Transatlantic Cable Podcast

There is no question that the Netflix show, The Queen’s Gambit has taken the world by storm. In a year when the world is upside down and everything is crazy with Covid-19, it is kind of fitting that a show based upon a cerebral game garnering all the attention.

At Kaspersky, we have a long history with chess and are the official cybersecurity partner of the FIDE World Chess Championship series. My wife had watched the show and a member of our PR team pitched me the idea of watching the show as part of a podcast. While I was skeptical of the fit for the weekly chats that Dave and I have, my friend Oksana noted that she had some angles that my amateur chess mind did not have in mind.

You see, my dear Russian friend had a good opportunity that, was in fact, too good to pass up. Instead of our usual format for the Transatlantic Cable Podcast, Dave and I welcomed on Costin Raiu – who you may know from his research work at Kaspersky – a noted chess lover and Dinara Saduakassova an International Master and Womens Grandmaster, 4-times World Chess Champion and Asian Women Champion.

During our 30+ minute chat, we discuss everything from Beth Harmon to international chess tournaments, getting kids involved with the games, stopping cheating and how computers have impacted the game.

In an odd turn of events, the 174th iteration of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable Podcast takes Dave and I back to slew of topics that were hot in 2018 – ransomware, Bitcoin prices and more.

To start things off, we hop into a story about the skyrocketing price of Bitcoin. Dave and I share some of our theories on the rise - We are NOT financial analysts so do not use our talk as investing advice. From there, we move into some new patents filed by Microsoft that may leave you scratching your head, especially if you use Teams.

Our third story takes a bit of a sad turn as Facebook’s crackdown on “political” ads seems to have negatively impacted small business owners, AKA the groups that Facebook has claimed that they want to be helping the most in this pandemic. From there, we jump to the 2020 version of snow days for school students. Instead of snow, ransomware is the culprit for kids in the Baltimore school system – the 25th largest system in the USA. To close out the podcast, we look at the twisting tale of Phantom Secure that is just a TV movie waiting to happen – thank you for writing this Joseph Cox.

In episode 173 of the Kaspersky podcast, Dave and Jeff look into several interesting stories, including a follow up on a previous week's story.  Included this week: 

Capcom's recent ransomware attack goes from bad to worse after full release schedule is leaked by attackers,

"Smart" doorbells are a privacy and security nightmare, according to a new study by consumer group Which?

Spotify hit with huge data-stuffing attack, with the use of over 300,000 accounts

Minecraft and PUBG dangers - parents and gamers be on the lookout! 

Unfortunately we cannot take a hiatus from Covid-19 for the 172nd edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable Podcast. We kick off this episode looking at how Microsoft has fingered two nation states targeting Covid researchers for some cyber espionage.

Now, while it is unfortunate to see this, I would be lying if I said that it was in the bit surprising to me. Maybe I am cynical, or maybe it is just that deeds of crooks never seem to be opportunistic of high-stakes situations.

After the talk on the Covid-attacks, we jump over to another hot topic – ransomware. In this instance, we look at Capcom who has been hit with an attack that has seen PII like passport info, signatures and more siphoned off by criminals. The third story of the pod looks at how Amazon is going after influencers for hawking bootleg goods.

We end on a happier note with a look at how companies are helping other companies plan virtual holiday parties to keep their staff engaged.

To open up the 171st episode of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable Podcast we dive into the world of the Silk Road.

No, Dave and I aren’t talking drugs, weapons or murder for hire, but rather Bitcoins. You see, the US government recently seized roughly $1 Billion in the currency that appears to be tied to the now-defunct ecosystem. From there, we dive into the aftermath of the 2020 US elections.

Now, we don’t discuss who won or who lost, but rather the insecurities in a site built to challenge some of the results by the GOP and the Trump team. From there, we head to Asia where there is a an apparent ransomware infection for Compal, the second-largest laptop manufacturer in the world.

We close out the podcast looking at a sad romantic story. In this tale from the UK, we are exposed to a widow who is one of many who fall into the world of fraud and cat-fishing. Unfortunately for the woman who is the focus of the story, not only did she lose a boat-ton of money, but she also helped launder money.

We kick off the 170th edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable Podcast by looking at the so-called end of the Maze ransomware gang.

The cybercriminal enterprise recently issued a broken-English press release on their website announcing that they were exiting the game. While it would be easy to believe them at their word, they are criminals after all; and Dave and I are not buying it. From there, we jump over to Japan where the country’s nuclear agency warns of a cyber attack. While there are not many details at this time in Western or Eastern publications, this is one to keep an eye on.

We then jump into the world of Covid-19 for a pair of stories. The first discusses a change in AI that may help detect those infected with Covid via their cough. For the second tale, we head to the UK and the increase in cyberattacks that can be tied to Covid-19. We then head over to a story about update snafus for Wordpress that blog operators should be on the lookout for. To close out the podcast, we discuss the upcoming AMA with Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis team on November 12.

Today will be a special edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable Podcast as Dave and I put down our news hats for once and chat with an executive within the Kaspersky ranks.

Our featured guest is none other than Alex Moiseev, the Chief Business Officer for Kaspersky. During our thirty-some-odd minute chat, we discuss a wide variety of topics.

These range from the company’s recent innovation report to Alex’ passion to startups and innovation to his love of motorsport and how racing has helped his career and much more.

https://youtu.be/zIEF1pxxPDg

Perhaps the juiciest bit from the interview is our discussion on the future of the cybersecurity industry, Eugene Kaspersky and his definition of AI and why this buzzword cannot die.

The latest episode of the Kaspersky podcast looks into recent news that Donald Trump’s website was briefly hacked to promote a crypto-currency scam – whilst it was a single page which was hacked, it comes at a critical time in the U.S election.

From there, Dave and Jeff look a story about a psychotherapy clinic that was hacked with patients now finding their details on the dark-web and are also being contacted by an elusive individual called ‘The Ransom Guy.’ Anybody affected is being urged to contact the police.

To wrap up, they look at a case of ‘fake news’ in the retail sector, when somebody decided to create (a now deleted) UK Woolworths account. Anybody familiar with the retail chain will know that the beloved stores went under in 2008 – but it seemed that did not stop somebody from creating the account, with the story even reaching the press. Turns out, it was all a hoax.

Who would have thought that we would start an episode of this podcast talking about Robin Hood? Well, you don’t have to go far as that is EXACTLY where we kick off this episode of the Transatlantic Cable Podcast.

Our first story of the week takes a look at some “Robin Hood” types who steal from corporations via ransomware and then donate a small fraction of the money stolen to non-profit organizations. Sorry, but I am not going to crown these guys heroes just yet. From there, we head to the air where British Airways was hit with a record-setting GDPR fine.

From the air, we crash into the seas to take a look at the ransomware attack that hit Carnival Cruise Lines and some of its subsidiaries. To close out the podcast, we look at the measures that Sony is taking to help police their online gaming.

We kick off this week’s edition of the Transatlantic Cable Podcast, Dave and I kick things off looking at an active scam going off in the UK.

As if 2020 was not bad enough, now people need to be on the lookout for scams that are targeting them with travel and refunds that are more prevalent with everyone at home due to Covid – and the impact on people’s wallets is continuing to get bigger. From there, we jump across the Atlantic to Springfield, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, they saw their school system hit with ransomware. Only ones who were happy in this story were the kids with an impromptu snow day.

We stay in the US for our third story. This one takes a look at Google’s cooperation with law enforcement where they share search data related to crimes or events. This one seems to be in the current legal grey area that will probably be in some future legal proceedings. To close things out, we take a look at some leaked source code from Microsoft.