Episode #35 – Why You Should Always Update Your Devices: The Story of Udi
Digital Desperados
In this episode of Digital Desperados, the spotlight is on Ehud “Udi” Tenenbaum, a hacker whose story of genius and cybercrime shook the digital world. Udi’s tale begins in the late 1990s when his knack for uncovering software vulnerabilities earned him the nickname “The Analyzer.” Targeting unpatched Solaris systems, Udi and his friends hacked over 500 U.S. military and research networks, including NASA and the Pentagon, in an infamous attack dubbed "Solar Sunrise." Though he didn’t steal data, his actions exposed critical flaws in cybersecurity practices. Years later,...
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Episode #34 – Elizabeth Holmes: Blood, Lies, and A Prison Sentence
Digital Desperados
Welcome to Digital Desperados, where we explore the dark tales of the web! In this episode, Jim Brangenberg and Patrick McMurphy take a deep dive into the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes, the ambitious founder of Theranos. Joined by Brad Hawkins, CEO of SaferNet, they uncover how Holmes’ dream of revolutionizing healthcare turned into a nightmare of fraud and deceit. Holmes’ story starts with promise—an overachieving Stanford dropout aiming to transform blood testing with a simple finger prick and a device called the Edison. By 2014, she was Silicon Valley’s golden girl,...
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Episode #33 – Kevin Poulsen: The OG Digital Desperado
Digital Desperados
In this episode of Digital Desperados, Jim Brangenberg, Patrick McMurphy, and Brad Hawkins (founder of SaferNet) take us on a wild ride through the life of Kevin Poulsen, aka "Dark Dante." From humble beginnings in Pasadena, California, to becoming a fugitive hacker legend, Kevin’s story is one you’ll want to hear all about! Known for his audacious phone hacks in the 80s and 90s, Kevin mastered the art of "phone phreaking," a precursor to modern hacking. His most infamous stunt? Rigging a radio contest to win a Porsche 944. His curiosity and rebellious spirit eventually led...
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Episode #32 – Iranian Hacking Group: the Not So “Charming Kitten”
Digital Desperados
This week, Jim Brangenberg is joined by cybersecurity expert Patrick McMurphy and SaferNet CEO Brad Hawkins to unravel the dark web world of APT42—better known as Charming Kitten. Spoiler alert: it’s not actually charming. This Iranian state-sponsored hacking group is a master of digital espionage, targeting activists, journalists, government officials, and even U.S. presidential campaigns. Active since 2015, they use tricks like spear phishing (fake, super-convincing emails) and their custom malware, NiceCurl and TameCat, to steal data, control devices, and monitor their victims. ...
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Episode #31 – Samy Kamkar: A Hacker’s Quick Pivot to CyberSecurity
Digital Desperados
This week, Digital Desperados takes a lighthearted stroll through the story of Samy Kamkar, a hacker who quickly found out that hacking isn’t a game. Remember MySpace? (Yes, it’s the “classic rock” of social media.) Back in 2005, teenage Samy created the “Samy Worm,” a harmless-yet-viral hack that declared him a hero on over a million profiles before getting him in major trouble with the Secret Service. Fast forward and Samy has become a cybersecurity trailblazer, exposing vulnerabilities in everything from RFID credit cards to IoT gadgets like drones and car systems. ...
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Episode #30 – The Cyber Redemption of Hieu PC
Digital Desperados
Uncover the riveting story of Hieu Minh Ngo—aka “Hieu PC”—a notorious hacker who (thankfully) turned his life around to fight cybercrime. Hieu’s story begins in Vietnam, where he got his first computer at 13 and quickly found the world of hacking. His skills evolved as he exploited vulnerabilities at his university in New Zealand. This escalated to ultimately selling massive amounts of stolen data online, causing $65 million in financial losses, mostly in the U.S. Hieu’s hacking career came to an end in 2013 when he was arrested in Guam. Surprisingly, Hieu chose...
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Episode #29 – The Rise and Fall of a Cyber Jihadist
Digital Desperados
Junaid Hussain, a quiet British teen with a knack for computers, morphed into a dangerous cyber jihadist. Initially drawn to hacking as a teenager, he joined groups like Team Poison, targeting perceived enemies of Islam. His skills grew, and he hacked high-profile individuals like Mark Zuckerberg and Tony Blair. A prison stint radicalized him further, and he embraced extremist ideology. Joining ISIS in 2013, he became a key figure in their hacking division, recruiting young Muslims worldwide and inciting violence. He used social media to spread propaganda and coordinated attacks on...
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Episode #28 – Online Security, More Crucial Than Ever
Digital Desperados
In this episode of Digital Desperados, you’ll learn the story of Mustafa Al-Bassam, a teenage hacker who took on the CIA and lived to tell the tale. Co-hosts Patrick, Brad, and Jim dive into Mustafa's journey from mischievous school hacker at the ripe age of 9 years old to a member of Anonymous and LulzSec as a teen, pulling off cyber-attacks against corporations and governments, including Sony and the CIA. After getting caught at just 16, Mustafa decided maybe black hat hacking wasn’t for him. He earned a PhD in computer science, helped expose shady government surveillance...
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Episode #27 – The Rise and Fall of REvil
Digital Desperados
In this gripping episode of Digital Desperados, Jim Brangenberg, Patrick McMurphy, and Brad Hawkins (CEO of ) dive into the shadowy world of REvil, one of the most notorious ransomware groups in history. You’ll walk through how REvil, born from the remnants of the GrandCrab group, transformed ransomware into a global business, threatening to compromise companies like Apple, JBS, and Acer for millions of dollars. Discover how REvil’s affiliates wreaked havoc, how they used a blog to control their victims, and how they leveraged ransomware as a service (RaaS). Learn about their...
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Episode #26 – The Accidental Hero, Marcus Hutchins
Digital Desperados
In this episode of Digital Desperados, Patrick McMurphy dives into the incredible true story of Marcus Hutchins, founder of the MalwareTech Blog. Born in a quiet English village, Marcus’s passion for computers grew from a young age, leading him down a dark path of hacking and malware development. By his mid-teens, he created a botnet and notorious rootkits, collaborating with cybercriminals. However, Marcus’s story (thankfully) took a sharp turn. In 2017, he became an unlikely hero, accidentally discovering the kill switch for the WannaCry ransomware—stopping the spread of one of the...
info_outlineIn this episode of Digital Desperados, you’ll learn the story of Mustafa Al-Bassam, a teenage hacker who took on the CIA and lived to tell the tale. Co-hosts Patrick, Brad, and Jim dive into Mustafa's journey from mischievous school hacker at the ripe age of 9 years old to a member of Anonymous and LulzSec as a teen, pulling off cyber-attacks against corporations and governments, including Sony and the CIA.
After getting caught at just 16, Mustafa decided maybe black hat hacking wasn’t for him. He earned a PhD in computer science, helped expose shady government surveillance practices, and became a blockchain entrepreneur. Today, he's a cybersecurity advocate, making Forbes’ 30 under 30 and warning the world about privacy issues.
This episode stresses that staying secure online is more important than ever—because while Mustafa turned out to be one of the good guys, the next genius hacker might not. Protect yourself with SaferNet’s VPN, virus protection, and web filters.