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.

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At The Brink podcast

Herb Lin's book Cyber Threats and Nuclear Weapons

How cybercrime remixed the Nigerian Music scene

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.

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.

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Grimes Admits to Blackmail, Extortion, and Hacking in Vanity Fair Video Interview

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.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman explains how we – in a few short years – went from a controversial phone call between an American president and Ukrainian leader to the largest territorial aggression in Europe since WWII. Plus, Ukraine’s all volunteer IT Army.

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Here, Right Matters

The Day After Russia Attacks

America Must Do More to Help Ukraine Fight Russia

Not long after the Conti ransomware group threw its weight behind Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine someone leaked two years’ of its internal chat logs. What they’ve revealed has rocked the cyber world and made clear that running a world-class ransomware operation isn’t as easy as it used to be. Plus, a new look at information warfare with author Amy Zegart.

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Conti ransomware gang chats leaked by pro-Ukraine member

The most surprising thing about the Russian invasion of Ukraine – aside from the invasion itself – is how small a role cyber operations have played to this point. That’s likely to change. Plus the administration’s unusual weapon against misinformation campaigns: declassifying intelligence. 

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Russia appears to deploy digital defenses after DDoS attacks

Biden: U.S. ‘prepared to respond’ to Russian cyberattacks as invasion of Ukraine continues

Russia or Ukraine: Hacking groups take sides

NetBlocks tracking internet disruptions

In a rare interview, Click Here catches up with former NSA contractor Reality Winner. Back in 2017, she leaked a five-page classified document to journalists that showed how Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 elections. She went to prison for it and talks at length about why she did what she did and how it so spectacularly backfired. And a chat with the head of the internet watchdog, Netblocks.

Ryan Green helped start one of the largest English-language dark markets in the world: Darkode. He takes us behind-the-scenes of how it started, how it ended, and how it managed to come back again. Plus, we look at a Russian misinformation re-tread.

SHOW NOTES:

CBS NEWS: ​​How authorities infiltrate the Internet underworld

Department of Justice announcement on Darkode’s takedown

Russian 2014 fake news story

Our first episode is an origin story. Ransomware-as-a-service got its start in an unlikely place: Texas. We tell the story of how a Russian cyber gang called REvil went toe-to-toe with a bunch of Texas towns and emerged with a new business model.

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An interview with REvil’s Unknown

Surveillance video of REvil's hacks