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Radiolab

Darkode

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Science, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Society & Culture

4.644.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2022

⏱️ 39 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It would seem that hackers today can do just about anything they want - from turning on the cellphone in your pocket to holding your life's work hostage. Cyber criminals today have more sophisticated tools, have learned to work collaboratively around the world and have found innovative ways to remain deep undercover in the internet's shadows. This episode, we shine a light into those shadows to see the world from the perspectives of both cybercrime victims and perpetrators. First we meet mother-daughter duo Alina and Inna Simone, who tell us about being held hostage by criminals who have burrowed into their lives from half a world away. Along the way we learn about the legally sticky spot that unwitting accomplices like Will Wheeler find themselves in. Then reporter and author Joseph Menn tells us about the surprisingly lucrative professional hacker structure in places throughout the former Soviet Union. Finally, the co-creator of one of the most notorious online marketplaces to ever exist speaks to us and NPR cyber-crime expert Dina Temple-Raston about how a young suburban Boy Scout can turn into a world renowned black hat hacker. Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.Radiolab is on YouTube! Catch up with new episodes and hear classics from our archive. Plus, find other cool things we did in the past — like miniseries, music videos, short films and animations, behind-the-scenes features, Radiolab live shows, and more. Take a look, explore and subscribe!

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, wait, you're listening.

0:02.2

Okay.

0:03.5

All right.

0:04.7

Okay.

0:06.1

All right.

0:07.5

You're listening to Radio Lab.

0:10.4

Radio Lab.

0:10.9

From.

0:11.9

W. N. Y.

0:13.0

C.

0:13.8

See?

0:14.0

Yeah.

0:14.3

Hey?

0:14.3

Yeah.

0:19.0

Hey. This is Radio Lab. Last year, a cyber attack disrupted the colonial pipeline.

0:26.9

Was a big year for cybercrime.

0:28.7

The FBI confirms it's investigating 100 different types of ransomware attacks.

0:33.8

According to the FBI, the amount of money taken by ransomware has gone up by more than a thousand percent over the past five years.

0:41.0

And this has got us thinking about this episode we did on this new kind of crime way back in its relatively quaint early days in 2015 called Dark Code.

0:52.7

Hey, I'm Chad Abumerod. I'm Robert Krollwitch. This is Radio Lab and today. Well, today'm Chad Abumrod.

0:54.3

I'm Robert Krollwitch.

0:55.5

This is Radio Lab, and today...

...

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