In this episode, Matt Tait, aka @PwnAllTheThings, takes us on a tour of Russia’s cyberoperations. Ever wonder why there are three big Russian intel agencies but only two that have nicknames in cybersecurity research? Matt has the answer to this and all your other Russian cyberespionage questions.

In the news, we mourn the loss of Howard Schmidt, the first cyber czar and one of the most decent men in government. Then we descend into the depths of the Trump wiretap story. I reprise some of my views from Lawfare. Michael Vatis is not persuaded.

After Microsoft’s refusal to provide data stored in the cloud outside the U.S. was upheld in the Second Circuit, things looked rosy for its position. But now two magistrates in a row have rejected that position. Michael and I discuss the latest ruling.

Maury Shenk is now our official commentator on the legal consequences of Internet-enabled toys. This time it’s teddy bears, whose interactions with children and parents were exposed by hackers.

More seriously, Maury praises an impressive new analysis of China’s 50c army of tweeters. It turns out that everything we thought we knew about the 50c army is wrong.

Just in time for an early spring, we have harbingers of the coming fight over reauthorization of the 702 intercept program. Director of National Intelligence candidate Dan Coats promises to put a number on the U.S. persons whose communications are caught up in the program, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other NGOs turn on both the U.S. government and Silicon Valley to urge that Privacy Shield be held hostage to changes in the program. And the incoming Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, endorses Privacy Shield, a move that may validate EFF’s tactics.

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Download the 153rd episode (mp3).

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The views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not reflect the opinions of the firm.