The Cyberattack We’re Not Ready For
AI is giving cybercriminals capabilities once reserved for elite hackers and powerful nation-states. Cybersecurity expert Nicole Perlroth joins Kara to explain why she fears we’re inching closer to an “everything, everywhere, all at once” wave of cyberattacks.
Perlroth reveals what she learned in reporting the latest season of her podcast, "To Catch a Thief: North Korea on Our Payroll," a deep dive into North Korean operatives who use stolen identities and American “laptop farms” to land remote jobs at major U.S. companies and funnel money back to the regime and its nuclear weapons program.
She also examines China’s growing cyber capabilities, threats to critical infrastructure and what Anthropic’s Mythos model means for cybersecurity. Plus: how the Trump administration’s dismantling of cybersecurity and election-security programs could leave the U.S. vulnerable ahead of the midterms.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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Is America Ready for a Full-Blown Cyberwar? with Nicole Perlroth, Michael Schmidt & Lt. Col. Vindman
Everything, everywhere, all at once — but not the movie. This is how cybersecurity experts describe a scenario where a foreign adversary shuts off critical infrastructure, like oil pipelines, water networks, ports, and electric grids, all over the country. The terrifying truth is that China has already hacked into our critical infrastructure. They’re “living off the land” and could conceivably attack whenever is most convenient. What’s worse? Our political leaders are defunding America’s cybersecurity efforts. In order to dig in deeper, Kara talks to Nicole Perlroth, Michael Schmidt, and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, (Ret.)
Nicole Perlroth spent a decade as the lead cybersecurity reporter at The New York Times, before going inside the tent and joining the advisory board of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Council on Foreign Relations’ Cyber Task Force. She is a founding partner at Silverbuckshot Ventures and the host and producer of To Catch a Thief, a new podcast on China’s rise to cyber dominance.
Michael Schmidt is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for The New York Times and the author of the best-selling book Donald Trump v. The United States. He’s also the executive producer and co-creator of the Netflix series Zero Day, a political thriller about a devastating cyberattack on the U.S.
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman is the former director of European Affairs for the National Security Council. Vindman was a key witness during President Trump’s first impeachment and testified about Trump’s infamous phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine. He is a senior fellow at the Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute and the author of The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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Pivot Q1 Quarterly Review
Kara and Scott are back with Pivot’s Quarterly Review series. They take a look at Scott’s past predictions on Alibaba, Meme Stocks, and record entrepreneurship to see how they’ve held up. Then, they get some predictions from Friends of Pivot, including Ina Fried of Axios, journalist Nicole Perlroth, Rani Molla of Recode, and Matt Belloni of Puck.
You can find Ina on Twitter at @inafried, Nicole at @nicoleperlroth, Rani at @ranimolla, and Matt at @MattBelloni.
Send us your Listener Mail questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or via Yappa, at nymag.com/pivot.
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How Big Tech is Responding to Russia, with guest Nicole Perlroth
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine causes trouble for Big Tech players. Kara and Scott discuss its effects on moderation, monetization, and cybersecurity with journalist Nicole Perlroth. Plus, the CDC says most of the country can go maskless, and Elon Musk has more trouble with the SEC.
And big news for Pivot fans: You can WATCH video clips from Pivot on Salesforce+.
Find Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleperlroth.
Send us your Listener Mail questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or via Yappa, at nymag.com/pivot.
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#266 – Nicole Perlroth: Cybersecurity and the Weapons of Cyberwar
Nicole Perlroth is a cybersecurity journalist and author. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Nicole’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicoleperlroth
Nicole’s Website: https://nytimes.com/by/nicole-perlroth
Nicole’s Book: https://amzn.to/3sOQjrs
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(06:54) – Zero-day vulnerability
(12:55) – History of hackers
(27:47) – Interviewing hackers
(31:49) – Ransomware attack
(44:33) – Cyberwar
(57:41) – Cybersecurity
(1:06:48) – Social engineering
(1:23:41) – Snowden and whistleblowers
(1:33:11) – NSA
(1:42:58) – Fear for cyberattacks
(1:50:29) – Self-censorship
(1:54:50) – Advice for young people
(2:00:07) – Hope for the future
98: Zero Day Brokers
Zero day brokers are people who make or sell malware that’s sold to people who will use that malware to exploit people. It’s a strange and mysterious world that not many people know a lot about. Nicole Perlroth, who is a cybersecurity reporter for the NY Times, dove in head first which resulted in her writing a whole book on it.
Affiliate link for book: This is How They Tell Me The World Ends (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1635576059/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1635576059&linkCode=as2&tag=tunn01-20&linkId=0aa8c966d98b49a7927bfc29aac76bbe)
Audiobook deal: Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks (https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Free-Trial-Digital-Membership/dp/B00NB86OYE/?ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1485906643682&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&tag=tunn01-20&linkId=31042b955d5e6d639488dc084711d033)
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Sources
Nicole’s Book: This is How They Tell Me the World Ends
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/technology/chinese-hackers-infiltrate-new-york-times-computers.html
U.K. says Uber drivers are employees, and the future of cyber attacks
Kara and Scott talk about a U.K. Supreme Court ruling that says Uber drivers must be treated as employees and what that means for the future of the company. Then Kara and Scott are joined by New York Times reporter and bestselling author of “This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends", Nicole Perlroth about the danger of cyber attacks in the United States.
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