147. Mic Drop: The problem with the Nigerian economy has nothing to do with crypto

The Russian private army known as the Wagner Group has been tied not just to atrocities in Ukraine but to operations in Africa that helped Russia extend its reach. The looming question for Moscow: what do we do with Wagner now? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

26 Sep 202326min

Back in August, the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed in a fiery plane crash. So we decided to revisit an episode we did a few months ago about the Wagner group and how it recruits. It turns out they tore a page from the ISIS playbook. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

19 Sep 202327min

Led by a motley crew of old-school cops and cyber whiz-kids, a Dutch police unit takes control of one of the dark web's most notorious drug markets and make history. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

12 Sep 202328min

Remember ding-dong ditch? You and your friends rang a doorbell and then ran away? These days the prank of choice among the young cyber set is something called swatting: calling the police with a hoax report that sends them rushing – guns drawn – to some address and unsuspecting victim. After years of writing it off as childish mischief, legislators, law enforcement and tech companies are finally trying to address it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

5 Sep 202328min

Back in May, a Russian-speaking cyber gang named Clop broke into MOVEit, a little-known file transfer program. They managed to steal data from some 60 million people (and counting). While the scale of the attack was impressive, what really raised eyebrows was how they did it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

29 Aug 202324min

Ilya Sachkov co-founded the cybersecurity company Group-IB to make the world safe from Russian-speaking cybercriminals. Then he asked Russian authorities to help round them up, and things went spectacularly wrong. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

22 Aug 202328min

Wave “goodbye” to those pesky emails from Nigerian princes and say “hello” to the latest generation of AI enabled email scamming. It’s smarter, faster and, by the way, looks like it’s coming from your boss. The only thing that might stop them? AI itself. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

15 Aug 202323min

We look at an American disinformation campaign that makes clear online abuse directed at women goes far beyond a couple of mean tweets. And, an update on a Syrian activist who was on the receiving end of a misinformation crisis of her own. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

8 Aug 202325min