In this podcast Patrick Gray talks to Tom Uren about the bizarre Chinese spy balloon story. There may be incremental intelligence gains for the PRC but they were far outweighed by the diplomatic fallout.

They also discuss an Iranian operation attacking French satiricial magazine Charlie Hebdo. States use cyber operations to pursue vastly different goals and most of them make sense for a state’s point of view. But some operations, like this one, and like the North Korean attack on Sony Pictures, are “vanity projects” that cater to the whims of the “dear leader”.

Finally, the Conti ransomware attack on the Irish public health system (HSE) is turning into the best ransomware case study. It brings together a detailed examination of the management failures with stories from staff, patients and also from inside the Conti group.

You can read the newsletter this podcast is based on here.