One topic I am fascinated by is cybersecurity, hacking and the work of penetration testers, if you are like me, read on this article is for you.

What is Darknet Diaries?

Darknet Diaries is a podcast about hackers, breaches, shadow government activity, hacktivism, cybercrime but also about security professionals and researchers. The podcast is hosted by Jack Rhysider, a security professional with over 15 years of experience in the field.

Darknet Diaries is not a technical podcast, meaning that most people with a basic understanding of computers and the internet will be able to follow it.

Jack Rhysider is a great storyteller, he has a way of telling stories that makes you feel like you are there, the podcast if often mixed with background music and sound effects and short insights from the Jack himself that make the experience even more immersive and enjoyable.

My top 10 episodes

As of today, there are 130 episodes of Darknet Diaries, I have listened to most of them and here are my top 10 episodes:

  • The spy - Part 1: Igor works as a private investigator in NYC. He’s often sitting in cars keeping a distant eye on someone with binoculars. Or following someone through the busy streets of New York. In this episode we hear about a time when Igor was on a case but sensed that something wasn’t right.
  • NSO - Part 2:The NSO Group creates a spyware called Pegasus which gives someone access to the data on a mobile phone. They sell this spyware to government agencies around the world. How is it used and what kind of company is the NSO Group?
  • HD Moore: HD Moore (https://twitter.com/hdmoore) invented a hacking tool called Metasploit. He crammed it with tons of exploits and payloads that can be used to hack into computers. What could possibly go wrong?
  • Jon and Brian Big Adventure: Jon and Brian are penetration testers who both worked at a place called RedTeam Security. They’re paid to break into buildings and hack into networks to test the security of those buildings. In this episode they bring us a story of how they prepare and execute a mission like this. But even with all the preparation, something still goes terribly wrong.
  • w0rmer: The hacker named w0rmer was active within AnonOps. These are Anonymous Operations which often organize and wage attacks on websites or people often with the purpose of social justice. Eventually w0rmer joined in on some of these hacking escapades which resulted in an incredible story that he will one day tell his kids.
  • Jeremy from Marketing: A company hires a penetration tester to pose as a new hire, Jeremy from Marketing, to see how much he can hack into in his first week on the job. It doesn’t go as planned.
  • RockYou breach: In 2009, the website RockYou was hacked which caused 32 million passwords to be leaked. This episode continues the story of what happened afterwards.
  • Jason’s pen test: Jason Haddix, a renowned penetration tester who has made a name for himself by uncovering vulnerabilities in some of the world’s biggest companies. In this episode, Jason shares his funny and enlightening stories about breaking into buildings and computers, and talks about the time he discovered a major security flaw in a popular mobile banking app.
  • Cloud Hopper: Fabio Viggiani is an incident responder. In this episode he talks about the story when one of his clients were breached.
  • Spam botnet: Spam is the worst. But in the early days of the internet, one person figured out a way to make it go away… for a while anyway. But as you’ll hear, it turns out that the spam problem was only the beginning of a much bigger problem.

I want to learn more about cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is a vast field, and the best way to learn about it is to pratice, and read some books and resources.

Learn by doing

If you want to learn by doing, I recommend you to check out TryHackMe, it is a platform that allows you to learn about cybersecurity, networking and coding by doing, you will be able to practice your skills in a safe environment, hack machines, and complete challenges.

When you are more advanced, and know your way around, computer and networks, you can try HackTheBox, it is a more challenging platform, but it is also a way to sharpen your skills.

Books

If you prefer to learn by reading, here are some books I recommend from my own booklist:

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this article, and that you will enjoy the podcast as much as I do, if you have any question or recommendation, feel free to reach out to me on.

I hope this article was helpful, if you have any question or suggestion, feel free to reach out to me on :

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