From Hacking Airlines to Scamming Giants: Favorite Darknet Diaries Episodes
The Darknet Diaries podcast holds a special place in our family. We download a few episodes before any road trip and listen along the way. The host, Jack Rhysider, delivers one wild story after another from “the dark side of the internet.” He does an excellent job interviewing his guests as they discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of the internet.
If you’re not familiar with Darknet Diaries, here are three episodes I recommend to get you started:
Episode 84: Jet-Setters
One day, Tony Abbott, the former Prime Minister of Australia, was at an airport preparing to leave on a flight. While waiting, he posted a photo of his boarding pass on Instagram. As soon as it was published, a hacker named “Alex” managed to hack into the backend of the airline and had the potential to really mess up Tony Abbott’s trip.
Episode 124: Synthetic Remittance
This short episode features a wild story. It recounts how one man scammed Facebook and Google out of millions of dollars by pretending to be a vendor working for the companies. Essentially, he just instructed the people who wrote the checks at these companies to change the account where they sent money… and they just did it, without asking any questions. It’s a fascinating look at the world of social engineering.
Episode 126: REvil
Learn about the world of ransomware. This episode details how a group of hackers affected companies and governments with ransomware. It will take you around the globe and guide you through the various elements of a ransomware operation.