Malicious Life
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
EP61: Prying Eyes
12 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Roughly 600,000 laptops are lost every year in US airports alone: some reports say a laptop is stolen every minute. How hard is it to hack into a stol...
EP60: ML B-Side: Lodrian Cherne On Stalkerware
08 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this out-of-band episode, we're bringing you the full interview with Lodrina Cherne, a Digital Forensics Expert, on Spyware : what is it, how i...
EP59: Gozi, Part 1: The Rise of Malware-as-a-Service
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nikita Kuzmin could have been a whiz programmer or a CEO of a successful startup. But as a teen in Moscow, he fell in with the wrong crowd, and his en...
EP58: How is Spyware Legal?
17 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today's Cyber Stalkers have free access to almost government-grade spyware software with which they can terrorize their victims. Who's enablin...
EP57: Listeners Survey Special
10 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ran and Eliad Kimhy, one of the show's top producers, discuss the recent Listener's Survey results: what do like and dislike about the show, i...
EP56: Operation Aurora, Part 2
26 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Google, it turned out, was only one of 35 major US corporations hit in Aurora. Was is an espionage campaign, or could it be that it all began with one...
EP55: Operation Aurora, Part 1
12 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In January 2010, Google revealed in its blog that it was hacked. This attack, since known as Operation Aurora, is attributed to China. In this series ...
Responding to a Cyber Attack with Missiles
29 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Should governments responde to cyber attack with deadly force? Senior researcher Mikko Hypponen and Prof. Itzik Ben Israel (Ret. General, IDF R&D)...
EP53: Are Ad Blockers Malicious?
15 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ad Blockers, such as AdBlock Plus, provide an important service to users who find web ads annoying, creepy and sometimes even dangerous. In recent yea...
ML_Conficker
18 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Can a malware be *too* successful? This is the story of Conficker, one of the most advanced worms in history - and how its success led to its ultimate...
Operation SoftCell
10 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A rare, inside look, at how Cybereason's researchers were able to uncover one of the largest Cyber Espionage campaigns ever discovered, against mu...
'Pa Bell' Vs. Youth International Party Line
16 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The YIPL phreaking magazine was the spiritual predecessor to the better-known '2600' zine, and it was founded by a ideological party determine...
The U.S vs. Gary McKinnon
27 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After the Challenger Disaster of 1986, NASA had a hard time convincing the public that the Galileo spacecraft, fueled by radioactive Plutonium, is saf...
The WANK Worm, Part 2
10 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After the Challenger Disaster of 1986, NASA had a hard time convincing the public that the Galileo spacecraft, fueled by radioactive Plutonium, is saf...
The WANK Worm, Part 1
25 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On October 16th, 1989, NASA's scientists went into work preparing to launch a spacecraft that very day. But when they sat down to their computers...
The Equifax Data Breach Pt. II: The Bits Hit The Fan
11 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After its momentous breach, Equifax's CEO Richard Smith said: “Equifax will not be defined by this incident, but rather by how we respond.” We...
The Equifax Data Breach Pt. I: A Big Data Bubble
27 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In their 120 year history, Equifax never sold anything, or provided any service to ordinary folks - except collect DATA. In 2017, that huge data repos...
DeCSS: Hackers Vs Hollywood
13 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago, a 15-years old Norwegian kid was put on trial for breaking the DVD Copy Prevention system. His case spawned a whole new "artisti...
Marconi & The Maskelyne Affair
21 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Guglielmo Marconi--the beloved, hated, disputed inventor of radio--gets trolled by a mustached magician in the world’s first ever, wireless, grey ha...
The Fall Of Mt. Gox – Part 2
06 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In its prime, Mt. Gox was essentially the place where Bitcoin happened. But for two years, Mt. Gox was imploding from the inside - while soaring to un...
The Location Data Brokers – A CYBER Podcast Special
24 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
CYBER is a new podcast from Motherboard, a very well known and respected technology blog and online magazine. The episode you’ll hear shortly is abo...
The Fall Of Mt. Gox – Part 1
22 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In its prime, Mt. Gox was essentially the place where Bitcoin happened. But for two years, Mt. Gox was imploding from the inside - while soaring to un...
Black Duck Eggs: Darknet Diaries
08 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week we're doing an episode swap with the excellent podcast Darknet Diaries. A former NSA agent who has gone off to be a security consultant,...
Dave Kennedy: The Psychological Principles of Social Engineering
25 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today on Malicious Life, tens of thousands of people get robbed. Then a community gets together to ask: should we take our money back, or let the ha...
The Ethereum DAO Hack
13 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today on Malicious Life, tens of thousands of people get robbed. Then a community gets together to ask: should we take our money back, or let the ha...
The Jerusalem Virus, Part 2
26 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How did the Jerusalem virus trigger the birth of the entire Anti Virus industry in Israel? A high-stakes wager on Live TV, and more. The post The Jeru...
The Jerusalem Virus, Part 1
15 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Although scary, the Jerusalem virus, discovered in Israel in 1987, was in fact a rather simple virus. How, then, did the virus trigger the birth of an...
Gene Spafford on the Morris Worm & Cyber-security in the 1980’s
31 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Eugene Spafford (aka Spaf), a professor of computer science at Purdue University, was the first researcher to publish a detailed analysis of the infam...
China Vs. Github
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a weapon that harnessed the strength of millions of computers at once: a cannon so powerful it could break through any wall, take down any webs...
The Ashley Madison Hack, Part 2
04 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On the second installment of our Ashely Madison hack retelling, we look at the fallout of one of the hack, and the people who’ve suffered from it. T...
The Ashley Madison Hack, Part 1
19 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Ashley Madison got hacked, it made international headlines. Why? Because it wasn’t just a major event. It demonstrated how there’s informatio...
Interview Special: Graham Cluley
05 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As we prepare to release an awesome 2-part story in two weeks, we decided to give you a chance to go back to some old favorites and check out some of...
The Target Hack
23 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If movies have taught me anything, it’s that if you want to rob a bank, you dress as the cleaning crew. The people behind the Target hack must have ...
WoW: Corrupted Blood
25 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How does the outbreak of a “plague” inside a video game- a bug, essentially- affect real-life disease research? The post WoW: Corrupted Blood appe...
The Stuxnet Virus Pt. 3
12 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Stuxnet was a devastating weapon, but who wielded it? That is the question we try to answer with the final installment of our Stuxnet series. In this ...
The Stuxnet Virus Pt. 2
12 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Stuxnet was a weapon, a kind of a smart bomb- perhaps one of the smartest bombs ever created. A bomb that couldn’t rely on operators, cameras, and l...
The Stuxnet Virus Pt. 1
12 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Where armies once fought with bullets and bombs, they now engage in clandestine, invisible warfare. In 2010 a virus was discovered that would change t...
Shamoon – The Biggest Hack In History
29 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Shammon Virus. There is a single company, run by a royal family, which employs the majority of the Saudi working population. It’s worth more tha...
The Melissa Virus
14 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Not all malware is created equal. Some malware will attempt to erase your files, demand ransom, or steal your information. Others will do no such thin...
GhostNet
30 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A young woman is arrested by the Chinese government while trying to cross the border to Tibet. Her interrogator, a Chinese spy, pulls out a dossier fu...
The Morris Worm Pt. 2
16 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In an attempt to halt the Morris worm’s path of destruction, a systems administrator at Harvard shut down the university router through which Andy S...
The Morris Worm Pt. 1
02 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve introduced you to some of the seminal malware attacks that have shaped cybersecurity history. Perhaps no other incident in history, though, ha...
The Half Life 2 Hack
18 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How far should a die-hard fan go, in order to bring closer to them the thing that they love? In one of the most interesting, yet relatively unknown cy...
The Legalities of the Cyber War
04 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Catching a criminal is by no means easy, but there’s something we take for granted in any crime: that the criminal has a face and a name, that they ...
Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear
21 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When representatives from the Democratic National Committee reached out to a silicon valley cybersecurity company, to investigate a potential breach i...
Hack Back
07 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Those who have experienced a cybercrime know the feelings of frustration and helplessness that come along with it. A hacker could be halfway across t...
Cyber Terrorism
21 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What governments and powerful organizations regularly use, others will find ways to use as well. Cyber activity fits so incredibly well with terrorism...
Super Spies
07 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The NSA has many means at its disposal. But how does it use these means, and for what goals? Discover the (literally) secret history of the NSA’s cy...
The Trojan Horse Affair
24 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The early 2000s were an interesting time in Information Security. This is roughly the period when malware transitioned from viruses written by teenage...
Friend or Foe
10 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The largest hack in U.S military history may have been conducted by… The NSA. In 1997, a wargame conducted by the NSA showed just how unprepared we...
Amit Serper Interview- Holiday Special Episode
27 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the holidays and everyone’s on vacation – but the Internet never rests and neither do the bad guys in cybersecurity. So, for this holiday s...
Deception
13 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From the Bulgarian hacker scene of the 90’s, featured in episodes 1 and 2, we now move to the vibrant underground hacker scene of West and East Berl...
Weapons of Mass Disruption
29 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The threat of fire and fury stands at the center of all modern conflicts- nuclear bombs that can eradicate life in seconds are the ultimate weapon of ...
The Soldiers of North Korea
15 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Guerrilla warfare has been around for as long as conventional warfare has. The idea that a small force, through cunning and brazen action, could overt...
The Propaganda
01 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Governments around the world have been making devious use of the internet as a platform to spread, not malware, but propaganda. As in all wars, propag...
The Whistleblowers
17 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
WikiLeaks has ushered in a new age in whistle blowing: Modern leakers such as Chelsea Manning – who’s story is the focus of our current episode –...
Stuxnet, part 3
02 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Stuxnet was a devastating weapon, but who wielded it? That is the question we try to answer with the final installment of our Stuxnet series. In this ...
Stuxnet, part 2
18 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Stuxnet was a weapon, a kind of a smart bomb- perhaps one of the smartest bombs ever created. A bomb that couldn’t rely on operators, cameras, and l...
Stuxnet, part 1
30 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Where armies once fought with bullets and bombs, they now engage in clandestine, invisible warfare. In 2010 a virus was discovered that would change t...
Hell to Pay
21 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A global FBI manhunt for the world’s most wanted cyber criminal ends in the capture of a massive criminal network, but with the escape of the man hi...
The Roots of Evil
07 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
WannaCry’s widespread cyber attack on more than 200,000 computers all over the world made headlines – but only a few people remember a similar att...
Big Cannons
24 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
2016 is known throughout the circles of information security as “The Year of The DDoS Attacks”, and rightfully so: 5 large scale DDoS attacks – ...
Spam Empire
06 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Malicious Life, we take a look at one of the oldest forms of criminal activity on the web- the spam empires of the 90’s and 2000’...
The Dark Avenger
30 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 1989, a message was found in a virus: “Eddie Lives…Somewhere in Time!”. ‘Eddie’ was a particularly nasty virus, and its discovery led a y...
Ghost In The Machine
28 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Cybercrime is one of the most notable threats we face as computer users, nowadays. But it wasn’t always so. Those of us who’ve been in the field l...