Episode 3: Red Alert

Cybercrime, Espionage, and the Cold War 2.0

As the events leading up to January 6th unfolded, an analyst at the cyber security firm FireEye (now called Mandiant), discovered that his own company had been hacked. The hackers had also breached the private networks of hundreds of major US companies and about a dozen US government departments, including the Justice, Treasury, and State Departments. The hackers’ digital footprints were found in a common piece of software used by all its victims, proving that they had used a rare, impossibly challenging, and extraordinarily stealthy method to commit what may now be the most expensive hack in history. Only a well-funded adversary—a nation—could afford such an attack. In this case, Russia.©2023 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2023 Audible Originals, LLC