Cloak and Dagger | An OSINT Podcast

Host MJ Banias sits down with Sapper Lab's Director of Communications, Kennedy Chappell, in this Season 1 wrap-up episode. They walk us through their favourite episodes, what they've learned over this season, and how the show has impacted them. From AI conspiracy theories to tracking child predators, this episode takes you through the behind the scenes moments that truly makes Cloak & Dagger. Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology.  The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.sapperlabs.com⁠⁠⁠⁠. Music featured in this episode can be found here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution⁠⁠⁠⁠ and Epidemic Sound.

In this special bonus episode, Cloak & Dagger partnered with The Nighttime Podcast to dive into the bizarre story of Karim Baratov, the 22 year old Canadian involved in the Yahoo hack, the largest computer hack in history. Join MJ Banias and Jordan Bonaparte from Nighttime as they discuss this strange tale from the darkest parts of the internet, and then dive into an interview with Baratov himself, as he talks about how he got involved, the hacks themselves, and how he says he accidentally became an asset for Russian intelligence. Credits: Website: https://www.nighttimepodcast.com Original airing: https://www.nighttimepodcast.com/episodes/karim-baratov Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology. The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit ⁠⁠www.sapperlabs.com⁠⁠. Music featured in this episode can be found here: ⁠⁠https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution⁠⁠ and Epidemic Sound.

Host MJ Banias heads to Winnipeg to visit the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a non-profit agency dedicated to eliminating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from the internet. From supporting survivors of abuse to scraping the dark web to utilizing intelligence and OSINT techniques, the team at the centre has been responsible for some of the largest purges of CSAM off the internet. Please visit the Canadian Centre for Child Protection by clicking here. If you need to contact the centre's Cybertip team, please click here or visit www.cybertip.ca. A link to the Forbes article mentioned in the show can be found here. Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology.  The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit ⁠⁠⁠www.sapperlabs.com⁠⁠⁠. Music featured in this episode can be found here: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution⁠⁠⁠ and Epidemic Sound.

Guest Griffin Glynn recounts a favorite story of how he went about scamming a scammer. From Grabify links, to breach data and social media searches, to a lot of social engineering, hear how the Director of Investigations for the National Child Protection Task Force spends his free time tracking down the people behind those email scams. You can find Griffin here: https://hatless1der.com/⁠  You can also follow him on X (Twitter): ⁠https://twitter.com/hatless1der⁠. Please check out the National Child Protection Task Force by visiting ⁠https://www.ncptf.org/⁠. Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology.  The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit ⁠⁠www.sapperlabs.com⁠⁠. Music featured in this episode can be found here: ⁠⁠https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution⁠⁠ and Epidemic Sound.

2017 saw some of the wildest conspiracy theories, but the most prolific was QAnon. However, as the COVID pandemic swept through the world and with the election of a Democratic president in 2020, Q's followers began to vanish. Joining the show this week is Nick Backovic, an OSINT analyst with Logically AI, and he tells the tale of a mysterious and ghostly figure who turned the QAnon conspiracy into something much more sinister. You can find Nick here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickbackovic And here: https://twitter.com/nickbackovic Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology.  The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. For more content regarding OSINT, cybersecurity, and intelligence, visit our blog at ⁠www.cloakanddagger.blog⁠  Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit ⁠www.sapperlabs.com⁠. Music featured in this episode can be found here: ⁠https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution⁠ and Epidemic Sound.

Looking behind the shadows of Canadian history and shedding light on an overlooked chapter of LGBTQ+ persecution: The LGBT Purge. Joining us this is week is guest host, Kennedy Chappell, and Artur Wilczynski. Artur has more than 30 years in the Canadian public service working on foreign policy, intelligence, security, and defence issues, and is a champion of equity, diversity and inclusion. We discuss the policy that purged LGBT(+) people from the Canadian civil and military service From the 1940s through the 1990s.  Find Artur here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/artur-wilczynski-3a033498/ Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology.  The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit www.sapperlabs.com. Music featured in this episode can be found here: https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution and Epidemic Sound.

Information is complex. The lines between fact and fiction have become easier to blur as new technologies create wild ecosystems of data. In this episode, Dr. Alicia Wanless from Carnegie’s Partnership for Countering Influence Operations, talks about whether disinformation is something we can even fight, and why it may end up costing us our heads. You can find Alicia's work here: https://lageneralista.com/ Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology.  The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. For more content regarding OSINT, cybersecurity, and intelligence, visit our blog at www.cloakanddagger.blog  Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit www.sapperlabs.com. Music featured in this episode can be found here: https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution and Epidemic Sound.

In 2022, Sapper Labs Group was established by bringing together Sapper Labs Inc., Sapper Labs Cyber Solutions, and Dark River Systems. Behind this consolidation was the immense power and potential of Hunchly, originally developed by Justin and Clare Seitz and the team at Dark River Systems Inc. in 2016. Today we chat with Chief Innovation Officer Justin Seitz and CEO Al Dillon about this powerful merger. Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology.  The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. For more content regarding OSINT, cybersecurity, and intelligence, visit our blog at www.cloakanddagger.blog  Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit www.sapperlabs.com. Music featured in this episode can be found here: https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution 

In 2021, Newfoundland’s hospitals were hit by a massive Hive ransomware attack that halted them. We sit down with cyber policy expert Alexander Rudolph to talk about persistent engagement and how cybersecurity policy needs to be reshaped into a proactive and holistic system. You can find Alexander here: https://linktr.ee/alexfrudolph Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology.  The views expressed by guests on the podcast are not necessarily those of Cloak & Dagger, nor Sapper Labs Group. For more content regarding OSINT, cybersecurity, and intelligence, visit our blog at www.cloakanddagger.blog  Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit www.sapperlabs.com. Music featured in this episode can be found here: https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution 

In the last episode with Marcus Kolga, we touched on a global investigation into the doping of Russian athletes during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. In this bonus episode, Sapper Labs’ Chief Intelligence Officer, Dave McMahon, discusses his personal work in elite sports, Canadian intelligence, and how the Olympics is more than just a sporting event, but a complex game of tradecraft.  You can find Dave here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyberspacestrategist/ Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the practitioners and investigators who work in those trenches. Every two weeks, join host and journalist MJ Banias as he explores the stories that shape the worlds of intelligence, security, and technology. For more content regarding OSINT, cybersecurity, and intelligence, visit our blog at www.cloakanddagger.blog  Cloak & Dagger is powered by Sapper Labs Group. For more information, visit www.sapperlabs.com Music featured in this episode can be found here: https://www.cloakanddagger.blog/music-attribution