Episode 47

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Published on:

12th Nov 2021

47: Drone Strikes and Cyber Heists

NPM packages are getting hacked – so naturally we get Kev on the case to explain the whole thing. If you didn’t know, NPM is the official package manager for Node libraries, a JavaScript language. We’ve seen a big uptake in recent weeks, and some of those NPM packages have been compromised by hackers. They’re clearly targeting developers – and with a collective 28 million downloads every week, this is pretty big, wide-spread stuff.

Next up, the raft of ransomware stories from this week: from the UK’s Labour Party to a…“cyber heist”? 


We’ve also noticed a bit of a theme emerging with an increase in government and law enforcement involvement in disrupting ransomware and other cyber criminal enterprises. BlackMatter is our example here. 


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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10148265/Massive-cyber-heist-rocks-high-society-jeweller-Graff.html

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/blackmatter-ransomware-claims-to-be-shutting-down-due-to-police-pressure/

https://thehackernews.com/2021/10/popular-npm-package-hijacked-to-publish.html

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About the Podcast

Cyber Humanity
The podcast taking cybersecurity personally
There's a lot of cool techy stuff going down in cybersecurity, and we love it. But you can't deny that a lot of the time we humans get forgotten. Our podcast takes a not-so-serious look at issues in security from a human point of view. Covering social engineering to hacker motivations and everything in between, we chat through security stories and themes and what they mean to us: the oft-neglected humans behind the screen. Apart from Kev, Kev is a cyborg.

These weekly podcasts come in two main flavors. We’re either ranting about themes close to the heart of us security types, or we’re discussing threats and vulnerabilities that have hit headlines – or slipped under the radar – in recent weeks.

Join Camille Mallon (tech advocate and keeper of the coloring pencils), Kev Breen (pro blue teamer, also known as 'Mr Nothing to CVE here...'), Emma Walker (), and other special guests as they wend their way through the murky world of Cyber Humanity.