Is NSO Evil? Part 1

FromMalicious Life

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Is NSO Evil? Part 1

FromMalicious Life

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Length:

32 minutes

Released:

Oct 30, 2023

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

NSO Group, creator of the infamous Pegasus spyware, is widely regarded as a vile, immoral company: a sort of 21st century soldier of fortune, a mercenary in the service of corrupt and evil regimes. Yet among its many clients are many liberal democracies, including the US, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, to name but a few. So, is NSO really as evil as many think it is? Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Released:

Oct 30, 2023

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Malicious Life by Cybereason tells the unknown stories of the history of cybersecurity, with comments and reflections by real hackers, security experts, journalists, and politicians.

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Hell to Pay: 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 himself. Security experts who operate within the gray areas of morality develop botnets that destroy perso... by Malicious Life
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Friend or Foe: 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 were for a potential cybernetic strike- in 4 days, NSA hackers were able to take down entire military ne... by Malicious Life
36 min listen
GhostNet: 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 full of information regarding her activity online. It turns out she’s been visiting pro-Tibet websites, by Malicious Life
28 min listen
Hack Back: Those who have experienced a cybercrime know the feelings of frustration and helplessness that come along with it. A hacker could be halfway across the world when they attack you, and you might have no way of figuring out who it was or catching them ev... by Malicious Life
34 min listen
Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear: When representatives from the Democratic National Committee reached out to a silicon valley cybersecurity company, to investigate a potential breach in their computer system, it’s hard to imagine what they might have expected to come of it. by Malicious Life
31 min listen
The Soldiers of North Korea: Guerrilla warfare has been around for as long as conventional warfare has. The idea that a small force, through cunning and brazen action, could overtake a larger force is an old one. From pirates who would take merchant ships by surprise, by Malicious Life
34 min listen
Stuxnet, part 2: 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 laser targeting, instead it had to “think” its way to its destination. An invisible commando unit, by Malicious Life
27 min listen
Ghost In The Machine: 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 long enough may remember a time when computer viruses were much more innocent, by Malicious Life
26 min listen
Big Cannons: 2016 is known throughout the circles of information security as “The Year of The DDoS Attacks”, and rightfully so: 5 large scale DDoS attacks – ‘Distributed Denial Of Service’ – shocked the technology world. In this episode of Malicious Life, by Malicious Life
45 min listen
Weapons of Mass Disruption: 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 war, as they pose a huge threat to centers of population. But what of the cyber war? by Malicious Life
41 min listen
Stuxnet, part 1: Where armies once fought with bullets and bombs, they now engage in clandestine, invisible warfare. In 2010 a virus was discovered that would change the world’s perception of cyber warfare forever. Dubbed Stuxnet, by Malicious Life
33 min listen
Shamoon – The Biggest Hack In History: 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 than Apple, Google, and Amazon…by a lot. The Saudi Aramco oil company is one of the most significant commer... by Malicious Life
27 min listen
The Dark Avenger: 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 young Bulgarian security researcher down a rabbit hole, on a hunt for the prolific creator of the Eddie virus: Th... by Malicious Life
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Stuxnet, part 3: 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 episode, we explore other, similar battles of the modern cyber war, by Malicious Life
30 min listen
The Whistleblowers: 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 – expose huge amounts of confidential information. But can these mega-leaks really influence the actions and... by Malicious Life
36 min listen
The Roots of Evil: 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 attack, named The AIDS Trojan, almost 30 years earlier… In this episode of Malicious Life, by Malicious Life
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The Half Life 2 Hack: 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 cybersecurity stories, a young hacker attempts to steal his favorite game prior to its release and then ... by Malicious Life
38 min listen
The Stuxnet Virus Pt. 2: 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 laser targeting, instead it had to “think” its way to its destination. An invisible commando unit, by Malicious Life
27 min listen
Black Duck Eggs: Darknet Diaries: 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, tells a story about an assignment that he'll never forget... by Malicious Life
32 min listen
Cyber Terrorism: What governments and powerful organizations regularly use, others will find ways to use as well. Cyber activity fits so incredibly well with terrorism. Actors can remain hidden, or reveal themselves to the world; Create propaganda campaign, by Malicious Life
31 min listen
The Propaganda: 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, propaganda is a huge part of the modern cyber war. Join us as we explore the roots, by Malicious Life
40 min listen
The Trojan Horse Affair: The early 2000s were an interesting time in Information Security. This is roughly the period when malware transitioned from viruses written by teenagers for fun, to cybercrime tools in the hands of sophisticated criminals. by Malicious Life
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Spam Empire: 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’s. Find out how these multi-million dollar industries operated, by Malicious Life
31 min listen
The Stuxnet Virus Pt. 3: 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 episode, we explore other, similar battles of the modern cyber war, by Malicious Life
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The WANK Worm, Part 1: 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, they were met with an unexpected greeting: “Your system has been officially WANKed. by Malicious Life
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Gene Spafford on the Morris Worm & Cyber-security in the 1980’s: Eugene Spafford (aka Spaf), a professor of computer science at Purdue University, was the first researcher to publish a detailed analysis of the infamous Morris Worm. Gene talks to Ran about this incident, as well as how was security different in the 1... by Malicious Life
56 min listen
WoW: Corrupted Blood: How does the outbreak of a “plague” inside a video game- a bug, essentially- affect real-life disease research? by Malicious Life
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Super Spies: 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 cyber activity. Travel with us to Russia and back, learn the origins of FISA, by Malicious Life
35 min listen
The Jerusalem Virus, Part 2: 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. by Malicious Life
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The Jerusalem Virus, Part 1: 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 entire national industry? by Malicious Life
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Is NSO Evil? Part 1

Is NSO Evil? Part 1

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Malicious Life

Related podcast episodes