The podcast that tells true stories about the people making and breaking our digital world. We take listeners into the world of cyber and intelligence without all the techie jargon. Every Tuesday and Friday, former NPR investigations correspondent Dina Temple-Raston and the team draw back the curtain on ransomware attacks, mysterious hackers, and the people who are trying to stop them.
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran has ignited the most powerful protests the country has seen in years. In addition to violence, authorities have responded with a host of new tools to throttle mobile phone connections, block social media sites, and make it harder for people to organize. Plus, Iran's diplomatic kerfuffle over a cyber attack in Albania. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
As the wrangling continues over classified documents former President Trump took to his Florida home, we take a second look at the case of Reality Winner, the NSA contractor who served time in prison for passing a classified document to a reporter. We had a rare interview with her in February. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The town whose name has become synonymous with Russian atrocities in Ukraine is rushing to digitize information about the dead --- not just to identify them and give families closure --- but to hold Russians accountable for the wanton brutality in Bucha. Plus, scandal in the elite chess world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Young people who have been making millions hacking mobile phones — known as SIM swappers — have found a new way to intimidate and harass their rivals. They call it “violence-as-a-service” or “IRL jobs,” and it includes a Telegram channel where they can order brickings, firebombings, and even shootings in the real world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The talk of DEF CON 2022 was the handiwork of a white hat hacker named Sick Codes. On stage, he demonstrated how he broke the digital locks of a John Deere tractor. He did it with such ease, it made people start to wonder: just how hack-able is the world’s agriculture sector? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Hydra was a darknet superstore. It started out as an online illegal drug site and morphed into a billion-dollar business with codes of conduct, customer support, and legal and medical services. It had started offering money laundering services when German authorities finally shut it down in April. Now people are asking: who or what will replace it? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Back in April, cybersecurity officials discovered the notorious “Industroyer” malware in the Ukrainian electrical grid. It might have been the scariest infrastructure hack since malware destroyed centrifuges at an Iranian uranium enrichment plant in 2010 – were it not for a TGIF miracle. Plus, a visit with the IT Army of Ukraine and a different kind of information operation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
At a time when Vladimir Putin is attempting to redraw the Iron Curtain, we take a trip back to the Soviet Union circa 1985 when four American musicians smuggled messages in and out of the Soviet Union — with music. Plus, DefCon’s answer to those alien transmissions. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
We first spoke with Russian business owner Stanislav back in early March, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Almost six months later, we check back in with him to see how he’s doing, and look at a new report that suggests the Russian economy is cratering. Plus, inside a massive breach affecting a police database in Shanghai. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Thousands of satellites watch the world from above. We offer a mystery story about an infamous North Korean video, a team of very observant researchers, and a search for the truth. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Carine Kanimba’s father may be one of the most famous Rwandans on earth – Paul Rusesabagina. He was the manager of the Hôtel des Mille Collines, and he sheltered more than 1,200 Rwandans during the 1994 genocide. Now his daughter is at the center of a Capitol Hill inquiry into the proliferation of commercial spyware, a particular program called Pegasus, and the future of the company that created it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
An encore performance of one of our favorite episodes about LAPSUS$, a cyber extortion gang that convinced the world its low-tech hacking operations were really high-impact heists. Plus, we hear how two high school computer geeks almost brought down IBM’s computer center in Manhattan. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Earlier this year, the CBC's Nothing is Foreign podcast reported on how El Salvador's promise of a cryptocurrency paradise runs up against reality. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
An encore performance of one of our most popular episodes. Five years ago, a Mississippi woman named Latice Fisher was charged with murdering her stillborn child. The evidence against her: a controversial 400-year-old test and the search history on her cellphone. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Last August, the Darknet Diaries host Jack Rhysider did a story about the NSO Group’s most famous product — Pegasus — a surveillance program which has the ability to turn just about anyone’s phone into a pocket spy. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Conti ransomware group appeared to be on ropes earlier this year when its internal chat logs went public –revealing the inner workings of a hacking cartel. Then, the gang surprised everyone by launching a cyber attack against Costa Rica aimed at overthrowing its government. Plus, what happens when a company actually wants to talk about being the target of a ransomware attack - how much will they say? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
For years, North Korea was known for making such a perfect counterfeit hundred-dollar note, the Treasury Department had to change how it printed them. Now, North Korea is all about crypto – and it has been cooking up all kinds of crazy schemes in order to get the Big Score. Plus, we hear from a two-time North Korean defector. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
In a wide-ranging conversation on the fringes of this month’s RSA Conference, we sat down with Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Presidential Intelligence Advisory Board member Gilman Louie. We talked about the Chinese cyber threat, the growth of superpower competition, and the importance of bringing high-tech manufacturing back to America. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Genshin Impact put the Chinese video gaming industry on the map. But while the game has delighted players, it begs the question: Can China’s Communist Party and a massively popular video game peacefully co-exist? Plus, we hit the ground at this year’s RSA Conference in San Francisco. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
An encore performance of the Click Here pilot episode on REvil and how it landed on a new business model. It happened in an unlikely place: Texas. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Five years ago, a Mississippi woman named Latice Fisher was charged with murdering her stillborn child. The evidence against her: a controversial 400-year-old test and the search history on her cellphone. We explain how in a post-Roe world, pattern data will be an even greater threat. Plus, the DOJ tweaks its use of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Facial recognition technology is changing the war in Ukraine. It is finding infiltrators, providing evidence for war crimes and, more darkly, providing fodder for propaganda. We talk to Clearview AI’s CEO about its role in the conflict and what it means for the future. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Tech entrepreneurs and developers are fleeing Putin’s Russia in droves. Meet three members of the exodus: a young successful entrepreneur… a corporate manager… and a high-school computer whiz who can’t wait to leave. Plus, DHS’ Rob Silvers on how ransomware ends. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Ron Deibert founded The Citizen Lab, a high-tech human rights watchdog at the University of Toronto. He's concerned the Internet could unleash our darkest angels. Now, he has an even bigger worry: spyware. It's become so normalized even democratic nations are using it as high-tech oppo research. Plus, a pause in open source mapping in Ukraine. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How a new cyber extortion team called LAPSUS$ managed to convince the world that it had turned low-tech hacking operations into high impact heists. And two high-schoolers who tinkered with a punch card and almost brought down the IBM computer center in Manhattan. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Los Angeles tech entrepreneur reveals for the first time the role he played in bringing one of the world’s deadliest hackers to justice. And the founder of Craigslist talks about his effort to build a cyber civil defense force. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
In its latest defense budget, the Biden Administration has asked Congress to fund the modernization of America’s nuclear weapons systems.The current system – that until recently was still using eight inch floppies – is seen as so old that it’s virtually un-hackable. So if you modernize, now what? Plus, cyber hits from Nigeria’s music scene. SHOW NOTES: At The Brink podcast Herb Lin's book Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons How cybercrime remixed the Nigerian Music scene Learn about your ad choice...
Noura Al-Jizawi thought she’d left the repression of the Assad regime behind her when she left Syria with her sister. Instead she became the target of an online subversion campaign. Plus, we meet the founder of a retro computer museum in Mariupol, Ukraine. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
As sanctions squeeze the Russian economy, ordinary Russians are having to navigate a financial system in mid-collapse. For some, the solution has been cryptocurrencies. We talk to a small businessman in St. Petersburg who explains. Plus, the hack heard ‘round the indie music world. SHOW NOTES: Grimes Admits to Blackmail, Extortion, and Hacking in Vanity Fair Video Interview Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices...
A volunteer army made up of thousands of IT professionals from around the world is seeking to fight Russia in cyberspace. We talk to some of its members and discover new limits to Russia’s hacking efforts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
