What do cybersecurity experts, journalists in foreign conflicts, indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Drake have in common? They all use the Signal messaging app. Signal’s protocol has been the gold standard in end-to-end encryption, used by Whatsapp, Google and more, for more than a decade. But it’s been under fire from both authoritarian governments ... Show More
Mar 26
Why the AI Race Is Leaving Humans Behind with Tristan Harris
Tristan Harris, a technology ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, studies how the tech industry’s platforms have become extractive and controlling. Kara first interviewed him in 2017, and after he was featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary “The Social Di ... Show More
1h 16m
Mar 19
A Silicon Valley Satire That Feels Uncomfortably Close to Reality
"Raising money off frothy numbers to sugarcoat the rotten apple is what built this town.” That’s according to Duncan Park, the protagonist of "The Audacity," a new dark comedy from AMC about tech CEOs and their relationships with their families, therapists and enablers. Live from ... Show More
55m 39s
Sep 2024
The Telegram case: Privacy vs security
<p>What are the limits of privacy when it comes to our online lives? If authorities are investigating a crime, should they be able to access private messages sent between two individuals? In this episode of Tech Tonic, John Thornhill interviews Eva Galperin, director of cybersecu ... Show More
27m 50s
Sep 2024
How Telegram Became the Underworld’s Favorite App
<p>A Times investigation has found that Telegram, one of the world’s biggest messaging apps, with nearly a billion users, is also a giant black market and gathering place for the likes of terrorists and white supremacists.</p><p>Adam Satariano, a technology reporter for The Times ... Show More
25m 45s
Sep 2024
Telegram with Matthew Green
We finally have an excuse to tear down Telegram! Their CEO got arrested by the French, apparently not because the cryptography in Telegram is bad, but special guest Matt Green joined us to talk about how the cryptography is bad anyway, and you probably shouldn't use Telegram as a ... Show More
1h 4m
Jun 2024
Rational Security: The “God Given” Edition
<p>This week, Alan, Quinta, and Scott were joined once again by <em>Lawfare</em> Tarbell Fellow Kevin Frazier to talk over the week’s big national security news, including:</p><ul><li>Wiki-plea-ks.” After more than a decade in effective confinement—first at the Ecuadorian embassy ... Show More
1h 4m
Jan 2021
Who worked through SolarWinds? An APT “likely Russian in origin,” says the US. Rattling backdoors, rifling cryptowallets, and asking victims if they’re ensured. No bail for Mr. Assange.
The US Cyber Unified Coordination Group says the Solorigate APT is “likely Russian in origin.” Threat actors are scanning for systems potentially vulnerable to exploitation through a Zyxel backdoor. ElectroRAT targets crypto wallets. Babuk Locker is called the first new ransomwar ... Show More
24m 42s