Darknet Diaries Podcast
Explore true stories of the dark side of the Internet with host Jack Rhysider as he takes you on a journey through the chilling world of hacking, data breaches,
RSS Feed ↗All Episodes (175)
175: Bayrob
It started with a fake car listing on eBay. What looked like a simple online scam quietly grew, over more than a decade, into one of the …
174: Pacific Rim
For six years, Sophos fought a secret cyber war against a state-backed hacking group targeting its firewalls. This forced Sophos to …
173: Tarjeteros
In the streets of the Dominican Republic, a new economy thrives in the shadows. It’s built not on tourism or sugar, but on stolen data. They …
172: SuperBox
What if there was a device which gave you endless movies and TV shows without ads? Ok great sign me up! In this episode we interview …
171: Melody Fraud
What if the music charts you see aren’t real? What if the numbers that define success can be manufactured? We talked to Andrew, a man who …
170: Phrack
Phrack is legendary. It is the oldest, and arguably the most prestigious, underground hacking magazine in the world. It started in 1985 and …
169: MoD
Legion of Doom, step aside. There’s a new elite hacker group in town, and they’re calling themselves Masters of Deception (MoD). With …
168: LoD
The Legion of Doom (LoD) wasn’t just a “hacker group”, it captured the essence of underground hacking in the 80s/90s. BBSes, phreaking, …
167: Threatlocker
A manufacturer gets hit with ransomware. A hospital too. Learn how Threatlocker stops these types of attacks. This episode is brought to you …
166: Maxie
Maxie Reynolds loves an adventure, especially the kind where she’s breaking into buildings (legally). In this episode, she shares stories …
165: Tanya
Tanya Janca is a globally recognized AppSec (application security) expert and founder of We Hack Purple. In this episode, she shares wild …
164: Oak Cliff Swipers
He started small, swiping cards, buying gift cards, and cashing out. It spiraled into a full‑blown criminal enterprise. Dozens of …
163: Ola
In 2019, Ola Bini, a Swedish programmer and privacy advocate, was arrested in Ecuador for being a Russian hacker. Find Ola on X: …
162: Hieu
All Hieu Minh Ngo wanted was to make money online. But when he stumbled into the dark web, he found more than just opportunity, he found a …
161: mg
In this episode we talk with mg ( https://x.com/ MG ), the brilliant (and notorious) hacker and hardware engineer behind the OMG Cable. A …
160: Greg
Greg Linares (AKA Laughing Mantis) joins us to tell us about how he became the youngest hacker to be arrested in Arizona. Follow Greg on …
159: Vastaamo
Joe Tidy investigates what may be the cruelest and most disturbing cyber attack in history. A breach so invasive it blurred the line between …
158: MalwareTech
MalwareTech was an anonymous security researcher, until he accidentally stopped WannaCry, one of the largest ransomware attacks in history. …
157: Grifter
Grifter is a longtime hacker, DEF CON organizer, and respected voice in the infosec community. From his early days exploring networks to …
156: Kill List
The dark web is full of mystery. Some of it’s just made up though. Chris Monteiro wanted to see what was real and fake and discovered a …
155: Kingpin
In this episode, we delve into the multifaceted career of Joe Grand, also known as “Kingpin.” A renowned hardware hacker and computer …
154: Hijacked Line
Conor Freeman (x.com/conorfrmn) stole money online. Lot’s of it. In this episode we talk with him, and hear how he did it, why he did, and …
153: Bike Index
Have you ever got your bike stolen? In this episode we dive into the world of stolen bikes. Who does it and where do the bikes go? We talk …
152: Stacc Attack
Jarett Dunn, AKA StaccOverflow, stole millions of dollars from a website called Pump Fun, and he wanted to do it in the most dramatic and …
151: Chris Rock
Chris Rock is known for being a security researcher. But he’s also a black hat incident responder. He tells us about a job he did in the …
150: mobman 2
In Episode 20 of Darknet Diaries, we heard from Greg aka “mobman” who said he created the sub7 malware. Something didn’t sit right with a …
149: Mini-Stories: Vol 3
In this episode we hear EvilMog (https://x.com/Evil_Mog) tell us a story about when he had to troubleshoot networks in Afghanistan. We also …
148: Dubsnatch
Ever wondered how far a fan would go to get a sneak peek of their favorite artist’s unreleased tracks? In this episode, we uncover the …
147: Tornado
In this episode, Geoff White (https://x.com/geoffwhite247) tells us what happened to Axie Infinity and Tornado cash. It’s a digital heist of …
146: ANOM
In this episode, Joseph Cox (https://x.com/josephfcox) tells us the story of anom. A secure phone made by criminals, for criminals. This …
145: Shannen
Shannen Rossmiller wanted to fight terrorism. So she went online and did. Read more about her from her book “The Unexpected Patriot: How an …
144: Rachel
Rachel Tobac is a social engineer. In this episode we hear how she got started doing this and a few stories of how she hacked people and …
143: Jim Hates Scams
Jim Browning has dedicated himself to combatting scammers, taking a proactive stance by infiltrating their computer systems. Through his …
142: Axact
Axact sells fake diplomas and degrees. What could go wrong with this business plan? Sponsors Support for this episode comes from NetSuite. …
141: The Pig Butcher
The #1 crime which results in the biggest financial loss is BEC fraud. The #2 crime is pig butchering. Ronnie Tokazowski …
140: Revenge Bytes
Madison's nude photos were posted online. Her twin sister Christine came to help. This begins a bizarre and uneasy story.
139: D3f4ult
This is the story of D3f4ult (twitter.com/_d3f4ult) from CWA. He was a hacktivist, upset with the state of the way things were, and wanted …
138: The Mimics of Punjab
This episode is about scammers in the Punjab region. Tarun (twitter.com/taruns21) comes on the show to tell us a story of what happened to …
137: Predator
A new type of mercenary spyware came on the radar called Predator. It’ll infect a mobile phone, and then suck up all the data from it. …
136: Team Xecuter
Team Xecuter was a group involved with making and selling modchips for video game systems. They often made mods that allowed the video game …
135: The D.R. Incident
Omar Avilez worked in the CSIRT of the Dominican Republic when a major cyber security incident erupted. Omar walks us through what happened …
134: Deviant
Deviant Ollam is a physical penetration specialist. That means he’s paid to break into buildings to see if the building is secure or not. He …
133: I'm the Real Connor
One day Connor Tumbleson got an email saying his identity has been stolen. And this was one of the strangest days he’s ever had. Sponsors …
132: Sam the Vendor
Sam Bent, a.k.a. DoingFedTime, brings us a story of what it was like being a darknet market vendor. Learn more about Sam at …
131: Welcome to Video
Andy Greenberg (https://twitter.com/a_greenberg) brings us a gut wrenching story of how criminal investigators used bitcoin tracing …
130: Jason's Pen Test
Join us as we sit down with Jason Haddix (https://twitter.com/Jhaddix), a renowned penetration tester who has made a name for himself by …
129: Gollumfun (Part 2)
Brett Johnson, AKA Gollumfun (twitter.com/GOllumfun) was involved with the websites Counterfeit Library and Shadow Crew. He tells his story …
128: Gollumfun (Part 1)
Brett Johnson, AKA Gollumfun (twitter.com/GOllumfun) was involved with the websites Counterfeit Library and Shadow Crew. He tells his story …
127: Maddie
Maddie Stone is a security researcher for Google’s Project Zero. In this episode we hear what it’s like battling zero day vulnerabilities. …
126: REvil
REvil is the name of a ransomware service as well as a group of criminals inflicting ransomware onto the world. Hear how this ransomware …
125: Jeremiah
Jeremiah Roe is a seasoned penetration tester. In this episode he tells us about a time when he had to break into a building to prove it …
124: Synthetic Remittance
What do you get when you combine social engineering, email, crime, finance, and the money stream flowing through big tech? Evaldas …
123: Newswires
Investing in the stock market can be very profitable. Especially if you can see into the future. This is a story of how a group of traders …
122: Lisa
In this episode we hear some insider threat stories from Lisa Forte. Sponsors Support for this show comes from Axonius. Securing assets — …
121: Ed
In this episode we hear some penetration test stories from Ed Skoudis (twitter.com/edskoudis). We also catch up with Beau Woods …
120: Voulnet
This is the story about when Mohammed Aldoub, AKA Voulnet, (twitter.com/Voulnet) found a vulnerability on Virus Total and Tweeted about it. …
119: Hot Wallets
In this episode we interview journalist Geoff White to discuss some of the recent crypto currency heists that have been happening. Geoff has …
118: Hot Swaps
This is the story of Joseph Harris (https://twitter.com/akad0c). When he was a young teen he got involved with stealing video game accounts …
117: Daniel the Paladin
Daniel Kelley (https://twitter.com/danielmakelley) was equal parts mischievousness and clever when it came to computers. Until the day his …
116: Mad Dog
Jim Lawler, aka “Mad Dog”, was a CIA case officer for 25 years. In this episode we hear some of the stories he has and things he did while …
115: Player Cheater Developer Spy
Some video game players buy cheats to win. Let’s take a look at this game cheating industry to see who the players are. Sponsors Support for …
114: HD
HD Moore (https://twitter.com/hdmoore) invented a hacking tool called Metasploit. He crammed it with tons of exploits and payloads that can …
113: Adam
Adam got a job doing IT work at a learning academy. He liked it and was happy there and feeling part of the team. But a strange series of …
112: Dirty Coms
This episode we talk with a guy named “Drew” who gives us a rare peek into what some of the young hackers are up to today. From listening to …
111: ZeuS
ZeuS is a banking trojan. Designed to steal money from online bank user’s accounts. This trojan became so big, that it resulted in one of …
110: Spam Botnets
This episode tells the stories of some of the worlds biggest spamming botnets. We’ll talk about the botnets Rustock, Waledac, and Cutwail. …
109: TeaMp0isoN
TeaMp0isoN was a hacking group that was founded by TriCk and MLT (twitter.com/0dayWizard). They were responsible for some high profile …
108: Marq
This is the story of Marq (twitter.com/dev_null321). Which involves passwords, the dark web, and police. Sponsors Support for this podcast …
107: Alethe
Alethe is a social engineer. Professionally she tries to trick people to give her passwords and access that she shouldn’t have. But her …
106: @Tennessee
How much online abuse are you willing to take before you decide to let your abuser have what they want? Unfortunately, this is a decision …
105: Secret Cells
Joseph Cox (https://twitter.com/josephfcox), Senior Staff Writer at Motherboard (https://www.vice.com/en/topic/motherboard), joins us to …
104: Arya
Arya Ebrahami has had quite a personal relationship with darknet marketplaces. In this episode you’ll hear about his adventures on tor. …
103: Cloud Hopper
Fabio Viggiani is an incident responder. In this episode he talks about the story when one of his clients were breached. Sponsors Support …
102: Money Maker
Frank Bourassa had an idea. He was going to make money. Literally. Listen to the story of a master counterfeiter.
101: Lotería
In 2014 the Puerto Rico Lottery was mysteriously losing money. Listen to this never before told story about what happened and who did it. …
100: NSO
The NSO Group creates a spyware called Pegasus which gives someone access to the data on a mobile phone. They sell this spyware to …
99: The Spy
Igor works as a private investigator in NYC. He’s often sitting in cars keeping a distant eye on someone with binoculars. Or following …
98: Zero Day Brokers
Zero day brokers are people who make or sell malware that’s sold to people who will use that malware to exploit people. It’s a strange and …
97: The Pizza Problem
What if someone wanted to own your Instagram account? Not just control it, but make it totally theirs. This episode tells the story of how …
96: The Police Station Incident
Nicole Beckwith wears a lot of hats. She’s a programmer, incident responder, but also a cop and a task force officer with the Secret …
95: Jon & Brian's Big Adventure
Jon and Brian are penetration testers who both worked at a place called RedTeam Security . They’re paid to break into buildings and hack …
94: Mariposa
Chris Davis has been stopping IT security threats for decades. He’s currently running the company Hyas that he started. In this episode he …
93: Kik
Kik is a wildly popular chat app. Their website says that 1 in 3 American teenagers use Kik. But something dark is brewing on Kik.
92: The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay is a website, a search engine, which has an index of torrent files. A lot of copyrighted material is listed on the site, but …
91: webjedi
What happens when an unauthorized intruder gets into the network of a major bank? Amélie Koran aka w ebjedi was there for one of these …
90: Jenny
Meet Jenny Radcliffe , the People Hacker. She’s a social engineer and physical penetration tester. Which means she gets paid to break into …
89: Cybereason - Molerats in the Cloud
The threat research team at Cybereason uncovered an interesting piece of malware. Studied it and tracked it. Which lead them to believe they …
88: Victor
Victor looks for vulnerabilities on the web and reports them responsibly. This is the story about discloser number 5780. Listen to episodes …
87: Guild of the Grumpy Old Hackers
In 2016 the LinkedIn breach data became available to the public. What the Guild of the Grumpy Old Hackers did with it then is quite the …
86: The LinkedIn Incident
In 2012, LinkedIn was the target of a data breach. A hacker got in and stole millions of user details. Username and password hashes were …
85: Cam the Carder
This is the story of Cam Harrison , aka “kilobit” and his rise and fall as a prominent carder. Sponsors Support for this show comes from IT …
84: Jet-setters
How bad is it if you post your boarding pass on Instagram? Our guest, “Alex” decides to figure this out for themself and has quite a story …
83: NSA Cryptologists
In this episode we interview two NSA Cryptologists, Marcus J. Carey and Jeff Man . We hear their story of how they got into the NSA and what …
82: Master of Pwn
The Zero Day Initiative runs a hacker contest called Pwn2Own . The contest calls the best hackers in the world to demonstrate they can hack …
81: The Vendor
This is the story of a darknet marketplace vendor we’ll name V. V tells his story of how he first became a buyer, then transitioned into …
80: The Whistleblower
In this episode we hear a story from a social engineer who’s job it is to get people to do things they don’t want to do. Why? For profit. …
79: Dark Basin
What do you do when you find yourself the target of a massive hacking campaign, and you are getting thousands of phishing emails and someone …
78: Nerdcore
Nerdcore music is music for nerds. In this episode we hear from some of the musicians who make Nerdcore music. This episode features guests …
77: Olympic Destroyer
In February 2018, during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang South Korea, a cyber attack struck, wiping out a lot of the Olympic’s digital …
76: Knaves Out
This is the story about how someone hacked into JP Morgan Chase, one of the biggest financial institutions in the world. It’s obvious why …
75: Compromised Comms
From 2009 to 2013 the communication channels the CIA uses to contact assets in foreign countries was compromised. This had terrifying …
74: Mikko
Poker is a competitive game. Unlike other casino games, poker is player vs player. Criminal hackers have understood this for a while and …
73: WannaCry
It is recommend to listen to episodes 53 “Shadow Brokers” , 71 “FDFF” , and 72 “Bangladesh Bank Heist” before listening to this one. In May …
72: Bangladesh Bank Heist
A bank robbery with the objective to steal 1 billion dollars. This is the story of the largest bank robbery in history. And it was all done …
71: Information Monopoly
In this episode, we’re going into the depths of North Korea to conduct one of the greatest hacks of all time. To find a way to inject …
70: Ghost Exodus
Ghost Exodus is a hacker. He conducted various illegal activities online. Some of which he documents on YouTube. He’s also a great musician. …
69: Human Hacker
We all know that computers and networks are vulnerable to hacking and malicious actors, but what about us, the humans who interface with …
68: Triton
A mysterious mechanical failure one fateful night in a Saudi Arabian chemical plant leads a cast of operational technology researchers down …
67: The Big House
John Strand is a penetration tester. He’s paid to break into computer networks and buildings to test their security. In this episode we …
66: freakyclown
Freakyclown is a physical penetration tester. His job is to break into buildings to test the security of the building. In this episode we …
65: PSYOP
PSYOP, or “Psychological Operations”, is something the US military has been doing to foreign audiences for decades. But what exactly is it? …
64: The Athens Shadow Games
Vodafone Greece is the largest telecom provider in Greece. But in 2004 a scandal within the company would pin them to be top of the news …
63: w0rmer
The hacker named w0rmer was active within AnonOps. These are Anonymous Operations which often organize and wage attacks on websites or …
62: Cam
Cam’s story is both a cautionary tale and inspirational at the same time. He’s been both an attacker and defender. And not the legal kind of …
61: Samy
Samy Kamkar is a hacker. And while he’s done a lot of stuff, he’s best known for creating the Samy Worm. Which spread its way through a …
60: dawgyg
This is a story about the hacker named “dawgyg” and how he made over $100,000 in a single day, from hacking. Thanks to our guest dawgyg for …
59: The Courthouse
In this episode we hear from Gary and Justin. Two seasoned penetration testers who tell us a story about the time when they tried to break …
58: OxyMonster
OxyMonster sold drugs on the darknet at Dream Market. Something happened though, and it all came crashing down. Sponsors This episode was …
57: MS08-067
Hear what goes on internally when Microsoft discovers a major vulnerability within Windows. Guest Thanks to John Lambert for sharing this …
56: Jordan
This is the story of Jordan Harbinger. A bit of a misfit teenager, who was always on the edge of trouble. In this story we hear what …
55: NoirNet
A holiday special episode. A private pen tester takes on a job that involves him with another eccentric pen tester, a mischievious smile, …
54: NotPetya
The story of NotPetya, seems to be the first time, we see what a cyber war looks like. In the summer of 2017 Ukraine suffered a serious and …
53: Shadow Brokers
The NSA has some pretty advanced, super secret, hacking tools. What if these secret hacking tools were to end up in the wrong person’s …
52: Magecart
Credit card skimming is growing in popularity. Gas pumps all over are seeing skimmers attached to them. It’s growing in popularity because …
51: The Indo-Pak Conflict
Kashmir is a region right in between India, Pakistan, and China. For the last 70 years Pakistan and India have fought over this region of …
50: Operation Glowing Symphony
Operation Inherent Resolve was started in 2016 which aimed to combat ISIS. It was a combined joint task force lead by the US military. …
49: Elliot
In this episode we meet Elliot Alderson ( @fs0c131y ) from Twitter. Who is this strange masked person? What adventures have they gotten …
48: Operation Socialist
This is the story about when a nation state hacks into a company within another nation. Sponsors This episode was sponsored by IT Pro TV. …
47: Project Raven
This is the story about an ex-NSA agent who went to work for a secret hacking group in the UAE. Sponsors This episode was sponsored by …
46: XBox Underground (Part 2)
This is the story about the XBox hacking scene and how a group of guys pushed their luck a little too far. This is part 2 of a 2 part …
45: XBox Underground (Part 1)
This is the story about the XBox hacking scene and how a group of guys pushed the hacking a little too far. This is part 1 of a 2 part …
44: Zain
Ransomware is ugly. It infects your machine and locks all the the data and to unlock you have to pay a fee. In this episode we dive into …
43: PPP
This is the story about how I acquired a black badge from DEFCON (pictured above). We also hear the story about who PPP is, and their CTF …
42: Mini-Stories: Vol 2
Three stories in one episode. Listen in on one of Dave Kennedy's penetration tests he conducted where he got caught trying to gain entry …
41: Just Visiting
Join JekHyde and Carl on a physical penetration test, a social engineering engagagement, a red team assessment. Their mission is to get into …
40: No Parking
Take a ride with a red teamer. A physical penetration tester as he tries to make his away into unauthorized areas, steal sensitive …
39: 3 Alarm Lamp Scooter
A talk at Defcon challenged people to find a way to destroy a hard drive. A young man was inspired by this challenge and was determined to …
38: Dark Caracal
A journalist wrote articles critical of the Kazakhstan government. The government did not like this and attempted to silence her. But they …
37: LVS
The Venetian casino in Las Vegas Nevada was the largest hotel in the world until 2015. The parent company is Las Vegas Sands (LVS) which …
36: Jeremy from Marketing
A company hires a penetration tester to pose as a new hire, Jeremy from Marketing, to see how much he can hack into in his first week on the …
35: Carbanak
ATM hacking. Hollywood has been fantasizing about this since the 1980's. But is this a thing now? A security researcher named Barnaby Jack …
34: For Your Eyes Only
Nude selfies. This episode is all about nude selfies. What happens if you take one and give it to a vengeful boyfriend. What happens when a …
33: RockYou
In 2009 a hacker broke into a website with millions of users and downloaded the entire user database. What that hacker did with the data has …
32: The Carder
A carding kingpin was tracked by the Secret Service. How did he steal the cards? Where was he stealing them from? How much was he making …
31: Hacker Giraffe
In late November 2018, a hacker found over 50,000 printers were exposed to the Internet in ways they shouldn't have been. He wanted to raise …
30: Shamoon
In 2012, Saudi Aramco was hit with the most destructive virus ever. Thousands and thousands of computers were destroyed. Herculean efforts …
29: Stuxnet
Stuxnet was the most sophisticated virus ever discovered. It's target was a nuclear enrichment facility in Iran. This virus was successfully …
28: Unit 8200
Israel has their own version of the NSA called Unit 8200. I was curious what this unit does and tried to take a peek inside. Hear what I …
27: Chartbreakers
Something is wrong with the Apple Podcasts top charts. As a podcaster, this personally annoyed and intrigued me. I investigate how this is …
26: IRS
The IRS processes $3 trillion dollars a year. A lot of criminals want to get a piece of that. In 2015 the IRS had a large data breach. …
25: Alberto
Alberto Hill was sent to prison for a long time for hacking. For a crime he said he did not commit. Listen to his story and you be the judge …
24: Operation Bayonet
Darknet markets are online black markets. They are highly illegal, and dangerous to run. Hear exactly how dangerous it was for Alphabay and …
23: Vladimir Levin
When banks started coming online, they almost immediately started being targeted by hackers. Vladimir Levin was one of the first ever known …
22: Mini-Stories: Vol 1
Three stories in one! In this episode we hear about a penetration test from Mubix that he'll never forget, a incident response from Robert …
21: Black Duck Eggs
Ira Winkler's specialty is assembling elite teams of special forces and intelligence officers to go after companies. Ira shares a story …
20: mobman
Chances are, if you were downloading shady programs in the early 2000's, you were infected with malware he wrote called SubSeven. Hacking …
19: Operation Aurora
In 2009, around Christmas time, something terrible was lurking in the network at Google. Google is the most popular website on the Internet. …
18: Jackpot
A man addicted to gambling finds a bug in a video poker machine that lets him win excessive amounts of money.
17: Finn
A 14-year-old kid who finds himself bored in class decides to hack someone's twitter account and ends up with more than he bargained for.
16: Eijah
In 2007, a hacker named Eijah got fed up with the way DRM prevented him from being able to play the content he paid for. He decided to fight …
15: Ill Tills
A major retailer was hacked. Their point of sales machines were riddled with malware. Listen to hear how digital forensics and incident …
14: #OpJustina
In 2013 a hospital was accused of conducting a medical kidnapping against a young girl name Justina. This enraged many people across the …
13: Carna Botnet
In 2012 the Carna Bot was built and unleashed on the world. But it didn't have any intentions on doing anything malicious. It was built just …
12: Crypto Wars
In the 1990's the Internet started to take shape. But the US goverment had strict laws regulating what type of cryptography is allowed to be …
11: Strictly Confidential
What happens when an innovative tech company, that's trying to develop the next big thing, detects a hacker in their network? We hear the …
10: Misadventures of a Nation State Actor
In today's world of intelligence gathering, governments hack other governments. This episode takes you on a ride with a nation state actor …
9: The Rise and Fall of Mt. Gox
Mt. Gox was the largest bitcoin exchange in the world. It suddenly went offline. What happened?
8: Manfred (Part 2)
Manfred found a way to turn his passion for video games and reverse engineering into a full time business. He exploited video games and sold …
7: Manfred (Part 1)
Manfred has had the most epic story of all online video game stories. For the last 20 years, he's been hacking online games.
6: The Beirut Bank Job
Jayson E. Street tells us a story about the time he broke into a bank in Beirut Lebanon.
5: #ASUSGATE
Security researcher Kyle Lovett bought a new Asus router in 2013. He found it was riddled with security vulnerabilties. He set out on a …
4: Panic! at the TalkTalk Board Room
Mobile provider TalkTalk suffered a major breach in 2015. The CEO tried her best to keep angry customers calm and carry on. The UK …
3: DigiNotar, You are the Weakest Link, Good Bye!
The 2011 DigiNotar breach changed the way browsers do security. In this episode, we learn what role a CA plays, how browsers work with CAs, …
2: The Peculiar Case of the VTech Hacker
VTech makes toy tablets, laptops, and watches for kids. In 2015, they were breached. The hacker downloaded gigs of children's data. Discover …
1: The Phreaky World of PBX Hacking
Farhan Arshad and Noor Aziz Uddin were captured 2 years after being placed on the FBI's Cyber's Most Wanted list for PBX hacking. In this …