Jason Costain, founder of Javloc, joins us to discuss his 30 years of experience in fraud prevention and bank defense systems. Jason shares insights into the evolution of fraud, from early check scams to modern-day threats like voice deepfakes and machine learning-driven credit card fraud. He also highlights the UK's regulatory responses, the impor…

Pat or JK shares why he created API Spy, a tool for automating Windows API interactions and Find That Bas, which analyzed .bas files to detect code reuse. Pat also talks about AIM Flash, genozide.bas, and getting Vader Fader to function on AOL 4.0. We discuss how he cracked MaGuS's Fate Zero's encryption. The episode wraps up with Pat's creative pr…

Robbie's programming journey began with early exposure to computers and the internet, where he explored bulletin board systems and platforms like Virtual Places. He quickly became immersed in creating bots, filters, and tools for clan wars and later transitioned his skills to AOL Instant Messenger. Known for reverse-engineering protocols and crafti…

Squirrel recounts experimenting with Visual Basic, creating programs, dabbling in exploits, and cracking OH and Internal accounts by bypassing SecureID via AOL Net Connect. Squirrel also discusses his transition to broader internet activities, including affiliate automation and early scripting exploits, while balancing his social life and tech inte…

Seven's journey began with curiosity about a crash exploit, which evolved into mastering programming languages like Visual Basic and C#. Known for creating tools like "AIM Invader" and reverse-engineering AIM protocols, Seven became a pivotal figure in the underground programming community. Despite facing legal challenges, Seven leveraged his skill…

Dr. Ethan Heilman, CTO of Bastion Zero, joins us to discuss the latest advancements in secure access technology and the ethical implications of AI systems. Dr. Heilman explains how Bastion Zero provides secure, passwordless access to servers, databases, and Kubernetes clusters without the need for VPNs or SSH keys. Key features include session reco…

Blaine (Soloist) tells us his journey from a kid connecting to local BBSs, finding AOL, learning to program, spamming for an affiliate network, and then finally finding his true passion; building websites and businesses. Guest: Blaine Vess (https://www.linkedin.com/in/blainevess/, https://www.immeasurable.com/) Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio Editor:…

We cover music and video piracy and delve in deep into the many websites and schemes ShiZZa OaK was able to probe and exploit for profit. Coupon stacking, gift card re-use, OSX Upgrade disc enumeration, etc. Guest: ShiZZa Oak Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio Editor: Sam Fox ([email protected]⁠⁠⁠) CoverArt: Created by Broast (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://b…

ShiZZa OaK tells us about his switch to IRC and joining one of the first mp3 ripping groups on the scene, Rabid Neurosis (RNS) and hosting an mp3 top site. We also talk about his phone hijinks when phreaking, calling Miss Cleo, and cracking passwords. Other MP3 ripping groups mentioned: Underground Music Alliance CDA - Compress 'Da Audio Guest: Shi…

ShiZZa OaK talks about the early days on AOL, getting early access to a Windows 95 Beta CD, 0-day ftp site access, trolling MTV Yack Live and the first mp3 ripped and uploaded to the scene. Guest: ShiZZa Oak Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio Editor: Sam Fox ([email protected]⁠⁠⁠) CoverArt: Created by Broast (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://broast.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), …

Spaz tells us about his early days dabbling in carding, socially engineering various ISPs, and working with affiliate networks. Guest: Spaz Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio Editor: Sam Fox ([email protected]⁠⁠⁠) CoverArt: Created by Broast (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://broast.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), original idea by LampGold. -- AOL Underground Podcast Follow us on twi…

NailZ tells us about Codeine's plan to take over AOL, Prodigy, and Compuserve. Planting trojan's on AOL employee machines and using them to proxy FDO and ATOM to manipulate Merlin and cause chaos on AOL. Also we talk about why he created LuciferX. Guest: NailZ Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio Editor: Sam Fox ([email protected]⁠⁠⁠) CoverArt: Cre…

Nise tells us about cracking, scrollers, phishing, account takeovers, and ruining some people's lives. Later he tells us about how AOL led to him finding his passion for marketing and a book he has been writing. Guest: Nise (⁠https://appliedcuriositys.com/⁠) Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio Editor: Sam Fox ([email protected]⁠⁠⁠) CoverArt: Creat…

We dive deep into the evolution of neworks and security from early internet to today. Mentioned in the show:Cyber Trust Mark Pick of the Week:Steve Stonebraker - The Artifice GirlJim Rigney - Healthy Gamer GG - "You Are Burned Out And Don't Even Know It" Episode Show Notes: Jim Rigney - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rigney/ Links: Podcast Website: ⁠⁠…

Sam tells us about his experience using AOL UK while coming of age in England. His fascination with visual art began here and he fell in love with FDO (Form Definition Operator) generated content. We then nerd out on how exactly cartoon episodes are produced. Guest: Sam Fox (He's the new Audio Editor for this Podcast!) Host: Steve Stonebraker Cover…

Chat with Dan Nowak about threat intelligence, insider threats, deception techniques, intellectual property theft, Made in China 2025, Unlimited Warfare, the future of ransomware, and Defcon. Pick of the Week: Steve - The Americans Dan - Meat Church Guys - The Whisky Bent Barbecue Episode Show Notes: Dan Nowak - ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/nowakda…

Broast tells us about writing password stealers, password crackers, deploying botnets, finding exploits, and hacking Digital Gangster and other forums. Guest: Broast Host: Steve Stonebraker CoverArt: Created by Broast (⁠⁠⁠https://broast.org⁠⁠⁠), original idea by LampGold. -- AOL Underground Podcast Follow us on twitter - ⁠⁠⁠@AOLUnderground⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@b…

Pen tells us about Pen Tools, a password stealer detector he wrote, user interfaces, the warez scene and more. We jump around a bit in this episode (between AOL and not AOL). Also, unfortunately the interview was cut short. Guest: Pen Host: Steve Stonebraker CoverArt: Created by Broast (⁠⁠https://broast.org⁠⁠), original idea by LampGold. -- AOL Und…

Chat with Matt Wright, Senior Security Engineer on Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM), Attack Surface Management (ASM), Artificial Intelligence. We also cover some news, talk about zero days, and responsible disclosure Episode Show Notes: Matt Wright - https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt1337/ Links: Podcast Website: ⁠https://ephemeralsecuritypod…

Single talks about how the AOL hacking group NV2 formed, carding, and when the group swatted their way to the top. Guest: Single Host: Steve Stonebraker CoverArt: Created by Broast (⁠https://broast.org⁠), original idea by LampGold. -- Single Follow Single on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/devastatorbrand/ Single's Graffiti Accessory Brand - …

Erci Stern tells us her origin story. We review in depth how she battled users that were uploading Warez on a customer's Anonymous FTP site and also hear a funny story about Slingo. She takes us through her entire career at AOL where she started in Site Reliability (Systems Administration/Operations), moving to Information Security/QA, and then wen…

Erci Stern (from parts one and two) tells us her origin story. We review in depth how she battled users that were uploading Warez on a customer's Anonymous FTP site and also hear a funny story about Slingo. She takes us through her entire career at AOL where she started in Site Reliability (Systems Administration/Operations), moving to Information …

Staff from 1987-2007 (with over 35 years combined experience) talk about their experience while working at AOL. You will hear about the Eworld, Tandylink, Commodore 64, Telnet, RAINMAN, Jay Levitt, Hackers, Q-Guides, scalability issues, and more. Guests: Craig Braquet Jan DeLucien Bryan Teague Erci Stern Host: Steve Stonebraker CoverArt: Created by…

Staff from 1987-2007 (with over 35 years combined experience) talk about their experience while working at AOL. You will hear about the Quantum Link hacker, Jenny C, the "Fives" hack, outages, how multiple departments were formed, the Habitat game, What made AOL special, Honeywell Multics, innovation, auditoriums, Tandy Link, Apple Link, and more. …

Surf Kahuna (Ryan Chapman) shares his origin story about a series of events that occurred on AOL that rocked his world and led him down the path of digital forensics. Then Steve and Ryan talk espionage, multiple Advanced Persistent Threats, retro gaming, password spraying, ransomware, and what has helped Ryan be successful in Infosec. Guest: Surf K…

Surf Kahuna (Ryan Chapman) finishes his origin story and what he learned from it. Then Steve and Ryan talk espionage, multiple Advanced Persistent Threats, retro gaming, password spraying, ransomware, and what has helped Ryan be successful in Infosec. Guest: Surf Kahuna/Mac Diablo (Ryan Chapman) Host: Steve Stonebraker CoverArt: Created by Broast (…

Surf Kahuna (Ryan Chapman) shares his origin story about a series of events that occurred on AOL that rocked his world and led him down the path of digital forensics. Guest: Surf Kahuna/Mac Diablo (Ryan Chapman) Host: Steve Stonebraker CoverArt: Created by Broast (https://broast.org), original idea by LampGold. -- Ryan Chapman Follow Ryan on Twitte…

hiwind starting programming at a very early age, became addicted to it, and somehow found a way to keep programming and being on AOL without ever having a computer of his own until his first job. His passion is palpable! Be sure to check out https://www.hiwind.me/ and click his on his greetz! Guest: hiwind Host: Steve Stonebraker CoverArt: Created …

Chat with @keeb about his keeb.bas file, his first phishing website, creating chat coms in any text field, high school programming, and his career in business development. This lead to working at Docker, Rancher Labs, at Kentik Guest: keeb Host: Steve Stonebraker CoverArt: Created by Broast (https://broast.org), original idea by LampGold. -- Follow…

z0ne is our first return guest! Topics: Room laggers (cloners), room takeovers, Getting arrested. Spamming for signups, Spin-off accounts, chat room monitoring MP3 players, cracking, AIM warning, Nerdcore, child exploitation material takedowns, torrenting, operational security (opsec44) - bug bounty bartering Guests: z0ne Host: Steve Stonebraker --…

We cover the future of ReAOL, using different versions of the AOL client, how you can help the project, thank you list (to people that helped with the project), and depression. Guest: PoSsE4uS Host: Steve Stonebraker Show Notes: https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/posse4us/ Shout out: @pad for notifying the masses about the ReAOL project Use …

Chat with tagz and shellz about being a noob, getting Sub7’d, the death of AOL, rap battles, deltrees, a credit card trojan, exploits, swatting, and silence the blind hacker Guests: tagz and shellz Host: Steve Stonebraker -- AOL Underground Podcast Follow us on twitter - ⁠⁠@AOLUnderground⁠⁠ ⁠⁠@brakertech⁠⁠ Reddit - ⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/AOLUnde…

PoSsE4uS reveals his origin story and the genesis of the ReAOL project Guest: PoSsE4uS Host: Steve Stonebraker Show Notes: https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/posse4us/ Shout out: @pad for notifying the masses about the ReAOL project Use ReAOL: https://discord.gg/reaol --- Mental Health Resources: Canada - https://bit.ly/3OC2nWw USA - https:/…

Chat with Sandeep Lahane, CEO of Deepfence, on how ThreatStryker is changing the game for Cloud Workload Protection. We go deep in to the product's unique full SSL decryption and packet capture capability, identification of an organizations most vulnerable endpoints, and automated workflows to remediate compromised systems. Episode Show Notes: Sand…

cam0 explains how he took over Burger King and Jeep's twitter accounts Show Notes: https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/cam0/ Guest: cam0 Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio and Sound: Podcast edited and mastered by Charlie Clark, https://www.fiverr.com/chuckaudio -- AOL Underground Podcast Follow us on twitter - ⁠⁠@AOLUnderground⁠⁠ ⁠⁠@brakertech⁠⁠ …

cam0 talks about how he hacked Paris Hilton's T-Mobile Sidekick, prison, and hacking the police department Show Notes: https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/cam0/ Guest: cam0 Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio and Sound: Podcast edited and mastered by Charlie Clark, https://www.fiverr.com/chuckaudio -- AOL Underground Podcast Follow us on twitter - …

cam0 talks about how he had socially engineered AOL employees, hacked Merlin, deployed trojans, ran botnets, and gained access to the Ewoks private key Show Notes: https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/cam0/ Guest: cam0 Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio and Sound: Podcast edited and mastered by Charlie Clark, https://www.fiverr.com/chuckaudio -- AO…

Chat with Ryan Fried about being and adjunct professor in the Cyber Security space, being a virtual CISO and talking to executives, purple teaming, true positive security incidents, validating your controls and what you think you know, and Atomic Red Team. Episode Show Notes: Ryan Fried - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-fried-65747938/ Atomic Red …

Emerge tells us about when he cracked AOL conference calls and pranked called some folks. Later he talks about his startup, web3, and the crazy land of NFTs. Show Notes: https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/emerge/ Guest: Emerge Host: Steve Stonebraker Audio and Sound: https://www.fiverr.com/dimaog -- AOL Underground Podcast Follow us on twitt…

YTCracker takes AOL hacking to a whole new level. Phishing employees, pwning the Customer Records Information System (CRIS), multi-threaded spamming via FDO, packet manipulation, and creating chatbots to lure lamers to his pay per click sites. He also likes rapping about his adventures. Parts of his songs are played throughout the episode. Check ou…

Chat with Lisa Falzone and Michael Green of Athena Security Athena Security focuses on Entryway Security - https://www.athena-security.com/ Guests Michael Green, CEO and Co-Founder Lisa Falzone, President and Co-Founder Show Notes https://ephemeralsecuritypodcast.com/athena-security/ Podcast edited and mastered by Charlie Clark, https://www.fiverr.…

Tau, co-creator of the original aol-files.com takes us down memory lane. We hear about his first programs, why he started aol-files.com, how it got shutdown/renamed, and what he is up to now. We also spend quite a bit of time discussing Form Definition Operator (FDO) language and exploits. Episode Extras: https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/t…

Chat with @Ethan_Heilman, CTO of @getBastionZero on how they are adding additional security when accessing remote infrastructure. BastionZero adds an additional separate Multi Factor Authentication into the authentication process and has a unique multi-root security model. Ethan can be found at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethan-heilman-3…

Chat with @DevinCasadey, Managing Principal / Global Red Team Lead. Devin's Certifications: OSCE3 (OSWE, OSEP, OSED), OSCP, OSCE, OSEE, OSWP, eCTHP, GCPN Devin can be found at: Hack the Box: https://www.hackthebox.eu/profile/28293 HTB & CTF Team: https://www.hackthebox.eu/teams/profile/1685 Github: https://keramas.github.io/about.html LinkedIn: htt…

Chat with Mike Wyatt, Chief Security Officer at CYDERESMike can be found at:https://twitter.com/cleverexploithttps://www.linkedin.com/in/cleverexploit/Note: This episode has chapters embedded in the file!By Steve Stonebraker

The Cyclops Blink botnet is explained (how it worked) and a question is posed to the guests if this should be considered an act of Cyber WarGuests: Matt Wright and Brad LindsleyEpisode Extras: https://ephemeralsecuritypodcast.com/cyclops-blink/ (includes diagram of botnet, link to the court order to disrupt the botnet, and more)…

In 1995 Da Chronic released a program called ‘AO Hell’ that wreaked havoc on America Online. It allowed users to phish entire chat rooms, “punt” people offline, "mail bomb" user inboxes, and to scroll ASCII art in chat rooms. This lead to thousands of copycat programs and a new subculture within AOL. It inspired a generation of teenagers and twenty…

Guest: Iman Joshua - Head of Information Security at VimeoHost: Steve Stonebraker stevestonebraker.com Special ThanksAudio Editing and Sound - Adam Joesph - https://www.adamjosephsounds.com/Theme music - Margo Stonebraker - codewithmargo.comBy Steve Stonebraker

Learn how Lucid generated his own fake credit cards and what happened after his house got raided by the cops. Episode Extras - https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/lucid/ ---- AOL Underground Podcast Follow us on twitter - ⁠⁠@AOLUnderground⁠⁠ ⁠⁠@brakertech⁠⁠ Reddit - ⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/AOLUnderground/⁠ Merch - ⁠⁠https://www.redbubble.co…

Chat with FLaMe about cracking, carding, and spamming Episode Extras - https://aolunderground.com/episode-extras/flame/ ----- AOL Underground Podcast Follow us on twitter - ⁠⁠@AOLUnderground⁠⁠ ⁠⁠@brakertech⁠⁠ Reddit - ⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/AOLUnderground/⁠ Merch - ⁠⁠https://www.redbubble.com/people/AOL-Underground/shop⁠⁠ Donate - ⁠⁠https://www.…