Criminal Network Podcast with Jim Clemente cover art

Criminal Network

Cybercrime, Espionage, and the Cold War 2.0

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Criminal Network

By: Peter McDonnell, Jim Clemente
Narrated by: Jim Clemente
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About this listen

Full series episodes will release on January 26, 2023.

Sandworm. Evil Corp. Fancy Bear. DarkSide. The SVR. REvil.

Many of the most world’s most dangerous hackers are from Russia, go by creepy names, and have preyed on Americans. Some are part of Putin’s government. Others are alleged to be associated with it. Over the last decade, their attacks have become more frequent, extreme, and catastrophic.

This Russian cadre of cybercriminals has a daunting catalog of victims: the US government, Fortune 500 companies, the DNC, global food producers, shipping companies, hospitals, transportation networks, nuclear power plants, and the electric grid.

Each year, the Department of Justice indicts more Russian hackers for cybercrimes, but almost none have or will face prosecution.

Russia’s unprovoked and deadly invasion of Ukraine in 2022 deepened its divide with the US and marked the beginning of a new era of conflict—a return to familiar Cold War tensions in which skirmishes are fought in the gray zone between peace and war. Today, however, most of these attacks are launched digitally. The spies and disrupters are hackers. In Russia, many belong to a loose criminal network with a shared aim to prey on the US and its allies.

Told firsthand by those closest to the events, Criminal Network takes you inside the dramatic discoveries and responses to the most serious cyberattacks of the recent past. It also looks ahead to the future of cybercrime in a highly charged and fractured world.

©2023 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2023 Audible Originals, LLC True Crime
Episodes
  • Criminal Network Trailer

    Criminal Network Trailer

     Cybercrime, Espionage, and the Cold War 2.0
    Jan 6 2023

    Full series episodes will release on January 26, 2023.

    Sandworm. Evil Corp. Fancy Bear. DarkSide. The SVR. REvil.

    Many of the most world’s most dangerous hackers are from Russia, go by creepy names, and have preyed on Americans. Some are part of Putin’s government. Others are alleged to be associated with it. Over the last decade, their attacks have become more frequent, extreme, and catastrophic.

    This Russian cadre of cybercriminals has a daunting catalog of victims: the US government, Fortune 500 companies, the DNC, global food producers, shipping companies, hospitals, transportation networks, nuclear power plants, and the electric grid.

    Each year, the Department of Justice indicts more Russian hackers for cybercrimes, but almost none have or will face prosecution.

    Russia’s unprovoked and deadly invasion of Ukraine in 2022 deepened its divide with the US and marked the beginning of a new era of conflict—a return to familiar Cold War tensions in which skirmishes are fought in the gray zone between peace and war. Today, however, most of these attacks are launched digitally. The spies and disrupters are hackers. In Russia, many belong to a loose criminal network with a shared aim to prey on the US and its allies.

    Told firsthand by those closest to the events, Criminal Network takes you inside the dramatic discoveries and responses to the most serious cyberattacks of the recent past. It also looks ahead to the future of cybercrime in a highly charged and fractured world.
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    1 min
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  • Episode 1: Den of Thieves

    Episode 1: Den of Thieves

     Cybercrime, Espionage, and the Cold War 2.0
    Jan 26 2023
    The world’s most wanted cybercriminal is a playboy Russian hacker and the alleged leader of a notorious cybercrime group called Evil Corp. But despite offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest, the FBI has had little success capturing him. Perhaps that’s because the hacker, like many other cybercriminals in Russia, is alleged to be working for one of the Russian government’s intelligence services, engaging in high-level hacking against US companies and the US government.
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    31 mins
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  • Episode 2: Crossing the Line

    Episode 2: Crossing the Line

     Cybercrime, Espionage, and the Cold War 2.0
    Jan 26 2023
    While Evil Corp was raking in almost $100 million in revenue from hacks of mostly American companies, the Russian government turned a self-serving blind eye to homegrown cybercriminals and engaged in its own hacking schemes to undermine US democracy. Russia’s 2016 hack and leak operation against the Democratic National Committee, and its creation of countless fake social media profiles to spread false and divisive information blew through a red line that cybersecurity experts thought would never be crossed. In many ways, Russia’s disinformation campaigns in the US helped create the conditions in which election deniers stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
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    28 mins
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Go Behind the Scenes of Criminal Network

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Peter McDonnell
Jim Clemente
Additional Details
Peter McDonnell

About the Writer and Executive Producer

Peter McDonnell is a writer and producer in Los Angeles. He has created, written, and produced numerous Audible Original series, including the New York Times bestseller Evil Has a Name, Call Me God (an Audible Best Listen of 2019), and The Riddle of Emmon Bodfish (an Audible Best Listen of 2021). His narrative true crime series Brooklyn North tells the story of four wrongful murder convictions in New York City during the "war on drugs" in the early 90s. His series, After the Fall, is an active and in-depth firsthand account of the FBI’s investigation into the 9/11 attacks, which became the largest case in the Bureau’s history. His narrative sports biography, Miles to Go, tells the inspiring story of Joan Benoit Samuelson’s commanding win at the 1984 women’s Olympic Marathon in LA, capping decades of activism for women to gain the right to compete in middle- and long-distance races in the US. Darkness of the World is a harrowing narrative biography of Sochil Martin, a survivor of La Luz del Mundo, which has been called one of the world’s largest cults, and her fight for justice against its leader. As a producer, Peter made All the Gory Details, about the little known and lightly regulated industry of body donations, and Out of Bounds, about a recent revolution in college sports. He is a co-executive producer of the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary science series, Pandemic, and the NBC documentary series, The Forgotten West Memphis Three. He has an MFA from Oregon State University, where he also taught writing.

Jim Clemente

About the Narrator and Executive Producer

Jim Clemente is a podcast host, writer, producer, and retired FBI agent and profiler. He is a host of the podcasts Real Crime Profile and Best Case Worst Case. For fifteen years Jim was a technical adviser and then a writer and producer for the TV drama series Criminal Minds. Jim is also the co-creator and co-writer of the Netflix drama series Manhunt: Unabomber. He is an executive producer of the most recent reboot of America’s Most Wanted, and an executive producer and narrator of numerous Audible Original series including The Riddle of Emmon Bodfish, A Devil in the Valley, and Evil Has a Name. Jim is also a central figure in the Audible Original Series Call Me God, in which he and his brother Tim, also a former FBI agent, helped solve the DC Sniper case. Jim is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the Audible Original series Where the Devil Belongs, an in-depth, first-hand account of the Unabomber case. Before his podcasting, writing, and producing career, Clemente was a prosecutor for the New York City Law Department and then a supervisory special agent and Profiler for the FBI with a focus on serial killers, child abductions and other violent and serial crimes. Jim has investigated some of the highest profile criminal cases in US history, including the Unabomber, JonBenet Ramsey, Amanda Knox, the DC Snipers, and 9/11.

XG Production Credits

Executive Produced by: Peter McDonnell and Jim Clemente
Written by: Peter McDonnell
Additional Writing by: Jim Clemente
Directed by: Peter McDonnell and Jim Clemente
Narrated by: Jim Clemente
Senior Producers: Francey Hakes and Heather Miller
Edited by: Peter McDonnell and Andrea Bruce
Assistant Producer: Sydney Sidell
Dialogue and Narration Editing by: Matt Gurgol
Sound Design and Mix by: Matt Gurgol
Cover Art by: Mark Smith
Executive Producers for XG Productions: Spencer Gordon and Peter Clemente
Executive Producer for Audible: Martha Little and Andrea Bruce
Produced by: XG Productions

All stars
Most relevant  
👍😎👌Awesome work I really enjoy it, in every aspect I just wish it could be abeilave a transcription due to the huge amount of details.

Spy-tastic

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Good story. Narrator's voice isn't too annoying. Well researched. Timely story that holds your attention.

Important info

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This series reminds me so much of Frontline. It is suspenseful and riveting and held my attention to the max. It's terribly entertaining and informative on an important issue.

Watch Your Back

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Appreciate Jim Clemente and team bringing awareness of this topic to the forefront. Must listen!

Infuriating, Terrifying, Riveting

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Very well done; covers a wide range of cyber security threats and how to address the problem.

Chilling but important message

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It's more of a documentary than a podcast. This was very well done. I will be on the lookout for more.

Good, simple, informative

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Hackers & Spyware, viruses & malware: more globally dangerous than all the Covids.
Earthshaking, psyche frightening

WOW, thought COVID was bad

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Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, in that order, are the principal cyber (and otherwise) “Bad Actors” on the global net. Of course, there are many more, but these countries – especially Russia – put the heft of state resources behind their homegrown hackers when it suits their needs and turn a blind eye to their own hacker’s multibillion-dollar ransomware targeting of US companies and infrastructure when it doesn’t meet their needs. Then there’s China’s criminal quest for US corporation’s intellectual property, North Korea’s infamous and embarrassing hack of Sony Pictures, and some interesting hacking into Iran’s nuclear weapons technology. From your phone to your car, to our water supply, and nuclear weapons – the ability to hack into virtually anything is what I found so unsettling.

All in all, I found this series fascinating. The last episode includes some of the sources for the series, which may make for further reading, and ways to keep from getting hacked yourself. (Incidentally, the producer and narrator, Jim Clemente, does several outstanding Audible Originals including Call Me God – about the DC sniper in the early 2000s.)

LAST: I sincerely hope my review helped you! If so, please let me know by clicking “Helpful” below. Thanks and have a great day!

Unsettling for Sure!

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The flow of the reporting and the storyline were captivating and very insightful. I really enjoyed the series and the length was perfect.

Excellent storyline

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This series presents a history of cyber attacks beginning with Sony's infamous hack by North Korea, and does a great job of presenting the facts of the selected investigations, in order to convey the seriousness and gravity of cyber attacks that now target political campaigns and our perception of the truth itself.

Despite other jaded reviews that are only looking for the narrators and writers to take their side, this series presents a riveting inside view on cyber attacks over the last decade. Remember that the focus is cyber security, not politics, which is why their writer reported high level details only, of political events like the Jan 6 attempted insurrection.

Great content & Provocative Story!

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