In this episode, we delve into the multifaceted career of Joe Grand, also known as “Kingpin.” A renowned hardware hacker and computer engineer, Joe has been exploring and manipulating electronic systems since the 1980s. As a former member of the legendary hacker collective L0pht Heavy Industries, he has significantly contributed to the cybersecurity landscape. Joe is also the proprietor of Grand Idea Studio, a research and development firm, and has shared his expertise through various media, inc...
Mar 04, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Ep 155•Transcript available on Metacast Conor Freeman (x.com/conorfrmn) stole money online. Lot’s of it. In this episode we talk with him, and hear how he did it, why he did, and what he spent it on. Conor’s website: https://conorfreeman.ie Conor’s X: https://x.com/conorfrmn Sponsors Support for this show comes from ThreatLocker® . ThreatLocker® is a Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform that strengthens your infrastructure from the ground up. With ThreatLocker® Allowlisting and Ringfencing™, you gain a more secure approach to block...
Feb 04, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep 154•Transcript available on Metacast Have you ever got your bike stolen? In this episode we dive into the world of stolen bikes. Who does it and where do the bikes go? We talk with Bryan from Bike Index who investigates this. https://bikeindex.org Sponsors Support for this show comes from ThreatLocker® . ThreatLocker® is a Zero Trust Endpoint Protection Platform that strengthens your infrastructure from the ground up. With ThreatLocker® Allowlisting and Ringfencing™, you gain a more secure approach to blocking exploits of known and...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep 153•Transcript available on Metacast Jarett Dunn, AKA StaccOverflow, stole millions of dollars from a website called Pump Fun, and he wanted to do it in the most dramatic and theatrical way he could. His big heist is known as the “Stacc Attack”. https://x.com/STACCoverflow He has a merch store now freestacc.io . Sponsors Support for this show comes from Cobalt Strike . Cobalt Strike simulates real-world, advanced cyber attacks to enable red teams to proactively evaluate an organisation’s security readiness and defence response. The...
Dec 03, 2024•53 min•Ep 152•Transcript available on Metacast Chris Rock is known for being a security researcher. But he’s also a black hat incident responder. He tells us about a job he did in the middle east. https://x.com/chrisrockhacker Sponsors Support for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company’s ransomware blast radius is? Varonis does a free cyber resilience assessment that tells you how many important files a compromised user could steal, whether anything would beep if they did, and a whole lot more. They actually do all the...
Nov 05, 2024•58 min•Ep 151•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 20 of Darknet Diaries, we heard from Greg aka “mobman” who said he created the sub7 malware. Something didn’t sit right with a lot of people about that episode. It’s time to revisit that episode and get to the bottom of things. Sponsors This show is sponsored by Shopify. Shopify is the best place to go to start or grow your online retail business. And running a growing business means getting the insights you need wherever you are. With Shopify’s single dashboard, you can manage orders...
Oct 01, 2024•43 min•Ep 150•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode we hear EvilMog (https://x.com/Evil_Mog) tell us a story about when he had to troubleshoot networks in Afghanistan. We also get Joe (http://x.com/gonzosec) to tell us a penetration test story. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company’s ransomware blast radius is? Varonis does a free cyber resilience assessment that tells you how many important files a compromised user could steal, whether anything would beep if they did, and a whole lot m...
Sep 03, 2024•48 min•Ep 149•Transcript available on Metacast Ever wondered how far a fan would go to get a sneak peek of their favorite artist’s unreleased tracks? In this episode, we uncover the audacious story of some teens bent on getting their hands on the newest dubstep music before anyone else. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company’s ransomware blast radius is? Varonis does a free cyber resilience assessment that tells you how many important files a compromised user could steal, whether anything would bee...
Aug 06, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Ep 148•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Geoff White (https://x.com/geoffwhite247) tells us what happened to Axie Infinity and Tornado cash. It’s a digital heist of epic proportions that changes everything. This story comes from part of Geoff’s book “Rinsed” which goes into the world of money laundering. Get yours here https://amzn.to/3VJs7pb.
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep 147•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Joseph Cox (https://x.com/josephfcox) tells us the story of anom. A secure phone made by criminals, for criminals. This story comes from part of Joseph’s book “Dark Wire” which you should definitely read. Get yours here https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/joseph-cox/dark-wire/9781541702691.
Jun 04, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 146•Transcript available on Metacast Shannen Rossmiller wanted to fight terrorism. So she went online and did. Read more about her from her book “The Unexpected Patriot: How an Ordinary American Mother Is Bringing Terrorists to Justice”. An affiliate link to the book on Amazon is here: https://amzn.to/3yaf5sI. Thanks to Spycast for allowing usage of the audio interview with Shannen. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company’s ransomware blast radius is? Varonis does a free cyber resilience a...
May 07, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep 145•Transcript available on Metacast Rachel Tobac is a social engineer. In this episode we hear how she got started doing this and a few stories of how she hacked people and places using her voice and charm. Learn more about Rachel by following her on Twitter https://twitter.com/RachelTobac or by visiting https://www.socialproofsecurity.com/ Daniel Miessler also chimes in to talk about AI. Find out more about him at https://danielmiessler.com/. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company’s ran...
Apr 02, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep 144•Transcript available on Metacast Jim Browning has dedicated himself to combatting scammers, taking a proactive stance by infiltrating their computer systems. Through his efforts, he not only disrupts these fraudulent operations but also shares his findings publicly on YouTube, shedding light on the intricacies of scam networks. His work uncovers a myriad of intriguing insights into the digital underworld, which he articulately discusses, offering viewers a behind-the-scenes look at his methods for fighting back against scammers...
Mar 05, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast Axact sells fake diplomas and degrees. What could go wrong with this business plan? Sponsors Support for this episode comes from NetSuite. NetSuite gives you visibility and control of your financials, planning, budgeting, and of course - inventory - so you can manage risk, get reliable forecasts, and improve margins. NetSuite helps you identify rising costs, automate your manual business processes, and see where to save money. KNOW your numbers. KNOW your business. And get to KNOW how NetSuite c...
Feb 06, 2024•53 min•Ep 142•Transcript available on Metacast The #1 crime which results in the biggest financial loss is BEC fraud. The #2 crime is pig butchering. Ronnie Tokazowski https://twitter.com/iHeartMalware walks us through this wild world. Sponsors Support for this episode comes from NetSuite. NetSuite gives you visibility and control of your financials, planning, budgeting, and of course - inventory - so you can manage risk, get reliable forecasts, and improve margins. NetSuite helps you identify rising costs, automate your manual business proc...
Jan 02, 2024•1 hr•Ep 141•Transcript available on Metacast Madison's nude photos were posted online. Her twin sister Christine came to help. This begins a bizarre and uneasy story.
Dec 05, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep 140•Transcript available on Metacast This is the story of D3f4ult (twitter.com/_d3f4ult) from CWA. He was a hacktivist, upset with the state of the way things were, and wanted to make some changes. Changes were made. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Axonius. The Axonius solution correlates asset data from your existing IT and security solutions to provide an always up-to-date inventory of all devices, users, cloud instances, and SaaS apps, so you can easily identify coverage gaps and automate response actions. Axonius give...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep 139•Transcript available on Metacast This episode is about scammers in the Punjab region. Tarun (twitter.com/taruns21) comes on the show to tell us a story of what happened to him. Naomi Brockwell (twitter.com/naomibrockwell) makes an appearance to speak about digital privacy. To learn more about protecting your digital privacy, watch Naomi’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@NaomiBrockwellTV. And check out the books Extreme Privacy (https://amzn.to/3L3ffp9) and Beginner’s Introduction to Privacy (https://amzn.to/3EjuSoY). S...
Oct 03, 2023•45 min•Ep 138•Transcript available on Metacast A new type of mercenary spyware came on the radar called Predator. It’ll infect a mobile phone, and then suck up all the data from it. Contacts, text messages, location, and more. This malware is being sold to intelligence agencies around the world. In this episode we hear from Crofton Black at Lighthouse Reports who spent 6 months with a team of journalists researching this story which was published here: https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/flight-of-the-predator/. We also hear from...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep 137•Transcript available on Metacast Team Xecuter was a group involved with making and selling modchips for video game systems. They often made mods that allowed the video game system to rip games or play pirated games. It was a crowd favorite in the modding scene. Until it all fell apart. The story of what happened to Team Xecuter must be heard to believe. This episode features Gary Bowser. You can find more about Gary here: https://twitter.com/Bowser_GaryOPA https://garyopa.com/ https://www.gofundme.com/f/garyopa-restarting-his-l...
Aug 01, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep 136•Transcript available on Metacast Omar Avilez worked in the CSIRT of the Dominican Republic when a major cyber security incident erupted. Omar walks us through what happened and the incident response procedures that he went through. Breakmaster Cylinder’s new album: https://breakmastercylinder.bandcamp.com/album/the-moon-all-that. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company’s ransomware blast radius is? Varonis does a free cyber resilience assessment that tells you how many important files ...
Jul 04, 2023•43 min•Ep 135•Transcript available on Metacast Deviant Ollam is a physical penetration specialist. That means he’s paid to break into buildings to see if the building is secure or not. He has done this for a long time and has a lot of tricks up his sleeve to get into buildings. In this episode we hear 3 stories of him breaking into buildings for a living. You can find more about Deviant on the following sites: https://twitter.com/deviantollam https://www.instagram.com/deviantollam https://youtube.com/deviantollam https://defcon.social/@devia...
Jun 06, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep 134•Transcript available on Metacast One day Connor Tumbleson got an email saying his identity has been stolen. And this was one of the strangest days he’s ever had. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Quorum Cyber. Their mantra is: “We help good people win.” If you’re looking for a partner to help you reduce risk and defend against the threats that are targeting your business — and especially if you are interested in Microsoft Security — reach out to Qurotum Cyber at quorumcyber.com. Skiff is a collaboration platform built f...
May 02, 2023•39 min•Ep 133•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Bent, a.k.a. DoingFedTime, brings us a story of what it was like being a darknet market vendor. Learn more about Sam at https://www.doingfedtime.com/. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Akamai Connected Cloud (formerly Linode). Akamai Connected Cloud supplies you with virtual servers. Visit linode.com/darknet and get a special offer. Support for this show comes from Thinkst Canary. Their canaries attract malicious actors in your network and then send you an alert if someone tries to a...
Apr 04, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep 132•Transcript available on Metacast Andy Greenberg (https://twitter.com/a_greenberg) brings us a gut wrenching story of how criminal investigators used bitcoin tracing techniques to try to find out who was at the center of a child sexual abuse darkweb website. This story is part of Andy’s new book “Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency”. An affiliate link to the book on Amazon is here: https://amzn.to/3VkjSh7. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company’s ...
Dec 27, 2022•1 hr 8 min•Ep 131•Transcript available on Metacast Join us as we sit down with Jason Haddix (https://twitter.com/Jhaddix), a renowned penetration tester who has made a name for himself by uncovering vulnerabilities in some of the world’s biggest companies. In this episode, Jason shares his funny and enlightening stories about breaking into buildings and computers, and talks about the time he discovered a major security flaw in a popular mobile banking app. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Linode. Linode supplies you with virtual servers...
Dec 13, 2022•44 min•Ep 130•Transcript available on Metacast Brett Johnson, AKA Gollumfun (twitter.com/GOllumfun) was involved with the websites Counterfeit Library and Shadow Crew. He tells his story of what happened there and some of the crimes he committed. In part 2, his past catches up to him. Listen to more of Brett on his own show. https://www.thebrettjohnsonshow.com/.
Nov 29, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep 129•Transcript available on Metacast Brett Johnson, AKA Gollumfun (twitter.com/GOllumfun) was involved with the websites Counterfeit Library and Shadow Crew. He tells his story of what happened there and some of the crimes he committed. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Axonius. The Axonius solution correlates asset data from your existing IT and security solutions to provide an always up-to-date inventory of all devices, users, cloud instances, and SaaS apps, so you can easily identify coverage gaps and automate response a...
Nov 15, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Ep 128•Transcript available on Metacast Maddie Stone is a security researcher for Google’s Project Zero. In this episode we hear what it’s like battling zero day vulnerabilities. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Zscalar. Zscalar zero trust exchange will scrutinize the traffic and permit or deny traffic based on a set of rules. This is so much more secure than letting data flow freely internally. And it really does mitigate ransomware outbreaks. The Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange gives YOU confidence in your security to feel empo...
Nov 01, 2022•54 min•Ep 127•Transcript available on Metacast 
