Malicious Life

In the waning years of the 20th century, amid growing anxieties about the turn of the millennium, one man, Robert Bemer, observed the unfolding drama from his remote home on King Possum Lake. A revered figure in computing, Bemer had early on flagged a significant, looming issue known as the Y2K bug, which threatened to disrupt global systems as calendars rolled over to the year 2000. This episode delves into Bemer's life during this critical period, exploring his predictions, the ensuing global frenzy to avert disaster, and the disparate views on whether the billions spent in prevention were justified or merely a response to a misunderstood threat.

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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 activity related to Russia connected to it in some way. Following the Russian government’s years-old tradition of collaborating with organized crime, it’s no wonder that the Russian Business Network quickly became Putin’s informal cyber attack arm.

When investigators discovered in 1996 that US military networks were being extensively hacked, they didn't realize they were witnessing the birth of what would become Russia's formidable Turla APT espionage group. We uncover the 20-year metamorphosis of this original group of hackers into one of the most sophisticated and dangerous state-sponsored threats that's still active today.

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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 few tens of millons of dollars from investors. Less than six years later, it all came crashing down in the most horrible death a business can experience. What went wrong in Norse Corp.?

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A year ago we told you the story of Kaseya: an IT solutions company that was breached on July 2021, and its servers were used to spread ransomware to an estimated 800 to 1500 small to medium-sized businesses.
Nate Nelson, our Sr. producer, spoke with Rich Murray, who leads the FBI’s North Texas Cyber unit, about how the Federal Bureau of Investigations dealt with another attack by REvil – this time against the Texas government – and how they managed to figure out who was behind it.