Internet

Illustration by Megan J. Goff

Inside the i-Soon papers and China’s secret world of hackers-for-hire

Hacking

Newly leaked files from a private Chinese hackers-for-hire company provide a fresh look into China’s “cyber industrial complex” — and it appears to be bigger and more mature than observers had previously imagined. Dina Temple-Raston, host and managing editor of the Recorded Future News podcast “Click Here,” has the story.

Inside of a computer

Countries fear state-sponsored cyberwar

Cybersecurity
Illustration by Megan J. Goff

Threat-hunter says Iran is stepping up the sophistication of its cyberattacks

Cybersecurity
Blue, gray and white illustration of flys in cage

China’s dominant role in producing hacking bugs

Global Security
illustration

Exclusive: Inside an American hunt forward operation in Ukraine

Ukraine
Black, blue and grey illustration of man looking over small figures

The hacker Bassterlord in his own words: Portrait of an access broker as a young man

Hacking

He started off doing simple phishing attacks. But the Russian, who is known as Bassterlord, soon graduated to planting ransomware in emails, holding companies’ data hostage. And he quickly became one of the best. In her exclusive interview with the hacker, Dina Temple-Raston of the “Click Here” podcast delves into the ransomware underworld.

US Army recruits in assumed position, wearing black t-shirts that have "ARMY" written across in bold yellow letters

The US military faces challenges on the homefront as recruitment shortages continue

Military

The US Army missed its target by 25% during the past fiscal year. Other branches of the military are also seeing a drop in recruiting.

Graphic of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China’s tech weapons roll in to quell demonstrations, identify protesters

Free speech

The latest demonstrations across China ended when the central government unleashed a digital arsenal that was less deadly than the tanks used to quell the 1989 protests, but just as effective. China managed to use the internet to defuse national outrage over President Xi Jinping’s strict COVID-19 policies without firing a single shot.

In this June 19, 2017, file photo, a person types on a laptop keyboard in North Andover, Massachusetts. 

‘Ransomware Diaries:’ Going undercover with the leader of LockBit

Cybersecurity

Jon DiMaggio, chief security analyst at Analyst1, spent more than a year inside LockBit private channels interacting with LockBitSupp and other members. He recently released a report called “Ransomware Diaries: Volume 1,” that revealed how he infiltrated the group and what he learned while he was on the inside.

Funeral workers burry a coffin with an unidentified civilian body, who died in Bucha during the Russian occupation period in February-March 2022, during a funeral in Bucha, Ukraine

Digital clues and the stories Ukraine’s mass graves tell

Conflict & Justice

There are two kinds of mass graves in Ukraine, the ones left after Russian executions, and the ones dug by local people to prevent disease or to protect the bodies. Now, there are efforts underway to document the graves and create digital records of the bodies, in order to identify them later.