Malicious Life by Cybereason tells the unknown stories of the history of cybersecurity, with comments and reflections by real hackers, security experts, journalists, and politicians.
In an attempt to halt the Morris worm’s path of destruction, a systems administrator at Harvard shut down the university router through which Andy Sudduth’s message would be sent to the internet. The post didn’t go through until after it was too late. In a tragic movie-twist, the fix that everybody needed was heard by […] The post The Morris Worm Pt. 2 appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
We’ve introduced you to some of the seminal malware attacks that have shaped cybersecurity history. Perhaps no other incident in history, though, has had the effect on how we think about computer security today as the Morris worm. The post The Morris Worm Pt. 1 appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
How far should a die-hard fan go, in order to bring closer to them the thing that they love? In one of the most interesting, yet relatively unknown cybersecurity stories, a young hacker attempts to steal his favorite game prior to its release and then attempts to blackmail his victims into hiring him. An evil […] The post The Half Life 2 Hack appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
Catching a criminal is by no means easy, but there’s something we take for granted in any crime: that the criminal has a face and a name, that they used a specific weapon on a specific target, and that the crime had ended once it was complete. But what about a crime without a […] The post The Legalities of the Cyber War appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
When representatives from the Democratic National Committee reached out to a silicon valley cybersecurity company, to investigate a potential breach in their computer system, it’s hard to imagine what they might have expected to come of it. It didn’t take long to discover that something was amiss. Red flags were popping up all over the […] The post Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
Those who have experienced a cybercrime know the feelings of frustration and helplessness that come along with it. A hacker could be halfway across the world when they attack you, and you might have no way of figuring out who it was or catching them even if you could. So frustrating. But is there really nothing we […] The post Hack Back appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
What governments and powerful organizations regularly use, others will find ways to use as well. Cyber activity fits so incredibly well with terrorism. Actors can remain hidden, or reveal themselves to the world; Create propaganda campaign, or aim for real damage. Join us on this episode of Malicious Life, as we learn the story of […] The post Cyber Terrorism appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
The NSA has many means at its disposal. But how does it use these means, and for what goals? Discover the (literally) secret history of the NSA’s cyber activity. Travel with us to Russia and back, learn the origins of FISA, and find out more about the government agency so secret it was once dubbed […] The post Super Spies appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
The early 2000s were an interesting time in Information Security. This is roughly the period when malware transitioned from viruses written by teenagers for fun, to cybercrime tools in the hands of sophisticated criminals. This week’s story took place in that time frame – and was a precursor of that transition. It is also a cautionary […] The post The Trojan Horse Affair appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
The largest hack in U.S military history may have been conducted by… The NSA. In 1997, a wargame conducted by the NSA showed just how unprepared we were for a potential cybernetic strike- in 4 days, NSA hackers were able to take down entire military networks. It revealed the dire consequences of a possible cyberattack, and even […] The post Friend or Foe appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
It’s the holidays and everyone’s on vacation – but the Internet never rests and neither do the bad guys in cybersecurity. So, for this holiday special, we figured we’ll air an interesting interview we did a few weeks back with Amit Serper, Principal Security Researcher at Cybereason, NotPetya vaccinator, and former cyber warrior for the […] The post Amit Serper Interview- Holiday Special Episode appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
From the Bulgarian hacker scene of the 90’s, featured in episodes 1 and 2, we now move to the vibrant underground hacker scene of West and East Berlin. Working secretly for the KGB, a young Berliner hacker attempts to hack the U.S military network, only to be stopped by a curious, and inventive astronomer. A […] The post Deception appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
The threat of fire and fury stands at the center of all modern conflicts- nuclear bombs that can eradicate life in seconds are the ultimate weapon of war, as they pose a huge threat to centers of population. But what of the cyber war? What threat could it possibly pose to life as we know […] The post Weapons of Mass Disruption appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
Guerrilla warfare has been around for as long as conventional warfare has. The idea that a small force, through cunning and brazen action, could overtake a larger force is an old one. From pirates who would take merchant ships by surprise, to lengthy military campaigns against an enemy that is hiding in plain sight. The […] The post The Soldiers of North Korea appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
Governments around the world have been making devious use of the internet as a platform to spread, not malware, but propaganda. As in all wars, propaganda is a huge part of the modern cyber war. Join us as we explore the roots, and the most creative uses of the internet to spread information and disinformation […] The post The Propaganda appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
WikiLeaks has ushered in a new age in whistle blowing: Modern leakers such as Chelsea Manning – who’s story is the focus of our current episode – expose huge amounts of confidential information. But can these mega-leaks really influence the actions and policies of governments? The post The Whistleblowers appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
Stuxnet was a devastating weapon, but who wielded it? That is the question we try to answer with the final installment of our Stuxnet series. In this episode, we explore other, similar battles of the modern cyber war, and look further into the topic of Zero Day vulnerabilities. With special guests: Andrew Ginter, and Blake […] The post Stuxnet, part 3 appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
Stuxnet was a weapon, a kind of a smart bomb- perhaps one of the smartest bombs ever created. A bomb that couldn’t rely on operators, cameras, and laser targeting, instead it had to “think” its way to its destination. An invisible commando unit, dropped deep behind enemy lines. And its payload- not explosives, but lines […] The post Stuxnet, part 2 appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
Where armies once fought with bullets and bombs, they now engage in clandestine, invisible warfare. In 2010 a virus was discovered that would change the world’s perception of cyber warfare forever. Dubbed Stuxnet, this malicious piece of code has a single focus- to stop to development of Iran’s nuclear program. Part one of this three […] The post Stuxnet, part 1 appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
A global FBI manhunt for the world’s most wanted cyber criminal ends in the capture of a massive criminal network, but with the escape of the man himself. Security experts who operate within the gray areas of morality develop botnets that destroy personal devices infected with malicious botnets in what they call “the chemotherapy of […] The post Hell to Pay appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
WannaCry’s widespread cyber attack on more than 200,000 computers all over the world made headlines – but only a few people remember a similar attack, named The AIDS Trojan, almost 30 years earlier… In this episode of Malicious Life, we go deep into the world of ransomware to examine its roots, the tools used and […] The post The Roots of Evil appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
2016 is known throughout the circles of information security as “The Year of The DDoS Attacks”, and rightfully so: 5 large scale DDoS attacks – ‘Distributed Denial Of Service’ – shocked the technology world. In this episode of Malicious Life, we examine how the power of the internet itself can be harvested and deployed to […] The post Big Cannons appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
In this episode of Malicious Life, we take a look at one of the oldest forms of criminal activity on the web- the spam empires of the 90’s and 2000’s. Find out how these multi-million dollar industries operated, how they served as a half step towards the organized online crime groups of the modern age, […] The post Spam Empire appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
In 1989, a message was found in a virus: “Eddie Lives…Somewhere in Time!”. ‘Eddie’ was a particularly nasty virus, and its discovery led a young Bulgarian security researcher down a rabbit hole, on a hunt for the prolific creator of the Eddie virus: The Dark Avenger. With special guests: Vesselin Bontchev, Graham Cluley. The post The Dark Avenger appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
Cybercrime is one of the most notable threats we face as computer users, nowadays. But it wasn’t always so. Those of us who’ve been in the field long enough may remember a time when computer viruses were much more innocent, and virus authors were usually just bored computer geeks- not members of a sophisticated, well-organized […] The post Ghost In The Machine appeared first on Malicious Life . Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands...
