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Click Here

ByRecorded Future News
241 episodes

Podcast Summary

The podcast that tells true stories about the people making and breaking our digital world. We take listeners into the world of cyber and intelligence without all the techie jargon. Every Tuesday and Friday, former NPR investigations correspondent Dina Temple-Raston and the team draw back the curtain on ransomware attacks, mysterious hackers, and the people who are trying to stop them.

#1

All the president’s meme coins

Memecoins were born as internet pranks — worthless by design, traded for laughs. But now they are buying real power, and a digital joke just slipped past the velvet rope straight into the Oval Office. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-06-03•23mins
#2

Mic Drop: A former North Korean IT worker speaks

For years, North Korea has quietly dispatched an army of IT workers overseas—not to innovate, but to infiltrate. Disguised as freelancers, they apply for jobs, breach systems, and wire stolen funds back to Pyongyang. This week, a rare conversation with one of them—a defector—about the regime’s digital underworld, and the personal toll of escaping it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-30•13mins
#3

227 new reasons to worry about North Korea

North Korea has built an artificial intelligence research center to supercharge its cyber operations, Unit 227. It’s a move that some experts say has been years in the making — and others say should scare us senseless. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-27•23mins
#4

Mic Drop: Blockchain buzzkill — one miner’s lament.

When Richard Hunter heard about Kentucky's generous crypto incentives, he packed up his bitcoin machines and pointed them south. He imagined a booming business, jobs for locals, and maybe — just maybe — a shot at redemption. But what he got … was a buzzkill. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-23•14mins
#5

Crypto in Kentucky: The next extraction

Since the collapse of coal, Eastern Kentucky has lived through a procession of supposed revivals. Each new idea was treated as something close to salvation. We spent four days driving across the state and it became clear that things like crypto mining and AI data centers may not offer a break with history – just a continuation of it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-20•30mins
#6

Mic Drop: Encrypted-ish: The problems with a Signal knockoff

Earlier this month, a photo of former national security advisor Mike Waltz sneaking a peek at his phone during a Cabinet meeting went viral. Micah Lee explains how that moment exposed a massive security flaw – and a possible backdoor into government chats. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-16•16mins
#7

DOGE and its handling of federal data

Our first installment in a five-part series we're calling CyberMonday. As part of a show for 1A, we dive into one of our Click Here episodes and take calls from listeners. This week: DOGE is vacuuming up federal data and using it in ways that no one ever has before, with very little oversight. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-13•41mins
#8

Mic Drop: America’s soft power in Asia – unplugged

Radio Free Asia has broken news on everything from a mystery illness in Wuhan to Uyghur detentions in northwest China. Now it is in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. We speak with Bay Fang, RFA’s president, about its battle to survive. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-09•14mins

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#9

Radio Free Europe: When the signal fades

The Trump administration is trying to defund Radio Free Europe… a kind of megaphone for democracy that’s been broadcasting since the Cold War. RFE Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva spent months in a Russian prison because of her work for the station and now she worries about what will fill the void, if it is silenced. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-06•27mins
#10

Mic Drop: Gen. Charlie "Tuna" Moore: Cyber Wars Don’t Wait for Consensus

Military decisions used to take months — maybe even years. Cyberwarfare decisions can happen in milliseconds. Lt. General Charlie "Tuna" Moore, former deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command, explains how soldiers without cyber skills are already a step behind. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-05-02•18mins
#11

Volt Typhoon comes for Littleton

In late 2023, Nick Lawler got a call from someone claiming to be an FBI agent. The man said that the utility Nick ran in Littleton, Massachusetts, was the target of an elaborate, international hacking operation. It set off an unlikely series of events that involved a small community, Chinese state hackers and the quiet threat hiding in our most basic infrastructure. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-29•27mins
#12

Mic Drop: The Hackalorian: A careful student strikes back

Meet Mando: an IT guy by day, cybercrime fighter by night. And his mentor? One of the most prolific data thieves ever. Together, they’re rewriting the rules of digital justice. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-25•13mins
#13

A young hacker, and the Life of PII

This week, how a global game of cat and mouse led to a friendship—and an unexpected redemption. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-22•32mins
#14

Mic Drop: Former Deputy DNI Sue Gordon: ‘it is conceivable that the world order has already been broken’

This week, as national security agencies brace for deep cuts and digital expertise is shed from their ranks, we talk to former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon about what happens when intelligence is stuck in the past. She says the real danger isn’t what we don’t know—it’s what we stop trying to understand. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-18•27mins
#15

USDS insider says DOGE’s audits are like nothing she’s ever seen

DOGE says it’s rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse. But in her first media interview, one insider at the U.S. Digital Service says DOGE’s “audit” felt more like a purge. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-15•27mins
#16

Mic Drop: AI’s unexpected Roman holiday

While the world is weighing in on where the ethical boundaries of AI should lie, Heather Mellquist Lehto has partnered with someone who has very definite views on AI’s use: the pope. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-11•12mins
#17

AI’s divine intervention

Churches are turning to AI to craft sermons and draw in new believers. But when faith interacts with algorithms, does it change what we’re worshipping? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-08•27mins
#18

Mic Drop: Nakasone on Vanderbilt's future of war summit

More from our exclusive conversation with former NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone. He now leads the Institute of National Security at Vanderbilt and will convene a summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats next week. Think cyber warfare, AI, and disinformation and how they will shape wars in the future. He gave us a preview. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-04•16mins
#19

Exclusive: Gen. Paul Nakasone says China is now our biggest threat

This week, a rare sit-down with Gen. Paul Nakasone — former head of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, and one of the key architects of America's modern cyber operations. Now out of government, he told us nothing was off-limits. So we asked about China. About AI. And about what the current Trump term could mean for the future of cyberwarfare. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-04-01•39mins
#20

Mic Drop: Jon Clay: Minority Report meets cyber… pre-cogs sold separately

Trend Micro's Jon Clay explains how artificial intelligence has turned a Hollywood fantasy into a real cybercrime fighting-tool … and it's already working in Taiwan. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-03-28•17mins
#21

The Zelensky playbook: Ukrainian lessons for Taiwan

So how do you prepare for a war that hasn’t yet started? We take you inside a naval war game for Taiwan that unfolded in a very unlikely place: Las Vegas. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-03-25•28mins
#22

Mic Drop: Kelly Shaw’s job got hacked – by DOGE

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is supposed to keep us safe from cyber threats, but now its own employees are under attack—this time from sweeping layoffs. We speak with a CISA manager caught in what has been dubbed the Valentine’s Day massacre… and examine what this could mean for our cybersecurity future. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-03-21•15mins
#23

Is Trump making the US more cyber vulnerable?

When news came that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may have paused U.S. offensive cyber operations against Russia, it made headlines around the world. But experts say the Trump team is doing something behind the scenes that could be more harmful. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-03-18•23mins

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#24

Mic Drop: Frank McCourt wants TikTok to help him reinvent the internet

Billionaire Frank McCourt doesn’t want to buy TikTok for its algorithm and addictive videos. He wants its 170 million American users to help him fundamentally change the Internet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-03-14•12mins
#25

The TikTok ban, China, and national security

Click Here host Dina Temple-Raston speaks with 1A's Jenn White about the latest on the TikTok ban, what’s next in the possible sale of its American arm, and whether the app is really a threat to national security. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-03-11•38mins
#26

Mic Drop: Aidan Raney's secret mission.

Aidan Raney does threat analysis for Farnsworth Intelligence, a company he founded. When one of his clients got caught up in a North Korean IT worker scheme, Aidan set out on a little mission: to infiltrate one of these operations and understand how it worked. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-03-07•15mins
#27

Meet the “Kyles” — North Korea’s secret IT warriors

North Korea has a secret army of workers applying for remote IT jobs around the world. They collect paychecks, sometimes steal company data, and answer to a boss who isn’t at company headquarters, he’s sitting in Pyongyang. We hear about one named Kyle. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-03-04•26mins
#28

Mic Drop: Anne Neuberger on AI: ‘We have to challenge ourselves to be first’

We sat down with former deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to talk about everything from Chinese AI startups like DeepSeek to the competition for the future world order. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-02-28•16mins
#29

Ron Deibert: ‘We’re living in a Philip K. Dick novel.’

As his new book “Chasing Shadows” hits bookstores this month, Ron Deibert tells us about how he and his team of digital sleuths at The Citizen Lab have been holding purveyors of high-tech surveillance to account. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-02-25•27mins
#30

Mic Drop: Mark Zaid’s ‘red badge of courage’

Earlier this month, Mark Zaid heard that the Trump administration had revoked his security clearances. Mark, best known for being the go-to lawyer for whistleblowers in the intelligence community, now appears to be part of a growing list of people President Trump perceives as disloyal. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-02-21•13mins
#31

Could AI help ER doctors and medics make better decisions?

A mass shooting in Las Vegas a few years ago helped pave the way for a new DARPA program that is asking a very thorny question: Could doctors and medics make better life-and-death decisions with a little help from AI? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-02-18•29mins
#32

Mic Drop: The man behind a Binance exec’s Nigerian detention

Nigerian authorities detained a mid-level Binance executive named Tigran Gambaryan for eight months last year. Some observers say officials hoped to extract millions of dollars in fines from the company. Others maintain they just wanted to send a message. Matthew Page from Chatham House gives us some backstory. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-02-14•15mins
#33

The Company Man: Binance exec detained in Nigeria breaks his silence

Former IRS investigator Tigran Gambaryan went to Nigeria on a quick trip to sell Nigerian officials on the utility of cryptocurrencies. He ended up detained there for eight months. On today’s show, an exclusive interview with Tigran about his detention, and how he got out. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-02-11•30mins
#34

Mic Drop: The algorithm will see you now - AI and psychiatry

Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a psychiatrist and retired Army brigadier general, has always had an open mind when it came to cutting-edge technology. Now he’s looking at AI to see if it can help doctors treat veterans struggling with mental health. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-02-07•16mins
#35

SPECIAL FEATURE: ‘With AIs Wide Open’ from IRL: Online Life is Real Life

An episode from IRL: Online Life is Real Life from Mozilla and PRX: Are today’s large language models too hot to handle? Bridget Todd, host of the IRL: Online Life is Real Life podcast, digs into the risks and rewards of open sourcing the tech that makes ChatGPT talk. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-02-04•25mins
#36

Mic Drop: Tracking a Ghost

Law enforcement agencies have been disrupting criminal gangs by intercepting their encrypted communications. Jamie O’Reilly of the cybersecurity company Dvuln talks about an Aussie effort to track Ghost. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-31•14mins
#37

Knights of Old and a ransomware joust

For 150 years Knights of Old, a U.K. logistics company, survived everything from two world wars to Brexit. Then a ransomware group called Akira stormed the company's networks. In just a blink of an eye, everything changed. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-28•27mins
#38

Mic Drop: Australia’s attempt to keep kids off social media

Australia is trying to use age-gating to keep kids under 16 off social media. John Pane, at Electronic Frontiers Australia, is worried that kids won’t be the only people losing something. He says privacy as we know it is also in the crosshairs. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-24•16mins
#39

Australia takes aim at encrypted apps

Session, a little known encrypted messaging app out of Australia, thought it would help the world keep its communication private—and then a new law threatened their plans. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-21•32mins
#40

Mic Drop: Elon Musk, come and get your space junk.

Jordan Hobbs, a cattle farmer in the Australian Outback, discovers an unexpected offering from low-earth orbit. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-17•12mins
#41

Space Jam: What if adversaries hacked a dead satellite?

Former NASA astronaut Ed Lu used to worry about asteroids crashing into earth. Now, he’s turned his attention to an even more pressing problem – the weaponization of space debris — and officials say it may have already happened. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-14•26mins
#42

Mic Drop: Russia’s unexpected wartime real estate boom

Russia’s military spending has propped up the economy, made some military families rich and set off a housing boom. But some worry the center will not hold. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-10•14mins
#43

Tech workers return to Russia, not quite with love

We look at the strange and complicated journeys of Russian tech workers who left their country by the thousands when the war in Ukraine first began and now, begrudgingly, are returning home. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-07•28mins
#44

Mic Drop: The demise of ransomware and the rise of crypto

2024 was a banner year for cybercriminal takedowns. Recorded Future analyst Alexander Leslie talks about how ransomware has had to adapt and what the Trump administration’s vow to take cryptocurrency mainstream will mean for the cyber criminals in 2025. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2025-01-03•15mins
#45

196. 2024: A year of living more dangerously in cyberspace.

In a recent conversation on WAMU’s nationally syndicated 1A news show, Click Here’s Dina Temple-Raston speaks with 1A’s host Jenn White about China and Russia’s increasingly aggressive cyberattacks, and in the second half of the show, White speaks with human rights advocate Bill Browder about what the world needs to do for Ukraine. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2024-12-31•44mins
#46

195. Mic Drop: A return to the NSA's Cryptologic Museum - a spycatcher's dream

Just a stone's throw from the NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, the National Cryptologic Museum displays dozens of rarely seen codebreaking machines that, quite literally, changed the course of history. We revisit our tour and chat with the museum's director, Vince Houghton. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2024-12-27•13mins
#47

194. A return to the musicians who came in from the cold

At a time when Vladimir Putin is attempting to redraw the Iron Curtain, we revisit an earlier episode in which we take a trip back to the Soviet Union circa 1985 when four American musicians smuggled messages in and out of the Soviet Union — with music. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2024-12-24•24mins
#48

193. Mic Drop: For researcher Allison Nixon, young cybercriminals are ‘objectively interesting’

We return to a conversation we had over the summer with Unit 221B’s Allison Nixon about young cybercriminals, radicalization, and the search for self in the virtual world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2024-12-20•15mins
#49

192. Return to the leak that unmasked China’s hackers-for-hire

Recently, the US sanctioned a Chinese cybersecurity company and one of its employees who compromised tens of thousands of firewalls worldwide, with potentially deadly consequences. All of this could sound a little familiar to regular listeners. Earlier this year, CLICK HERE reported on a huge leak of internal documents from a private cybersecurity company that pulled back the curtain on the secret world of China’s hacker-for-hire network. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2024-12-17•24mins
#50

191. SPECIAL FEATURE: ‘(Ai)ding Cybercrime’ from SHIFT

An episode of ‘SHIFT’ from PRX:AI is being integrated into our technologies at warp speed, but we are only starting to consider how it could be weaponized in the future. The SHIFT podcast talks to Lee Klarich, the chief product officer at Palo Alto Networks, about how AI is both helping and hurting cybersecurity. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2024-12-13•14mins

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