Andrew Tierney, better known online as Cybergibbons, earned his reputation hacking things like thermostats, home alarms, and other hardware like cryptocurrency wallets. So it makes a lot of sense that his first ever hack back in the 90s was to take control of his high school’s heating system from his bedroom. Here's the story of Andrew's first hack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine you’re at work, it’s a long day and you lean back in your chair only to hear a chime and a disembodied voice.The voice fills the room and it tells you to stop leaning and get back to work.There’s a sense that someone is always watching and ready to reprimand you for the slightest infraction.That’s the promise of Live Eye—a CCTV camera system which, for a monthly fee, will monitor a store's security cameras 24/7 and step in if there’s trouble. It sells itself as a safety feature, but as a new report from Motherboard's Todd Feathers’ shows …. It’s anything but safe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just as Amazon founder and richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, announced that he was going into space via his private rocket company and news broke that he pays shockingly little on his income taxes, New York state is set to pass a groundbreaking antitrust law that will challenge the labor practices of the tech giant. At the same time, Motherboard reporter Lauren Gurley broke the news of yet-more ill treatment of Amazon workers that will blow your mind. With more on that she’s on this week’s show to tell us more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s basically the FBI’s greatest fantasy come to life: Owning an operating an encrypted communications company exclusively used by some of the world’s most hardened and organized criminals.“Anom” the subscription based network operated by the feds, was used as the ultimate spy tool that gave an almost godlike view of organized crime to FBI agents who watched users discuss murder, drug deals, and millions of dollars worth of criminal activity. And it all came to a screeching halt this week when a coordinated law enforcement effort around the world took down its customer base.Motherboard reporter Joseph Cox is on the show to talk in more details about the latest takedown by the FBI. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Central Intelligence Agency. Since its inception during the Cold War days it’s taken on the mystique as the silent hand of the US government. It’s been entwined in controversies ranging from the Phoenix Program during the Vietnam War, to Watergate and most recently, it’s role in the universally condemned torture of detainees during the decadeslong War On Terror. But then in 2014, something happened that heralded a brand new era in the once ultra-secretive (and not very public) spy agency: It got a Twitter account. Since, the CIA has been undergoing some kind of public rebranding. But why does an intelligence agency that’s whole existence is based on how good at being secret it is, need a public presence? Motherboard reporter Edward Ongweso is on the show to talk spies and tweets with me. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before he even knew he wanted to be a hacker, Haroon Meer figured out “on a whim” that he could mess with all the high school computers by just changing one single character in a configuration file. With this newly acquired power, Haroon pranked his best friend using a quote from a classic Jean-Claude Van Damme 1980s movie. He also made his clueless computer science teacher really mad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The many Mexican cartels of the last few decades have developed into what the US government sees as a not only criminal but a geopolitical enemy, joining the ranks of the Taliban, ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Russian hackers. This means the full force of American surveillance has been aimed at groups like Los Zetas, or the Sinaloa Cartel once-led by the infamous El Chapo. But when it comes to hackers and cybersecurity, there isn’t a lot of talk on how the cartels view their own online safety, so today we’re talking to VICE News Reporter Keegan Hamilton who has intimately covered the cartels from inside Mexico.Trust me this man has a lot of guts and he’s on the show to chat with me this week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So another band of hackers struck again: a criminal gang known as ‘DarkSide’ unleashed a ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline, which shut down an integral line that supplies the East Coast with oil and gas. While the cyberattack itself didn’t physically knock out the pipeline with a string of code, the resulting attack majorly disrupted a critical piece of US infrastructure: Fuel. While the Biden administration is scrambling to deal with the fallout, questions surrounding DarkSide and its motivations persist. To chat more on that, Motherboard reporter Lorenzo Francheschi-Bicchierai is on the show.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An ‘avalanche of cardboard’ is completely overwhelming card grading companies as collectors try to cash in on Pokemon’s resurgent popularity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For years, Apple has claimed its devices are the most secure in the world, poo-pooing PC and Android devices for being as clean as a public swimming pool. But just this week, Motherboard’s very own Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai reported on what is being described as one of the biggest security flaws of Apple products exploited by hackers ever, and it could have affected you. He’s on the latest episode to talk about this and the year so far in Mac exploits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.