Darknet Diaries
Jack Rhysider (podcast@darknetdiaries.com)
Explore true stories of the dark side of the Internet with host Jack Rhysider as he takes you on a journey through the chilling world of hacking, data breaches, and cyber crime. ¿Hablas español? Escucha en español aquí ➔ https://darknetdiaries.com/es/
Recent Episodes
178: Ubiquiti
Aug 4, 2026Nickolas Sharp, a cloud engineer at Ubiquiti, orchestrated a sophisticated cyber attack on his own employer to extort $2 million in Bitcoin, framing it as an unsanctioned security demonstration. After downloading over 100 private repositories from Ubiquiti's GitHub and AWS systems, Sharp sent a ransom demand, later leaked the data publicly via Keybase, and contacted journalist Brian Krebs with allegations of corporate malfeasance. Arrested in December 2021 and convicted of wire fraud and intentional damage to protected computers, Sharp was sentenced to six years in prison.
177: National Public Data
Jul 21, 2026Episode 177 of Darknet Diaries explores three interconnected stories of identity theft and data exploitation. The episode begins with William Woods, whose identity was stolen by Matthew Kierans in 1988, leading to a devastating legal nightmare where Woods was wrongly imprisoned and institutionalized while the actual thief operated freely for 31 years. It then shifts to Luan Barbosa (USDOD), a Brazilian hacker who breached the U.S. Department of Defense, FBI InfraGard, NATO, and numerous other government entities, selling stolen military intelligence. Finally, the episode reveals how Salvatore Varini Jr., operator of the data broker National Public Data, profited from scraping and selling billions of personal records, which were subsequently breached and sold by Luan, affecting 2.9 billion people across the U.S., UK, and Canada.
The FBI told him to keep a secret. He risked everything to fight it. ✉ Darknet Diaries Ep. 176: NSL
Jul 7, 2026One Unencrypted File Broke This 10-Year Investigation Wide Open 🎙 Darknet Diaries Ep. 175: Bayrob
Jun 2, 2026The Only Cure For This Malware Is to Throw Your Router in the Trash 🔌 Episode 174: Pacific Rim
May 5, 2026Cashers and the Magic Debit Card With Unlimited Withdrawals 💳 Darknet Diaries Ep. 173: Tarjeteros
Apr 21, 2026The Insidious True Purpose of These Cheap Chinese Streaming Boxes 📺 Darknet Diaries Ep 172 SuperBox
Apr 7, 2026Your Spotify Account Might Be Laundering Dirty Money 🎵 Darknet Diaries Ep. 171: Melody Fraud
Mar 3, 202640 Years of Stories From the World's Most Important Hacker Magazine 💾 Darknet Diaries Ep. 170 Phrack
Feb 3, 2026The Hacker War That Ended the Cyber Golden Age ⚔ Darknet Diaries Ep. 169 MoD
Jan 20, 2026
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