An Astronomer Hunts A KGB Hacker HISTORY This Week podcast

2d ago 31:16

Content provided by The HISTORY® Channel and The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by The HISTORY® Channel and The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.

September 10, 1986. It’s just before 8am when Cliff Stoll’s pager jolts him awake. A computer at Lawrence Berkeley Lab has flagged a problem: a tiny 75-cent accounting error. But when Stoll rushes to his office, he realizes this isn’t about missing spare change. Someone has slipped into the lab’s network, tunneling thousands of miles away into U.S. military computers.

Cliff isn’t a spycatcher. He’s an astronomer. And yet, from this moment on, he’ll spend months chasing a hacker who may be working for the KGB.

How did spare change uncover a spy ring? And why did this case mark the end of innocence on the Internet?

Special thanks to Cliff Stoll, astronomer, teacher, and author of The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage; and J.J. Widener, cybersecurity expert currently serving as Director of Cybersecurity Architecture at Kimberly-Clark.

Artwork: Cliff Stoll promo image

Get in touch: [email protected]

Follow on Instagram: @historythisweek

Follow on Facebook: ⁠HISTORY This Week Podcast⁠

To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

278 episodes