Safe Mode Podcast

When Hamas fighters crossed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping hundreds more, it marked a new era of the conflict between Israel and an array of militant groups. Most of that conflict has played out in the form of brutal, bloody fighting, but it has also taken place online in the form of cyber operations. Adam Meyers, Crowdstrike’s head of counter adversary operations, sits down with host Elias Groll to discuss how the digital dimensions of the conflict have played out. CyberScoop reporter AJ Vicens also joins the show to discuss a wide-ranging takedown operation targeting the LockBit ransomware gang.

Whether you call it hacking or legitimate security research, getting computers to do things that they shouldn’t is an activity that exists in a legal gray area. Sometimes, hackers acting in good faith will find themselves on the other end of a cease-and-desist letter, a lawsuit, or even a prosecution. A new initiative called the Security Research Legal Defense Fund is trying to make sure that white hat hackers who do find themselves in trouble have the legal representation they need. Harley Geiger is the founder of the Security Research Legal Defense Fund and is also a cybersecurity lawyer at Venable. He sits down with host Elias Groll to discuss his work funding legal aid for hackers. CyberScoop reporter AJ Vicens joins the show to discuss calls by major tech companies for governments to do more to combat commercial spyware.

Everyone seems to agree that AI is going to revolutionize warfare, but exactly how is very much up for debate. Jack Shanahan has worked at the center of the U.S. military’s attempt to integrate AI into how wars are fought. In 2020, he retired as a Lieutenant General from the U.S. Air Force after a 36-year career. He was the inaugural director of the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and was the first director of the Pentagon’s Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team, better known as Project Maven. He sits down with host Elias Groll to discuss how the U.S. military is integrating AI into its warfighting capabilities. Reporter Derek B. Johnson joins the show to discuss his reporting about how state election officials are preparing for 2024. Links: Deepfakes, dollars and ‘deep state’ fears: Inside the minds of election officials heading into 2024 | CyberScoop New Hampshire authorities trace Biden AI robocall to Texas-based telecom | CyberScoop

Founded in 1995, Craigslist helped shape the modern web as we know it today, reshaping online economies and how people bought and sold goods. Today, its founder Craig Newmark is perhaps better known for his philanthropy than the classifieds site he founded. Newmark’s philanthropy spans issues of cybersecurity, technology and journalism, and he joins Safe Mode to discuss the evolution of the modern internet and why he’s putting his fortune to work on issues of cybersecurity. CyberScoop reporter Derek B. Johnson and FedScoop reporter Rebecca Heilweil also join the show to discuss their recent reporting on security measures for the federal government’s myriad social media accounts.

In the year 2024, elections will take place around the world affecting some 4 billion people — an election year unlike any other. Besides the United States, voters will go to the polls in the European Union, the United Kingdom, India, Mexico and Indonesia, just to name a few. The next time we’ll see this many elections in one year will be in 2048. On Safe Mode this week, host Elias Groll sits down with Katie Harbath, who spent a decade at Facebook overseeing the platform’s work on elections, to discuss how the major technology platforms are preparing for an unprecedented election year. CyberScoop reporter Derek B. Johnson joins the show to discuss a deepfake robocall in the New Hampshire primary and what the incident tells us about what to expect regarding AI-driven disinformation in 2024.

The upcoming year will feature an unprecedented number of democratic elections. In addition to the United States’s pivotal federal elections, countries that collectively make up more than half of the world’s populations will head to the polls. These elections are taking place against the backdrop of pervasive security vulnerabilities and come on the heels of a series of elections that have featured all kinds of digital meddling. Mick Baccio served as the first-ever chief information security officer of a presidential campaign, working on the Pete Buttigieg campaign in 2020. On this episode of Safe Mode, he sits down with host Elias Groll to discuss what it takes to secure a political campaign in 2024. CyberScoop reporter AJ Vicens also joins the show to discuss the FBI’s efforts to combat cybercrime and how the NSA is relying on AI to combat Chinese hacking operations.

In our first episode of the year, we begin by looking back at 2023. The NSA’s Rob Joyce and Morgan Adamski sit down with host Elias Groll to examine the major cybersecurity trends of the year, the evolution of Russian hacking operations, how China is targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and how AI is changing the cybersecurity business. FedScoop reporter Nihal Krishan also joins the show to discuss his reporting on how AI watermarking has become a key tool in addressing AI safety.

In our final episode of the year, host Elias Groll sits down with reporters from CyberScoop, FedScoop and Defense Scoop to discuss the biggest stories of the year. Christian Vasquez and AJ Vicens join the show to talk through the biggest breaches of the year and how the cybersecurity landscape changed in 2023. Madison Alder and Rebecca Heilweil come on to discuss how the federal government responded to calls to regulate AI. Mickayla Easley and Brandi Vincent close out the episode by discussing how the U.S. military is changing how it operates in space and what the Pentagon is doing to get to the bottom of a string of UFO sightings.

It was WikiLeaks that pioneered the publishing and hosting of sensitive information, and while Julian Assange’s whistleblowing project has withered away, groups like Distributed Denial of Secrets are carrying on the work of trying to make public interest material more widely available — and to do so more responsibly. Emma Best is the founder of DDOS and she sits down with CyberScoop reporter AJ Vicens to discuss their work publishing and hosting leaked material. Reporter Christian Vasquez joins host Elias Groll to discuss his reporting on a concerning vulnerability affecting automotive fleet management systems and the uphill battle to patch the flaw.

To be a person in the world today is to have your data collected. Whether it’s your internet browsing history, your location history as you walk around with your phone in your pocket, or the purchases you make online, there’s few human activities today that aren’t in one way or another tracked. So what happens with all that data once it’s collected? Increasingly, it’s bundled with other data and sold as part of large data sets by firms in the data broker industry. Justin Sherman, a senior fellow at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, has done groundbreaking work to understand this industry, and he sits down with host Elias Groll to talk about how personal data is being bought and sold. CyberScoop reporter Christian Vasquez also joins the show to discuss Iranian attacks on U.S. water systems.