{"podcast":{"title":"Hacker Valley Studio","slug":"hacker-valley-studio-344898","podcast_index_feed_id":344898,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/HackerValleyStudio/feed.xml","website_url":"https://hackervalley.com","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/5354112/HVS-2024-AlbumCover.png","author":"Hacker Valley Media","episode_count":433,"summary":"Welcome back… to the show! Hacker Valley Studio podcast features Host Ron Eddings, as he explores the world of cybersecurity through the eyes of professionals in the industry. We cover everything from inspirational real-life stories in tech, to highlighting influential cybersecurity companies, and we do so in a fun and enthusiastic way. We’re making cybersecurity accessible, creating a whole new form of entertainment: cybertainment.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-29T02:18:14.934816+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hacker-valley-studio-344898"},"episode":{"title":"Inside Conti: The Ransomware Gang That Ran Like a Company with Geoff White","slug":"inside-conti-the-ransomware-gang-that-ran-like-a-company-with-geoff-white","published_at":"2026-07-28T13:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hacker-valley-studio-344898/inside-conti-the-ransomware-gang-that-ran-like-a-company-with-geoff-white","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hacker-valley-studio-344898","url":"https://HackerValleyStudio.podbean.com/e/inside-conti-the-ransomware-gang-that-ran-like-a-company-with-geoff-white/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/4wniuvy3u37wbfnp/HVS26_EP435_Geoff_Whiteaet68.mp3","summary":"What does the world's most prolific cybercrime operation look like from the inside? And why does it operate suspiciously like a mid-sized tech company, complete with HR headaches, salary negotiations, and a distracted boss nobody respects? Ron Eddings sits down with investigative journalist and author, Geoff White, who has spent over 20 years covering cybercrime for the BBC, Channel 4 News, and Sky News. Geoff has read 47,000 of Conti’s 300,000 leaked internal chats, the gang that dominated the ransomware world in 2021 and 2022, pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransoms. From the Moscow movie studio the gang's leader used to launder money years previously, to the Ukraine war leak that brought the whole Conti empire down, this one plays like true crime… because it is. Geoff makes the case that defenders should think the same way: you're not buying security tools to fend off a hoodie in a basement, you're investing to outcompete a rival business. For anyone trying to integrate a better incident response plan, this episode reframes the whole conversation. Impactful Moments00:00 - Introduction01:45 - The Rewind: Colonial Pipeline and the week the East Coast ran dry03:50 - How Geoff went from tech news to cybercrime reporting05:10 - The difference between threat groups, APTs, and crime gangs07:25 - Inside the Conti leaks: 300,000 messages08:55 - Meet the gang: Stern, Mango, and Target13:20 - Stern's origin story: Zeus malware, money mules, and the 25th Floor front company16:50 - Ransomware gangs vs. the mafia: where's the protection?18:10 - The money: $2.5M single payouts and 400 years of wages19:30 - The Conti member arrested on a layover in Miami20:35 - The downfall: the Ukraine war and the leak that ended it all23:05 - What businesses can learn from Conti: re…","meta_description":"What does the world's most prolific cybercrime operation look like from the inside? And why does it operate suspiciously like a mid-sized tech company, co…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2081,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/hacker-valley-studio-344898/episodes/inside-conti-the-ransomware-gang-that-ran-like-a-company-with-geoff-white/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/hacker-valley-studio-344898/inside-conti-the-ransomware-gang-that-ran-like-a-company-with-geoff-white.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}