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Recorded Future News
The podcast that tells true stories about the people making and breaking our digital world. We take listeners into the world of cyber and intelligence without all the techie jargon. Every Tuesday and Friday, former NPR investigations correspondent Dina Temple-Raston and the team draw back the curtain on ransomware attacks, mysterious hackers, and the people who are trying to stop them.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 19, 2022 • 24min
11. The entrepreneur and the Jihadist
A Los Angeles tech entrepreneur reveals for the first time the role he played in bringing one of the world’s deadliest hackers to justice. And the founder of Craigslist talks about his effort to build a cyber civil defense force.
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Apr 12, 2022 • 24min
10. Are America’s nuclear systems so old they’re un-hackable?
In its latest defense budget, the Biden Administration has asked Congress to fund the modernization of America’s nuclear weapons systems.The current system – that until recently was still using eight inch floppies – is seen as so old that it’s virtually un-hackable. So if you modernize, now what? Plus, cyber hits from Nigeria’s music scene.SHOW NOTES:At The Brink podcastHerb Lin's book Cyber Threats and Nuclear WeaponsHow cybercrime remixed the Nigerian Music scene
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Apr 5, 2022 • 27min
9. The rise of high-tech despotism
Noura Al-Jizawi thought she’d left the repression of the Assad regime behind her when she left Syria with her sister. Instead she became the target of an online subversion campaign. Plus, we meet the founder of a retro computer museum in Mariupol, Ukraine.
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Mar 29, 2022 • 21min
8. War, sanctions and crypto’s big moment
As sanctions squeeze the Russian economy, ordinary Russians are having to navigate a financial system in mid-collapse. For some, the solution has been cryptocurrencies. We talk to a small businessman in St. Petersburg who explains. Plus, the hack heard ‘round the indie music world.SHOW NOTES:Grimes Admits to Blackmail, Extortion, and Hacking in Vanity Fair Video Interview
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Mar 22, 2022 • 19min
7. Fighting Russia with computers, not rifles
A volunteer army made up of thousands of IT professionals from around the world is seeking to fight Russia in cyberspace. We talk to some of its members and discover new limits to Russia’s hacking efforts.
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Mar 15, 2022 • 23min
6. 'Baggage from a severely harmed relationship'
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman explains how we – in a few short years – went from a controversial phone call between an American president and Ukrainian leader to the largest territorial aggression in Europe since WWII. Plus, Ukraine’s all volunteer IT Army.SHOW NOTES:Here, Right MattersThe Day After Russia AttacksAmerica Must Do More to Help Ukraine Fight Russia
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Mar 8, 2022 • 23min
5. Conti leaks: the Panama Papers of ransomware
Not long after the Conti ransomware group threw its weight behind Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine someone leaked two years’ of its internal chat logs. What they’ve revealed has rocked the cyber world and made clear that running a world-class ransomware operation isn’t as easy as it used to be. Plus, a new look at information warfare with author Amy Zegart.SHOW NOTES:Conti ransomware gang chats leaked by pro-Ukraine member
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Mar 1, 2022 • 19min
4. 'They are fighting like lions'
The most surprising thing about the Russian invasion of Ukraine – aside from the invasion itself – is how small a role cyber operations have played to this point. That’s likely to change. Plus the administration’s unusual weapon against misinformation campaigns: declassifying intelligence. SHOW NOTES:Russia appears to deploy digital defenses after DDoS attacksBiden: U.S. ‘prepared to respond’ to Russian cyberattacks as invasion of Ukraine continuesRussia or Ukraine: Hacking groups take sidesNetBlocks tracking internet disruptions
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Feb 22, 2022 • 38min
3. In touch with reality
In a rare interview, Click Here catches up with former NSA contractor Reality Winner. Back in 2017, she leaked a five-page classified document to journalists that showed how Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 elections. She went to prison for it and talks at length about why she did what she did and how it so spectacularly backfired. And a chat with the head of the internet watchdog, Netblocks.
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Feb 15, 2022 • 25min
2. A place called darkode
Ryan Green helped start one of the largest English-language dark markets in the world: Darkode. He takes us behind-the-scenes of how it started, how it ended, and how it managed to come back again. Plus, we look at a Russian misinformation re-tread.SHOW NOTES:CBS NEWS: How authorities infiltrate the Internet underworldDepartment of Justice announcement on Darkode’s takedownRussian 2014 fake news story
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