Welcome to the Transatlantic Cable - a podcast that dives into hot topics in the security news and industry each week. We start off this episode with hacking Starlink! It cost a researcher only $25 worth of parts to create a tool that allows custom code to run on the satellite dishes. Then we move on to 7-Eleven Denmark, where a ransomware attack was behind the closure of 175 stores in the country on Monday!

Then, we discuss the spyware scandal spreading through Europe. Finally, we end with the potential threat in your browser and what dangers innocent-looking extensions hold for users.

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Episode 262 of the Transatlantic Cable kicks off with news that Twitter recently suffered a data breach, with an estimated 5 million users affected, the cause is being blamed on a zero-day. From there the team stay with social media as they discuss a story around Meta and their latest invention – a chatbot. There’s a slight problem in that it has become racist.  Staying on the Meta train, the next story looks at a lawsuit being filed against Meta, saying they have been ‘harvesting’ data from hospital sites.

In between the stories and quizzes, the team this week were lucky enough to sit down with Sergey Petrukhin from Kaspersky to talk about KHCS – Kaspersky Hybrid Cloud Security, and why it’s great for protecting your business cloud endpoints.

Moving onto the final few stories, we stay with social media as the UK government makes a swift U-turn, creating, then quickly closing, their very first TikTok account.  To wrap up, discussion turns to recent news around Tornado Cash, the controversial crypto mixer, and recent sanctions from the United States government.

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• Twitter: Someone Exploited a Zero-Day to Access User Data
• Another lawsuit claims Facebook scraping data from hospital sites
• It took just one weekend for Meta's new AI Chatbot to become racist
• UK Parliament closes TikTok account after China data warning
• US sanctions crypto mixer Tornado Cash used by North Korean hackers

After a brief hiatus, the team are back together again talking all things cyber-sec.  This week’s episode kicks off with a story around the Brazilian rainforest and NFTs (yes, really). Following that, the team discuss a recent story around Seth Green and his recent hacked Bored Ape NFT – turns out it wasn’t a solitary attack and was part of a much broader attack on NFTs and crypto.

After the two NFT stories, the team dive into something more serious this week, looking at the arrest and subsequent trial of the ex-CIA hacker who famously dumped data (aka: Vault 7) onto Wiki-Leaks. Astonishingly, that story is now over 5 years old.

To wrap up, the team discuss a returning story of the bitcoin advocate who is (still) desperately trying to dig up a waste disposal site, all with the aim of recovering a hard-drive with his wallet key on. All we can say is, good luck.

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• Brazilian prosecutors probe company over Amazon forest NFT sale
• Seth Green NFT Theft Part of Multimillion-Dollar Scam Campaign
• Ex-CIA Hacker Convicted for ‘One of the Most Damaging Acts of Espionage in American History’
• Missing hard drive could fund Newport crypto hub

For the first time in what feels like a long time, the team are fully reunited to discuss this week’s topics. They kick things off with news that more and more hospitals are under attack from ransomware. From there, the team discuss a strange story about an MP in Australia who’s been handed a ‘lifetime ban’ on Facebook for letting her account get hacked.

After that, the team take a brief hiatus so that Elena Molchanova from our business development team can talk about Security Awareness training – a new offering from Kaspersky to help train staff in cybersecurity compliance.

Getting back on track, the team close out the podcast with two related stories about TikTok – the first around growing concerns in the West around the data harvesting that the app performs, and the second looks at a worrying story on how some parents are looking to leverage their children for likes and shares. 

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• Hacking of US hospitals highlights deadly risk of ransomware
• MP faces lifetime Facebook ban after hackers posted porn on page
• TikTok has been accused of ‘aggressive’ data harvesting
• TikTok moms are removing videos of their children

For a second-straight week, we have a short-handed booth for the Transatlantic Cable. With Ahmed and Dave off, Jag and I share the mic for the first time as a duo.

To kick things off, we discuss how the Lazarus group leveraged a fake job interview into a $600M hack into Axie Infinity. From there, we head into a partial code share from Vice on the Anom app. For those who may forget this was a “secure phone” system that was orchestrated by the FBI to draw in criminals doing illicit activities.

Our third story is quite the head-scratcher as a “CEO” has been arrested for selling counterfeit CISCO equipment to companies and government entities. The curious part was not just that it was fake equipment, but it was something that was sold on eBay and Amazon. We then head to India where a flood control system has been hit with ransomware. What makes this a bit worse is that the region is now under monsoon season. To close out the podcast, we head to San Francisco where Cruise has seen some issues with the autonomous cars stopping and causing traffic havoc.

If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing and sharing with your friends. For more information on the stories we covered, see the links below:

• A Fake Job Offer Reportedly Led to Axie Infinity's $600M Hack
• This Is the Code the FBI Used to Wiretap the World
• CEO Arrested for Selling $1 Billion in Fake Cisco Hardware on Amazon, eBay
• Ransomware attack hits Goa’s flood monitoring system; demand crypto as payment
• Cruise’s Robot Car Outages Are Jamming Up San Francisco

Episode 258 of the Transatlantic Cable kicks off with discussions around the Lazarus group, more specifically the new attack being attributed to them.  From there, discussion moves to talk around some crypto-exchanges sharing “geo-tracking” public information with ICE (the United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency).  Moving to the penultimate story, which looks at an NFT-themed restaurant which (believe it or not) has stopped accepting crypto-payments due to the market crash. 

Finally, to wrap up the team discuss news coming out of China about a potential data breach which could possibly (if true) be one of the largest in the world (nearly 1 billion.)

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Episode 257 of the Transatlantic Cable kicks off with discussions about a concerning story of hacking airplanes and cargo ships – is it possible or just FUD?  From there the team discuss news about an office man in Japan (not much more is known about this mysterious gentleman) who went out for a drink after work and proceeded to lose a USB memory stick with data on over half a million city residents.  Talk about a hangover. 

From there, the team discuss a new age-verification method for Instagram involving selfies and concerns grow for Covid tracking apps that are pivoting away from tracking diseases to broader health related topics.

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Hackers can bring ships and planes to a grinding halt.

Japanese man loses USB stick with entire city's personal details

Instagram: Video selfies trial to verify age of teens

How Covid Tracking Apps Are Pivoting for Commercial Profit

Episode 256 of the Transatlantic Cable kicks off with discussions around NFTs, crypto currency and Bill Gates.  From there the team talk about news coming out of the United Kingdom around cookies – it seems that the U.K government is keen to make some changes to current cookie legislation, but will this be a win for businesses or consumers?  Following that there’s discussion around ‘BidenCash’ – an underground site making waves by trying to give away stolen credit card information.

In addition to this, Dave recently sat down with Boris Larin, from Kaspersky’s GReAT, to talk to him about his recent work modding Metal Gear Solid 2, allowing a true 3rd person perspective camera – something that wasn’t possible in the original game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGGNfOq8u3o

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• Bill Gates says crypto and NFTs are ’100% based on greater fool theory’
• Can crumbling cookies sweeten UK data-protection plans?
• New 'BidenCash' site sells your stolen credit card for just 15 cents

Episode 255 of the Transatlantic Cable kicks off with discussions around stalkerware, in particular a piece of software that’s been found leaking photos and other personal data on its website. From there, the team discuss a story around the US government tapping travel companies in order to track suspects.

As we move on, discussions get a tad more ethereal, shall we say. First up is talk around how it might be possible (in the next 10 years or so) to digitally replicate yourself online – as to why you’d want to do this is anybody’s guess. To wrap up, the team discuss a recent (potentially massive) story about a Google engineer who was recently put on paid leave from the company as he believes one of its AI programs has become sentient.  

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Android Stalkerware ‘TheTruthSpy’ Exposing Images of Children Online

U.S. Gov Ordered Travel Companies To Spy On Russian Hacker And Report His Whereabouts

Why you may have a thinking digital twin within a decade

Google engineer put on leave after saying AI chatbot has become sentient

Let’s face it. We all love Twitter, no matter how much we get mad with the platform or its direction. Well, it seems that the future owner of the platform, Elon Musk, has his own issues.

In the opening of this week’s episode of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Ahmed, Jag and I dive into Elon’s battle with Twitter over the bots, as well as his threats of walking out of the deal that he agreed upon to buy the platform.

From there, we jump over to CoinBase, where the company is using a technology for employees to evaluate other employees for their performance in everyday interactions and meetings. Yes, you read that right – what can possibly go wrong?

For the second-straight week, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is a point of discussion. Much like last week, we are chatting about a phishing scheme that saw NFTs stolen after a Discord server was compromised.

For our fourth story, we discuss an account from a reporter who saw his name used as part of a pump-and-dump crypto endeavor without his knowledge. To close things out, we look at how water companies are seeing an issue getting cyber insurance.

If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing and sharing with your friends. For more information on the stories we covered, see the links below:

• Elon Musk threatens to walk away from Twitter deal
• Coinbase is reportedly testing out having employees rate each other in an app with a thumbs up or thumbs down after meetings and other interactions
• Bored Ape Yacht Club Discord compromised in $357,000 NFT phishing attack
• They used my identity to flog a doomed cryptocurrency – and then things got weird
• Water companies are increasingly uninsurable due to ransomware, industry execs say

To kick off the 253 edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Ahmed, Jag and I discuss our most recent whipping-boy topic – NFTs.

In particular, we discuss how Seth Green’s new project may be in jeopardy, because he clicked on a phishing link. This in turn saw the actor lose a number of the NFTs in his digital wallet to thieves and then were resold. From there, we discuss security issues related to app-enabled automobiles. There is some debate as to whether or not these apps are even needed.

We then sit down with a member of our product team to discuss the latest in cloud security. The third story on the docket discusses the latest with hackers claiming that they have stolen a database of Verizon employee numbers.

To close out the pod, we talk about the weird new ransomware group in India that is requiring people to conduct acts of kindness or goodwill to get their data unlocked. These actions range from paying medicine to buying kids food – yeah, as you can see, kinda a weird flex.

If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing and sharing with your friends. For more information on the stories we covered, see the links below:

• Someone Stole Seth Green's Bored Ape, Which Was Supposed To Star In His New Show
• What’s wrong with automotive mobile apps?
• Hacker Steals Database of Hundreds of Verizon Employees
• Ransomware group forces victims to 'pick any 5 poor children' and buy them KFC

Welcome to episode 251 of the Transatlantic Cable. This week, the team look at some of the more ‘interesting’ stories in the cybersecurity world.

To kick things off, Dave and Ahmed look at a, seemingly, good news story – about the closing down of the ransomware gang, Conti.  However, things aren’t quite as they appear.  From there they move to a story that has to be read to be believed – it involves banks, ransomware and phalluses.  We will leave the link at the bottom if you want to read that one for yourselves.

From that bombshell, the team move to a more concerning story around farming equipment and hackers and how facial recognition and AI are slowly becoming more and more regulated – good news?  You decide.

If you liked what you heard, please do consider subscribing. 

• Conti ransomware shuts down operation, rebrands into smaller units
• National bank hit by ransomware trolls hackers with dick pics
• Global food supply chain at risk from malicious hackers
• Lawmakers Urge FTC to Investigate ID.me and its Facial Recognition Tech
• Clearview AI fined £7.5m for illegally using images of Brits scraped from online

Welcome to episode 251 of the Transatlantic Cable. This week, the team look at some of the more ‘interesting’ stories in the cybersecurity world.

To kick off this week’s episode, the team look at a recent story suggesting that San Francisco Police are looking at ways to leverage the ‘always recording’ feature of driverless cars to their advantage – including for investigation leads. From there, the team discuss a recent blog looking at modern warfare, in particular how most military devices today are connected to the internet – is that a risk?

Moving on, the trio dissect a recent story looking at how malware could be uploaded to an iPhone whilst it’s powered off – however, there’s a caveat with the story that takes a little of the sting out of it. To wrap up, they look at recent research from Kaspersky around the shape of ransomware and how it’s perceived by business executives.

If you like what you heard, please do consider subscribing. 

1. San Francisco Police Are Using Driverless Cars as Mobile Surveillance Cameras
2. Hacked drones and busted logistics are the cyber future of warfare
3. Researchers devise iPhone malware that runs even when device is turned off
4. Ransomware is much more than just a buzzword

Welcome to episode 250 of the Transatlantic Cable. This week, the team look at some of the more ‘interesting’ stories in the cybersecurity world.

Kicking things off, the team take a look at a story suggesting that the NFT world is imploding, with the article saying that NFT sales have declined by a whopping 92% from the highs of last year. From there, the team look at a more concerning story around recent NFT / crypto hacks, saying that in April 2022 alone, hackers managed to siphon off $370 million from crypto exchanges and NFT platforms.

Moving away from the world of crypto, the team discuss the recent happenings in Costa Rica after a recent hack from the Conti group left much of the government disabled. The country has since declared a national emergency to try to tackle the ongoing problems with the attack.

To wrap up, they look into movies with a discussion around The Batman’s main antagonist (no spoilers!), and why he’s a more modern take on an old villain.

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• NFT sales ‘have declined 92% since their peak’
• Crypto Hackers Stole More Than $370 Million In April Alone
• Costa Rica declares national emergency after Conti ransomware attacks
• Terminally Online Batfans Have Fallen for Paul Dano

Welcome to episode 249 of the Transatlantic Cable. This week, the team look at some of the more ‘interesting’ stories in the cyber-security world.

To start, Dave and Jeff look at a concerning story, regarding REvil – the infamous ransomware gang that was, until recently, thought to be shut down.  The story looks at signs that all might not be as it seems and there’s rumblings that the gang may be about to make a return.  From there, they discuss a story around a DeFi hack and how the platform, Fei Protocol is offering a cool $10 million to return the stolen funds.

From there, things get decidedly strange – the first story, looks at stalking using Apple AirTags – something that’s becoming increasingly common.  The next story takes a look at recent news that Russia and America are training dolphins for underwater missions (there’s a reference to Austin Powers here, I know it) and the final story looks at how hackers could potentially do harm through the hacking of “love” robots.  Yes, really. 

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• REvil ransomware returns: New malware sample confirms gang is back
• Rari Fuze hacker offered $10M bounty by Fei Protocol to return $80M loot
• Tennessee family visiting Disney World says Apple AirTag used to track them
• Russia deploys trained dolphins at Black Sea naval base
• Could Hackers Program Sex Robots To Kill?

Welcome to episode 248 of the Transatlantic Cable. In this week’s episode Dave and Ahmed look at some of the more unique or interesting stories to come out of the tech / info-sec world.

To kick things off, they look at a breaking story about how BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club, to you and me) is reeling after a hack on their Instagram account led to the theft of quite a few NFTs. 

From there, they look at how an actor’s guild is getting increasingly concerned about AI and deep-fakes, calling for reform. Following that, they look at a concerning story around fake reviews and how the US government is looking at legislation to try to tackle rampant fakery.

Wrapping up, they look at news from Google showing that 2021 was a ‘banner-year’ for zero-day exploits and their usage.

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• Thief steals $1 million of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs with Instagram hack
• Actors launch campaign against AI 'show stealers'
• 'My negative online review was blocked'
• Google: 2021 was a Banner Year for Exploited 0-Day Bugs

Welcome to episode 247 of the Transatlantic Cable, where we talk about all the recent info-sec related news you might have missed this week. 

To kick off, the team look at a story around NFTs – in recent weeks, the overall trading volume of non-fungible tokens has dropped dramatically, but that didn’t faze the owner of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet – who was asking for $48M, however initial trading suggested it would only reach $6,800 – not great.  From there, Dave and Ahmed move on to a more disturbing story around a hack of the DeFi platform, Beanstalk – and how it happened is more mind-boggling than you could ever think. 

Moving onwards, the team look at a recent story that suggests that North Korea is behind the hacking of a gaming platform and RaidForums, the once popular criminal forum, was shuttered in a joint effort by the FBI and Europol.

To close out the episode, they look at some hopeful news as the experts over at Kaspersky have managed to create a decryptor key for the Yanluowang ransomware.

• Man who paid $2.9m for NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet set to lose almost $2.9m
• Beanstalk cryptocurrency project robbed after hacker votes to send themself $182M
• North Korean hackers target gamers in $615m crypto heist – US
• Raidforums marketplace shut down in global operation
• How to recover files encrypted by Yanlouwang

Welcome to episode 246 of the Transatlantic Cable - we start off this episode from Isle of Wight, where its Council's electric vehicle chargers were hacked to show a porn site! Then we move to Shanghai, where the latest lockdown comes with a creepy robot creature scuttling through the empty streets. Also, Bored Apes goes Hollywood with a Coinbase-produced movie trilogy.

Also, some good news for cryptocurrency fans as the UK Treasury has announced that it will regulate some cryptocurrencies as part of a wider plan to make the UK a hub for digital payment companies. Lastly, we finish the episode from the U.S. where scammers use a puppy face to steal from their victims.

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-61006816
• https://boingboing.net/2022/04/05/with-shanghais-latest-lockdown-comes-this-creepy-robot-creature-scuttling-through-the-empty-streets.html?
• https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/04/11/bored-apes-go-hollywood-with-coinbase-produced-movie-trilogy/
• https://www.bbc.com/news/business-60983561
• https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/11/23019726/google-puppy-fraud-aarp-scammer-basset-hound-dog

Our streak of a two-man booth for the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, with Ahmed and Jeff kicking things off in the cryptocurrency world.

More specific, we discuss some proposed legislation in the EU that would remove a level of anonymity for all transactions. While we have some fun with the topic, this is something that has been brewing and will be an interesting topic to follow. From there, we discuss Borat – unfortunately not the Sacha Baron Cohen flick – a new RAT making the rounds in criminal circles.

For our third stories, we put on our tinfoil hats and talk about some new patents from the US Navy that, well let’s face it, sound a lot like alien technology. To close out the podcast, we discuss the metaverse and a newish system that seems a lot like a

If you liked what you heard, please consider subscribing and sharing with your friends. For more information on the stories we covered, see the links below:

• EU draft law adds security checks to all crypto transactions
• Borat RAT: Multiple threat of ransomware, DDoS and spyware
• S. Navy Has Patents on Tech It Says Will ‘Engineer the Fabric of Reality’
• The Metaverse Has Bosses Too. Meet the ‘Managers’ of Axie Infinity

Episode 244 of the Transatlantic Cable, Dave and Ahmed look at some of the more unusual infosec stories doing the rounds.  Starting out, the team look at one of the more well read stories of the week, which focuses on the arrest of the alleged mastermind of the Lapsus$ gang.  Following that, Dave and Ahmed move to a story that might have Honda owners concerned, as a PoC hack shows how hackers are able to break into their cars.

The final stories focus on the NFT / metaverse world, with the first looking at a recent purchase from Snap (yes, the company that owns SnapChat) which involves augmented reality and mind-control (yes, really).  The second story focuses on recent news that Yuga Labs (the company behind BAYC or the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs) has teased news around a new game their working on, which will, no doubt, lean heavily on NFTs and apes.  Time will tell if it’s a success or not.

If you like what you heard, please do consider subscribing!

• Lapsus$: Oxford teen accused of being multi-millionaire cyber-criminal
• Honda bug lets a hacker unlock and start your car via replay attack
• Snap buys brain-computer interface startup for future AR glasses
• Bored Ape Yacht Club's New Metaverse Shows NFTs Are Evolving