Malicious Life

By Malicious Life

Technology

What's Malicious Life about?

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.

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Operation Kudo

09.20.2023

In 1981, during the G7 Summit in Quebec, French president Francois Mitterand handen President Raegan a top secret collection of documents, called "Farewell Dossier." The information found in the dossier allowed the US to devise a cunning plan - the ...

Malicious Life episodes:

09.20.2023 Operation Kudo In 1981, during the G7 Summit in Quebec, French president Francois Mitterand handen President Raegan a top secret collection of documents, called "Farewell Dossier." The information found in the dossier allowed the US to devise a cunning plan - the ...
09.04.2023 Can We Stop the AI Cyber Threat? Much of the cybersecurity software in use today utilizes AI, especially things like spam filters and network traffic monitors. But will all those tools be enough to stop the proliferation of malware that will come from generative AI-driven cyber attacks? ...
08.22.2023 Is Generative AI Dangerous? Every so often, the entire landscape of cybersecurity shifts, all at once: The latest seismic shift in the field occurred just last year. So in this episode of Malicious Life we’re going to take a look into the future of ...
08.08.2023 Why aren't there more bug bounty programs? On the face of it, there's an obvious economic incentive for both vendors and security researchers to collaborate on disclosing vulnerabilities safely and privately. Yet bug bounty programs have gained prominence only in the past decade or so, and even ...
07.25.2023 The Voynich Manuscript The constant battle between those who wish to encrypt data and those who wish to break these ciphers has made modern encryption schemes extremely powerful. Subsequently, the tools and methods to break them became equivalently sophisticated. Yet, could it be ...
07.10.2023 Roman Seleznev: Did the Punishment Fit the Crime? In 2019, Roman Seleznev, a 34 years-old Russian national, was sentenced to 27 years in prison: A sentence that’d make any criminal quiver. Seleznev's deeds had a horrendous effect on the 2.9 million individuals whose credit cards he stole and ...
06.27.2023 Sony BMG's Rootkit Fiasco "We made a mistake and Sony paid a terrible price.” A terrible price indeed: an arrogant and ill-advised decision to include a rootkit in its music CDs cost Sony BMG a lot of money - and painted it as a ...
06.12.2023 Ad Fraud, Part 2 In the last episode of our show, we heard the story of Methbot: an army of hundreds of thousands of bots, programmatically viewing thousands of advertisements on thousands of made-up websites in order to siphon away millions of dollars worth ...
06.09.2023 Ad Fraud, Part 2 In the last episode of our show, we heard the story of Methbot: an army of hundreds of thousands of bots, programmatically viewing thousands of advertisements on thousands of made-up websites in order to siphon away millions of dollars worth ...
05.30.2023 Ad Fraud, Part 1 Right now, a man named Aleksandr Zhukov is sitting in jail for one of the most financially ruinous schemes ever invented for the internet. Zhukov is guilty. He was caught and convicted under a mountain of evidence against him. Except ...
05.15.2023 The Economics Of Cybersecurity The numbers can’t be any clearer: a DDoS attack costs less than a hundred dollars, while the price tag for mitigating it might reach tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. A single well crafted phishing email can easily ...
05.01.2023 The Reason You Don’t Have Data Privacy We’ve all experienced the creepiness of modern data trafficking, but that kind of daily annoyance is the surface of a much bigger issue: Big Tech companies such as Amazon & Microsoft are lobbying policymakers to veto laws that harm their ...
04.17.2023 How Entire Countries Can Lose the Internet Disruptions to the world’s internet cables happen more often than you think: Whether it be ship anchors or animals or saboteurs, cut a few wires in the right places and at nearly the speed of light you can disrupt or ...
04.03.2023 Olympic Destroyer In the midst of 35,000 exhilarated spectators eagerly chanting the time-honored countdown to kick off the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, a sinister malware crept through the games' network, threatening to disrupt the highly-anticipated event. The obvious question in everyone’s minds ...
03.20.2023 The Lawerence Berkeley Hack, Part 2 Oמ May 23rd, 1989, Karl Koch - a 23 years old West German hacker who worked for the KGB - took a drive, from which he would never return: Nine days later his charred remains were found by the police ...
03.08.2023 The Lawerence Berkeley Hack, Part 1 Four decades ago, three quarters would’ve gone a lot further than they do today. With that kind of loose change you could’ve picked up some milk from the grocery store, or over half a gallon of gas, or a bus ...
02.28.2023 Russian Propaganda, Explained [ML B-Side] You may have heard of the cyber operations performed by Russia. You definitely heard about the missiles being fired by Russia at Ukraine - but how about the propaganda being distributed through the different media platforms? In this B-Side episode, ...
02.20.2023 Operation Ivy Bells In the early 1970's, US intelligance pointed at the possibility that the Russians have laid an underwater communication cable between two important naval bases in the Far East. The dangerous mission of installing a listening device on that cable was ...
02.13.2023 Why Do NFTs Disappear? [ML B-Side] What happens when an NFT marketplace goes under, and disappears? You would imagine that the users’ NFTs are perfectly safe: after all, the blockchain itself is still there, right? But that’s not how things work in the real world. Jason ...
02.13.2023 Why Do NFTs Disappear? [ML BSide] What happens when an NFT marketplace goes under, and disappears? You would imagine that the users’ NFTs are perfectly safe: after all, the blockchain itself is still there, right? But that’s not how things work in the real world. Jason ...
02.06.2023 The (Other) Problem with NFTs Physical artworks in museums are usually well-guarded - but digital artworks are something else entirely: in 2021 alone, scammers successfully stole 100 million dollars worth of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Yet blockchain technology, where most NFTs live - is one ...
01.30.2023 SIM Swapping Follow Up [ML B-Side] SIM Swapping Follow Up [ML B-Side] Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
01.23.2023 You Should Be Afraid of SIM Swaps You Should Be Afraid of SIM Swaps Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
01.16.2023 FBI vs. REvil [ML BSide] FBI vs. REvil [ML BSide] Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
01.10.2023 Cyberbunker, Part 2 Cyberbunker, Part 2 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
01.02.2023 Cyberbunker, Part 1 Sven Kamphuis and Herman Johan Xennt are quite dissimilar: one is young, the other is old, one is a Freedom Fighter, the other a businessman. In 1996, their unlikely partnership coalesced around a mutual deep hatred towards authority - and ...
01.02.2023 Cyberbunker, Part 1 Cyberbunker, Part 1 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
12.26.2022 How Netflix Learned Cloud Security [ML B-Side] 2011 was a pivotal year for Netflix: the now hugely successful company was then in the midst of a formidable transformation, changing from a mail-based DVD rental service to the modern streaming service that it is today. It was at ...
12.26.2022 How Netflix Learned Cloud Security How Netflix Learned Cloud Security Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
12.19.2022 Fred Cohen: The Godfather of Computer Viruses [ML B-Side] Fred Cohen: The Godfather of Computer Viruses [ML B-Side] Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
12.13.2022 Thamar Reservoir Thamar Gindin is an Israeli scholar whose research focuses on the Persian language. For the past seven years (at least) Thamar has been a target for an endless stream of spear-phishing attempts by the Iranian regime, trying to take over ...
12.06.2022 The Problem With Kernel-Mode Anti-Cheat Software [ML B-Side] Nobody likes cheaters, especially in video games: we play games to have fun, and nothing hurts the joy of playing a good game more than losing to a cheater. That is why EA is not the only publisher to implement ...
12.06.2022 The Problem With Kernel-Mode Anti-Cheat Software The Problem With Kernel-Mode Anti-Cheat Software Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
11.28.2022 Norse Corp.: How To NOT build a cybersecurity startup When it was founded in 2011, Norse Corp. - which described itself as "the world's largest dedicated threat intelligence network" - had everything a promising startup could wish for: a charismatic and experienced founder, a rare and valuable technology, and ...
11.27.2022 Norse Corp.: How To NOT build a cybersecurity startup Norse Corp.: How To NOT build a cybersecurity startup Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
11.23.2022 Jailbreaking Tractors [ML BSide] John Deere, an American agricultural machinery manufacturer, has recently enraged many farmers and digital rights activists due to the restrictive fixing policy of its tractors. Now, an Australian white hat hacker named Sick Codes has demonstrated not only how he ...
11.20.2022 Jailbreaking Tractors [ML BSide] Jailbreaking Tractors [ML BSide] Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
11.14.2022 The Russian Business Network In 2006 the Russian Business Network pivoted its business: the once legitimate ISP became a ‘bullet-proof' hosting service, catering to the needs of cybercriminals. It quickly became the largest player in the Russian cybercrime landscape, with ~60% of all cybercrime ...
11.13.2022 The Russian Business Network The Russian Business Network Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
11.08.2022 What can chess grandmasters teach us about Cyber? [ML BSide] Sports is not something that you usually hear mentioned when people talk about cybersecurity - but Chris Cochran and Ron Eddings, co-founders of Hacker Valley Media, believe that cyber professionals can take inspiration from MMA wrestlers and Chess Grandchampions to ...
11.07.2022 What can Chess grandmasters teach us about Cyber? [ML BSide] What can Chess grandmasters teach us about Cyber? [ML BSide] Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
10.31.2022 LabMD Vs. The FTC LabMD Vs. The FTC Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
10.24.2022 What Would Happen if CBS Got Hacked? [ML BSide] What Would Happen if CBS Got Hacked? [ML BSide] Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
10.18.2022 Hacking Stock Markets, Part 2 Hacking Stock Markets, Part 2 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
10.10.2022 Vishing: Voice Scams [ML BSide] Vishing: Voice Scams [ML BSide] Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
10.04.2022 Hacking Stock Markets, Part 1 Hacking Stock Markets, Part 1 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
09.27.2022 What it’s Like to Fight LulzSec [ML B-Side] The name Lulzsec is probably very familiar to listeners who were around in 2011, when this hacking group was at the peak of its nefarious activity. As their name implies, Lulzsec was known for trolling their victims: their childish behavior ...
09.27.2022 What’s it's Like to Fight LulzSec [ML B-Side] What’s it's Like to Fight LulzSec [ML B-Side] Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
09.19.2022 “King Kimble”: Kim DotCom The US government says that Kim Schmitz, better know as Kim DotCom, is the leader of a file sharing crime ring. He sees himself as a an internet freedom fighter: a fugitive on the run from vindictive overly-powerful governments. Can ...
09.18.2022 "King Kimble": Kim DotCom The US government says that Kim Schmitz, better know as Kim DotCom, is the leader of a file sharing crime ring. He sees himself as a an internet freedom fighter: a fugitive on the run from vindictive overly-powerful governments. Can ...

Older episodes

Malicious Life

What's Malicious Life about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Malicious Life episodes:

Operation Kudo

Can We Stop the AI Cyber Threat?

Is Generative AI Dangerous?

Why aren't there more bug bounty programs?

The Voynich Manuscript

Roman Seleznev: Did the Punishment Fit the Crime?

Sony BMG's Rootkit Fiasco

Ad Fraud, Part 2

Ad Fraud, Part 2

Ad Fraud, Part 1

The Economics Of Cybersecurity

The Reason You Don’t Have Data Privacy

How Entire Countries Can Lose the Internet

Olympic Destroyer

The Lawerence Berkeley Hack, Part 2

The Lawerence Berkeley Hack, Part 1

Russian Propaganda, Explained [ML B-Side]

Operation Ivy Bells

Why Do NFTs Disappear? [ML B-Side]

Why Do NFTs Disappear? [ML BSide]

The (Other) Problem with NFTs

SIM Swapping Follow Up [ML B-Side]

You Should Be Afraid of SIM Swaps

FBI vs. REvil [ML BSide]

Cyberbunker, Part 2

Cyberbunker, Part 1

Cyberbunker, Part 1

How Netflix Learned Cloud Security [ML B-Side]

How Netflix Learned Cloud Security

Fred Cohen: The Godfather of Computer Viruses [ML B-Side]

Thamar Reservoir

The Problem With Kernel-Mode Anti-Cheat Software [ML B-Side]

The Problem With Kernel-Mode Anti-Cheat Software

Norse Corp.: How To NOT build a cybersecurity startup

Norse Corp.: How To NOT build a cybersecurity startup

Jailbreaking Tractors [ML BSide]

Jailbreaking Tractors [ML BSide]

The Russian Business Network

The Russian Business Network

What can chess grandmasters teach us about Cyber? [ML BSide]

What can Chess grandmasters teach us about Cyber? [ML BSide]

LabMD Vs. The FTC

What Would Happen if CBS Got Hacked? [ML BSide]

Hacking Stock Markets, Part 2

Vishing: Voice Scams [ML BSide]

Hacking Stock Markets, Part 1

What it’s Like to Fight LulzSec [ML B-Side]

What’s it's Like to Fight LulzSec [ML B-Side]

“King Kimble”: Kim DotCom￼

"King Kimble": Kim DotCom

Other shows like Malicious Life:

“King Kimble”: Kim DotCom