 1981 sequel, "Friday the 13th Part 2." The film series dominated the '80s with six more sequels. No one could slow Jason down! But his end finally came with 1993's "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday," putting him to rest for eight long years.

As with "Halloween" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street," "Friday the 13th" got weirder as the franchise continued. Jason fought a young woman with telekinetic powers, took a boat to New York City, went to space, and eventually warred Freddy Kreuger post-death. The franchise was nothing if not adventurous. Following a remake in 2009, the franchise went dormant due to ongoing legal battles between Cunningham and Miller. 

However, a forthcoming prequel series titled "Crystal Lake," helmed by Bryan Fuller, promises to bring Jason Voorhees back from the dead ... again. The series' many shortcomings -- from bizarre premises to contrived storylines -- don't detract from its importance in slasher history.

7. Psycho

"Psycho" is the most underrated franchise. A proto-slasher, Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film took terror from caves and castles into the modern era. Fear didn't manifest through ghouls, goblins, or witches but through a gentleman in a roadside motel. One scene in the film scared audiences and its star Janet Leigh from taking showers. With its slasher-setting foundation -- from the butcher's knife to blood-spatter -- "Psycho" turned horror into a tangible and unassuming threat.

It's hard to imagine a sequel living up to what the original did -- but 1983's "Psycho II" served as a natural progression to the story. Years after the first film, Norman Bates' (Anthony Perkins) prison sentence is over. He confronts his past and attempts a fresh start. "Psycho III" and "Psycho IV: The Beginning," the latter featuring "Black Christmas" star Olivia Hussey, failed to achieve the same creative achievement as the first two films. However, later films deepened Norman's character study. Where "Psycho III" regurgitated plot points from the original while dishing up some excellent kills, "Psycho IV" fascinatingly glimpsed into an aging serial killer's head. When calling into a radio show, Norman revealed insight into his childhood through flashbacks. 

"Psycho," as a whole, including "Bates Motel" TV series, emerged as a worthwhile trip through a maniac's psychology -- a more refined version of what the Hannibal Lecter films did. But Anthony Perkins' lead performance is far more effective. With suspenseful scares and brutal violence, this franchise leaves its peers in the rearview mirror.

6. The Conjuring

Wan earned his place among the most masterful modern directors through his agility and genre fluidity. From "Saw" to "The Conjuring," he never offers a half-baked premise or idea. He commits to the work, so it's no wonder he's been crafting many of the best horror franchises in the past two decades. With "The Conjuring," Wan created a haunted world ripped from real-life accounts of ghosts. Most of "The Conjuring" adapts the reported Perron Family haunting, following the work of paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga).

Technically, "The Conjuring" doesn't stop with its main three films. Wan used the Warren characters -- and their cursed objects -- to spawn a cinematic universe, including three "Annabelle"-centric installments, "The Nun," and "The Curse of La Llorona." Sure, the quality of these films dips here and there, but that's the case for most franchises on this list. 

Overall, there are far more home runs here. With a polished mainstream appeal, the franchise delivers jump-scares that always serve the story. Sadly, jump scares get a bad rap from certain corners of the internet. But "The Conjuring" made jump scares vital. If it weren't for "The Nun" and "The Curse of La Llorona," two mediocre entries, the series would rank even higher here.

5. Final Destination

"Final Destination" retooled slasher conventions and up-ended modern horror. The killer wasn't some unknown assailant in a mask running around with a knife. Teens were running from death itself. The series totals five films so far and each entry proposes existential inquiries into what it means to die. Despite death being an inevitable part of life, we don't like to talk about it much. The franchise's willingness to get real has been part of its charm since its 2000 inception. Of course, audiences also tuned in for the elaborate kill sequences: Each entry upped the stakes and its body count. Even mundane actions could unwittingly trigger one's demise. Death by elevator, tanning bed, nail gun, and Buddha statue just scrapes the surface of the series' best setpieces.

Even at its weakest -- looking at you, "The Final Destination" -- the series outpaces most of its contemporaries. From actor appearances that include Devon Sawa, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Tony Todd to charming character performances, "Final Destination" earns a higher ranking on this list than you might expect. Yes, it's gruesome. But there are plenty of emotional arcs to anchor each installment's elaborate death sequences. This franchise gives us a raw peek into humans' desperation to avoid death. Above all else, it surely will make you squirm in your seat!

4. The Living Dead

In 1968, George A. Romero forever changed the horror landscape with "Night of the Living Dead." While zombie films were not a new conceit -- 1932's "White Zombie" is known as the first-ever zombie flick -- the 1968 film popularized zombies as a modern premise. Essentially, it kicked down the door to craft the massive zombie subgenre we have today. We wouldn't have things like "The Walking Dead" or "World War Z" without its monumental spin on zombie lore. But what's even more important is taking a look at how the film spun a franchise.

Across five sequels, Romero expanded the film's story. From 1978's "Dawn of the Dead," 1985's "Day of the Day," to 2007's "Diary of the Dead," each entry stands on its own two feet in terms of story and execution. The subsequent entries follow separate characters and locations amidst a zombie apocalypse. Between a shopping mall, an underground bunker, and a lavish mansion, Romero explored how different human beings reacted to and survived an outbreak. Every step of the way, the filmmaker delivered on the promise. Surprisingly, the sequels more than live up to the original film. Look, Romero was never going to outdo himself and surpass the original film. Still, his work displayed great attention to creating solid stories and characters. In the final moments of "Diary of the Dead," a character asks the audience whether humanity is worth saving: There lies Romero's franchise thesis. So, dear reader, are we worth saving?

3. Child's Play

Chucky is the MVP of killer dolls. Voiced by Brad Dourif, the pint-sized freak slashed his way into our hearts way back in 1988. "Child's Play" came way late in the slasher boom. You could argue slashers weren't even cool anymore. But like any legend, Chucky changed the game. He was as bloodthirsty as Michael Myers with Freddy Krueger-worthy-like quips. He knew how to blindside his victims and get the upper hand, quickly earning his place on the Mount Rushmore of horror icons.

It's not surprising Chucky sparked a film franchise and popular TV series. With "Child's Play 2," Chucky was given even more of a joking personality but it didn't sacrifice the film's scares. Creator Don Mancini struck a goldmine. From "Bride of Chucky," the much-maligned "Seed of Chucky," and "Curse of Chucky," Mancini perfectly sculpted a horror-comedy franchise. 

As outlandish as the films become, Mancini always poured heart into the story and got committed performances from his cast. After the release of "Cult of Chucky" in 2017, everybody's favorite plastic plaything took to SyFy for an ongoing TV series with an even higher body count and way more mayhem. Save for the 2019 remake, the series never missteps its continuity and achieves what few other franchises do: consistency.

2. The Evil Dead

"The Evil Dead" is like a box of chocolates. You just never know what you're going to get! Each installment has its unique set of spooky tricks and treats, presented in wildly different tones and approaches. If you're itching for more straightforward horror, the 1981 film will satiate you. If bloody camp is more your speed, I suggest "Evil Dead II" or "Army of Darkness" -- though the latter forged deeper into comedic territory with Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) delivering some of his most iconic zingers. If truly grotesque is what you're seeking, the 2013 remake will shock your system. Telling the story of a young woman undergoing detox at a secluded cabin, the film paid homage to the original while carving a uniquely terrifying vision.

Regardless of your appetite, "The Evil Dead" never shortchanges the audience. There are buckets of blood, decaying bodies, and severed limbs. Reportedly, 50,000 gallons of fake blood were used in the remake. The upcoming "Evil Dead Rise" promises to continue the franchise's uproariously bloody reign with agonizing sequences. Buckle up, buttercups. "The Evil Dead" is five for five!

1. Scream

No other horror franchise is as consistent as "Scream." Loosely based on The Gainesville Ripper, the 1996 original flipped the horror genre on its head with playful meta-ness and fang-toothed teardown of genre tropes. Plus, our central protagonist Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) redefined what it meant to be a Final Girl. Even though he was essential in cementing horror conventions, Wes Craven knew exactly how to shatter them and remold them for a new generation.

When "Scream" became a blockbuster success, sequels were inevitable. "Scream 2" and "Scream 3" did all the things sequels should do: upped the body count, delivered more elaborate kill sequences, put the central characters in actual danger, and involved a "preponderance of exposition," as Randy (Jamie Kennedy) put it best.

The franchise then laid dormant for 11 years before returning with "Scream 4," showcasing Craven's commentary on horror's remake craze. Following his death, the franchise lay dormant until 2022. With 2022's requel "Scream," the story veered away from Sidney. Instead, it refocused attention on a new crop of characters. "Scream VI" followed a year later -- and once again delivered the goods with strong character work, more blood, and elevated (quite literally) set pieces. 

"Scream" is the rare franchise that is miles ahead of its competition -- even on its worst day. Radio Silence has met the challenge to keep Craven's legacy alive. You can't kill Ghostface, after all.

Read this next: Horror Movies That Even Horror Fans Could Hardly Finish

The post The 15 Best Horror Franchises Of All Time, Ranked appeared first on /Film.

SharewareHeroes.com recreates all the fonts and cursor you'd see after dialing up a local bulletin-board system in the early 1990s. It's to promote a new book — successfully crowdfunded by 970 backers — to chronicle "a critical yet long overlooked chapter in video game history: the rise and eventual fall of the shareware model. The book promises to explore "a hidden games publishing market" that for several years "had no powerful giants," with games instead distributed "across the nascent internet for anyone to enjoy (and, if they liked it enough, pay for)." And the site features a free excerpt from the chapter about DOOM: It seemed there was no stopping id Software. Commander Keen had given them their freedom, and Wolfenstein 3D's mega-success had earned them the financial cushion to do anything. But all they wanted was to beat the last game — to outdo both themselves and everyone else. And at the centre of that drive was a push for ever-better technology. By the time Wolfenstein 3D's commercial prequel Spear of Destiny hit retail shelves, John Carmack had already built a new engine. This one had texture-mapped floors and ceilings — not just walls. It supported diminished lighting, which meant things far away could recede into the shadows, disappearing into the distance. And it had variable-height rooms, allowing for elevated platforms where projectile-throwing enemies could hang out, and most exciting of all it allowed for non-orthogonal walls — which meant that rooms could be odd-shaped, with walls jutting out at any arbitrary angle from each other, rather than the traditional rectangular boxed design that had defined first-person-perspective games up until then. It ran at half the speed of Wolfenstein 3D's engine, but they were thinking about doing a 3D Keen game next — so that wouldn't matter. At least not until they saw it in action. Everyone but Tom Hall suddenly got excited about doing another shooter, which meant Carmack would have to optimise the hell out of his engine to restore that sense of speed. Briefly they considered a proposal from 20th Century Fox to do a licensed Aliens shooter, but they didn't like the idea of giving up their creative independence, so they considered how they could follow up Wolfenstein 3D with something new. Fighting aliens in space is old hat. This time it could be about fighting demons in space. This time it could be called DOOM. The book's title is Shareware Heroes: The Renegades Who Redefined Gaming at the Dawn of the Internet — here's a page listing the people interviewed, as well as the book's table of contents. And this chapter culminates with what happened when the first version of DOOM was finally released. "BBSs and FTP servers around America crashed under the immense load of hundreds of thousands of people clamouring to download the game on day one. "Worse for universities around the country, people were jumping straight into the multiplayer once they had the game — and they kept crashing the university networks..."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

the Steam versions of Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake received new updates overnight, but from the looks of it, these updates have removed ray tracing support.

These Resident Evil games received their "next-gen" updates (alongside Resident Evil 7) last year, offering ray tracing, and boosted framerates en resolutions. These updates were made available for PC as well as the PS5 and Xbox Series versions of said games. As now being reported on Reddit by various users, however, yesterday's updates have removed the option to enable ray tracing. We've included a screenshot of the graphics options screen from Resident Evil 2 Remake (as posted by Reddit user "Kaoral") showing the lack of a ray tracing option following yesterday's patch.

Interestingly, there's been no mention of new patches for these titles, but SteamDB does list a new unnamed patch that was rolled out yesterday. This is also the case with Resident Evil 3 Remake, although there's no listing for a Resident Evil 7 patch. On Reddit, users are also reporting that ray tracing has been removed from Resident Evil 7, but we haven't seen evidence of that just yet.

Some days ago, Capcom announced that it would end support for the DX11 non-ray tracing versions of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 7 as of July. "On 7/12/2023, support will end for the DirectX 11 non-ray tracing versions (dx11_non-rt) of Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3", Capcom wrote. "After technical support has ended, we cannot guarantee compatiblity or operation when using these versions of the games."

Of course, it's not July just yet, and the removal of Ray tracing appears to be a mistake on behalf of Capcom. As such, it's likely that we'll see a new minor patch re-enabling ray tracing support on PC shortly. As always, we'll update you as soon as more information about this matter comes in.