‘Click Here To Kill Everybody’, with Bruce Schneier.

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Embedded in an increasing number of the devices and objects surrounding us, computers are turning the everyday world into a radically programmable attack surface.  This is the subject of computer security & cryptography legend Bruce Schneier's latest book, Click Here To Kill Everybody.  In this episode we meet up with Bruce to explore how the profusion of insecure devices, capable of being put to a variety of unpredictable purposes, is radically shifting the balance of power. Via cyberattacks, smaller states get the ability to content with the great powers -- and an entirely new class of 'non-state actors' are being granted the power to disrupt nations.

Phenomena like the Mirai Botnet, Bruce argues, are just the beginning: we discuss a host of potential attacks on life and property, from car and thermostat hacking to ransomware against hospitals -- and how 'surveillance capitalism' is one of the most important vectors behind this worrying new paradigm.

Advanced Persistent Threat Part 1: ‘The What & How Of the Bangladesh Bank Heist’

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Advanced Persistent Threat is a  STEAL THIS SHOW special series looking at the 2016 Bangladesh Bank Heist. Had it succeeded, this would easily have been the biggest bank robbery in history -- and it was carried out almost entirely in the digital realm, using a variety of exploits and malware, in order to leverage access to the SWIFT banking network and the US Federal Reserve.

In Part One, we look at exactly what happened in the Bangladesh heist, and walk through how it was carried out. To help us through the complex story, we hear from Cheryl Biswas, Strategic Threat Intel Analyst in Cyber Security at a Big Four consulting firm.

After covering the how of the robbery, we consider whether trusted systems like SWIFT can remain secure in an information environment replete with radically heterogeneous, eminently hackable devices.

Cheryl Biswas wishes to make clear that she speaks here on her own behalf Her views do not represent those of her employer.

This episode was completed in part with funding from Film Agency Wales.

 

‘Enter The Periphery’: Regulation & Decentralization

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In this episode, I reflect on STEAL THIS SHOW episode S04E03, with Cory Doctorow. One of the big themes to come up in the conversation was the European Copyright Directive -- which, if passed early next year, will threaten the future of the Web as we know it. But does this threat to the future of the the traditional Web mean the moment of decentralized services like IPFS and Blockstack has finally come?