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33. Throwing bricks for $$$: violence-as-a-service comes of age Sep 20, 2022

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Young people who have been making millions hacking mobile phones — known as SIM swappers — have found a new way to intimidate and harass their rivals. They call it “violence-as-a-service” or “IRL jobs,” and it includes a Telegram channel where they can order brickings, firebombings, and even shootings in the real world.

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32. The great tractor jailbreak Sep 13, 2022

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The talk of DEF CON 2022 was the handiwork of a white hat hacker named Sick Codes. On stage, he demonstrated how he broke the digital locks of a John Deere tractor. He did it with such ease, it made people start to wonder: just how hack-able is the world’s agriculture sector?

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31. Seagulls in the park Sep 06, 2022

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Hydra was a darknet superstore. It started out as an online illegal drug site and morphed into a billion-dollar business with codes of conduct, customer support, and legal and medical services. It had started offering money laundering services when German authorities finally shut it down in April. Now people are asking: who or what will replace it?

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30. The scariest piece of malware since Stuxnet Aug 30, 2022

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Back in April, cybersecurity officials discovered the notorious “Industroyer” malware in the Ukrainian electrical grid. It might have been the scariest infrastructure hack since malware destroyed centrifuges at an Iranian uranium enrichment plant in 2010 – were it not for a TGIF miracle. Plus, a visit with the IT Army of Ukraine and a different kind of information operation.

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29. The musicians who came in from the cold Aug 23, 2022

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At a time when Vladimir Putin is attempting to redraw the Iron Curtain, we take a trip back to the Soviet Union circa 1985 when four American musicians smuggled messages in and out of the Soviet Union — with music. Plus, DefCon’s answer to those alien transmissions.

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28. A return to Stanislav Aug 16, 2022

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We first spoke with Russian business owner Stanislav back in early March, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Almost six months later, we check back in with him to see how he’s doing, and look at a new report that suggests the Russian economy is cratering. Plus, inside a massive breach affecting a police database in Shanghai.

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27. Exclusive: North Korea’s monster fake out Aug 09, 2022

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Thousands of satellites watch the world from above. We offer a mystery story about an infamous North Korean video, a team of very observant researchers, and a search for the truth.

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26. Pegasus is listening Aug 02, 2022

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Carine Kanimba’s father may be one of the most famous Rwandans on earth – Paul Rusesabagina. He was the manager of the Hôtel des Mille Collines, and he sheltered more than 1,200 Rwandans during the 1994 genocide. Now his daughter is at the center of a Capitol Hill inquiry into the proliferation of commercial spyware, a particular program called Pegasus, and the future of the company that created it.

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25. Lapsus$ - The script kiddies are alright Jul 26, 2022

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An encore performance of one of our favorite episodes about LAPSUS$, a cyber extortion gang that convinced the world its low-tech hacking operations were really high-impact heists. Plus, we hear how two high school computer geeks almost brought down IBM’s computer center in Manhattan.

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24. SPECIAL FEATURE: ‘El Salvador's Bitcoin Experiment’ from Nothing is Foreign Jul 19, 2022

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Earlier this year, the CBC's Nothing is Foreign podcast reported on how El Salvador's promise of a cryptocurrency paradise runs up against reality.

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