Transatlantic Cable Podcast

On this week’s edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Ahmed, Dave, and I discuss a variety of topics. We kick off the program with a story from the EU and a new look at making Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies more trackable.

The proposed changes in the EU could take up to two years to enact, and we have a lot of questions.

From there, we jump to a story about a ransomware hit on ransomware group Babuk. After that, it’s Dave’s interview about the dangers of image-based sexual abuse and how we can stop it.

Then, it’s off to a round of our recurring quiz, where I continue to suck. Then, following a break for our second interview —a look at a new children’s book featuring Midori Kuma — it’s the latest in REvil-v-Kaseya saga. In this latest wrinkle, Kaseya obtained a universal decryptor.

Finally, it’s back to the UK, where a leak of gun forum users has gun owners on edge, and a brief discussion of Amazon shutting down NSO activity on its servers.

Direct download: KL_212.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 10:09am EDT

Earlier in the week, we teased a miniseries called the Community Podcasts, which you’ll find right alongside the Transatlantic Cable podcast. I will remain your faithful host, and Anastasiya Kazakova of our Government Affairs office will join me.

This series of podcasts features frank conversations with cyberheroes who unite people despite everything — growing fragmentation, confrontation, and ever-changing cyberthreats — people are still building communities and uniting folks to work together for the common good. Why are they doing that? And is it working?

For our first episode, we focus on the Geneva Dialogue, launched in 2018 by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in cooperation with the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), ETH Zurich, and the University of Lausanne. The flourishing initiative is uniting even more stakeholders across the globe; however, its initial goals seemed much broader than today’s, and the list of organizers has changed.

Today’s guests:

• Jonas Grätz, political affairs officer for cyberdiplomacy at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, International Security Division;
• Vladimir Radunovic, director of cybersecurity and e-diplomacy programs at DiploFoundation.

Direct download: kl_podcast_212.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 4:15am EDT

With Ahmed on vacation, the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast returns this week to its original lineup.

Dave and I kick off this week’s episode with a look at the latest from REvil and its victims. (Spoiler alert: Despite the quiet, things are not great.) From there, we head to Southeast Asia, where LuminousMoth has been targeting government organizations. Instead of giving you our hot takes and thoughts on the APT action, we discuss the research and actor with senior Kaspersky security researcher Mark Lechtik.

Following that, we discuss Amazon’s potential Alexa tracking device for kids.

That calls for a change of topic, to a sneak peek of our new miniseries, Community Conversations. We will be interviewing members of organizations in the infosec community that are collaborating across borders to make a positive impact in the space. We will launch the series over the coming weekend.

Following the preview, we discuss Twitter’s curious account verification practices: specifically, the case of a verified cat. Next, facial recognition in retail stores may be more prevalent than you think.

To close out the episode, Dave and I discuss the pros and cons of buying a Cold War bunker — just ~$700K.

Direct download: KL_Podcast_211.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 5:53am EDT

In this week’s episode of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Ahmed, Jeff and I are back around the virtual round table to talk all things cyber.

We kick this week’s episode off with the news that Interpol are urging countries to unite against the ransomware pandemic. From there, we look at how a hacker going by the alias ‘integra’ is offering 26.99 bitcoins (nearly $1 million USD at the time of writing) for zero-days and undetectable RATs (remote access Trojans).

From there, we look at a recently patched SolarWinds vulnerability and news that Tencent (a Chinese gaming behemoth) is looking to use facial recognition software to stop children playing past a certain time. To close, we discuss the recent news around the Right to Repair movement in America and Europe.

Direct download: KL_Podcast_210.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 7:19am EDT

This week on the podcast, Jeff’s on vacation, so Ahmed and I tackle some thorny cybersec issues on our own.

We start with news that EA’s billion dollar franchise, Apex Legends, faced hacking concerns from gamers about the state of TitanFall, Respawn’s first foray into the FPS genre. From there, we move on to news that Google has taken the ban-hammer to some developers who placed Trojans inside their apps to scrape Facebook credentials.

Other stories this week include discussion about APT28, aka Fancy Bear, targeting governments around the world, plus an exclusive chat with Kaspersky security researcher David Emm about the recent REvil attacks.

Direct download: KL_Podcast_209.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 5:31am EDT

 

For the 208th episode of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Dave’s gone missing, and Ahmed and I debate whether it is leisure or if something more nefarious is going on. We don’t quite get to the bottom of it, but we do cover a wide array of topics, from a political sex tape leaked on OnlyFans to PS3 leaks and ransomware in US schools.

 

We start with the electoral scene in New York state, where a user on Onlyfans and Twitter leaked a BDSM video of politician Zack Weiner and a partner. Both platforms took down the video and banned the user, but the reply from Weiner is what caught our attention as a standup response to a truly personal doxing.

 

From there, we have to mention Ahmed’s complete quiz game dominance. Sadly, I am not able to overtake David’s massive lead, and we move on to a story of PS3 hacking for online gaming.

 

In the next segment, I sit down with Kurt Baumgartner to discuss the latest on school ransomware in the United States, the government reclaiming funds from ransomware crooks, and more. We continue with news of a potentially new scraping of data from 700 million LinkedIn users before closing out with a new government joining Have I Been Pwned.  

 

 

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Direct download: KL_Podcast_208.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 10:45am EDT

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