![Spying on the Scammers [Part 1/5]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/le71yVPh4uk/hq2.jpg)
13 videos · 10 hr 42 minSecurity war stories
These are stories, not tutorials: people who broke into wallets, buildings and elevators, investigators who took apart Stuxnet and Mt. Gox, and the opsec mistakes that got hackers arrested. It opens with a single tense break-in, moves through cons and physical intrusion, then malware and crime, and ends with the near-miss supply chain attack of 2024. Most are conference talks that HN keeps linking because they are a pleasure to watch.
Play all on YouTube- 132:18
How I hacked a hardware crypto wallet and recovered $2 million
Joe Grand · Picked by 2 · 2022–2023A gripping opener: Joe Grand spends three months glitching a Trezor wallet, knowing he gets only one real chance to recover the $2 million inside.
- 256:58
The KGB, the Computer, and Me.
DragonFartOutLoud · Picked by 3 · 2021–2024The original hacker detective story: Cliff Stoll follows a 75-cent accounting error at Berkeley Lab all the way to a KGB-linked intruder, re-enacted by the people involved.
- 31:03:20
Frank Abagnale | Catch Me If You Can | Talks at Google
Talks at Google · Picked by 8 · 2018–2023The real man behind Catch Me If You Can shows that social engineering predates computers, and HN still repeats his advice on credit cards and fraud.
- 416:18
Spying on the Scammers [Part 1/5]
Jim Browning · Picked by 2 · 2020–2023Jim Browning turns a tech support scammer's connection back on them and ends up watching the call centre through its own CCTV.
- 5
19:55Nina Kollars - Confessions of an Nespresso Money Mule - DEF CON 27 Conference
DEFCONConference · Picked by 4 · 2020–2025A short, funny DEF CON talk in which a cheap eBay coffee order pulls a researcher into the world of stolen cards and reshipping fraud.
- 6
44:56I'll Let Myself In: Tactics of Physical Pen Testers
Wild West Hackin' Fest · Picked by 5 · 2018–2021Deviant Ollam shows how professional break-in teams get through doors with a bit of wire and some confidence, and why physical security is so often the weak link.
- 7
1:55:54Elevator Hacking: From the Pit to the Penthouse
DeviantOllam · Picked by 9 · 2014–2026HN's go-to link whenever elevators come up: two hours on how they work and how to get one to take you where you are not allowed, which commenters say they watched in one sitting.
- 8
10:41Ralph Langner: Cracking Stuxnet, a 21st-century cyber weapon
TED · Picked by 2 · 2011–2021An 11-minute account of how Langner's team worked out that Stuxnet was a state-built weapon aimed at industrial controllers, and a good primer for the next talk.
- 9
1:14:5627C3: Adventures in analyzing Stuxnet (Bruce Dang from Microsoft)
basti0007 · Picked by 8 · 2011–2024The first-hand version from Microsoft's analyst, which HN calls the definitive walk through each of Stuxnet's zero-days.
- 10
38:22Kim Nilsson - Cracking MtGox
TheBitcoinArmy · Picked by 5 · 2017–2021The investigator who traced Mt. Gox's missing bitcoins explains what actually happened, in what HN calls the clearest and most even-handed account of the collapse.
- 11
1:04:25#HITB2012KUL D1T3 - The Grugq - OPSEC: Because Jail is for wuftpd
Hack In The Box Security Conference · Picked by 9 · 2013–2024The Grugq goes through hacker indictments to show how people who thought they were careful got caught, and HN treats it as the essential opsec talk.
- 12
50:59DEF CON 22 - Adrian Crenshaw- Dropping Docs on Darknets: How People Got Caught
DEFCONConference · Picked by 3 · 2015–2024Silk Road and other darknet busts, case by case, showing that the operators' own mistakes mattered far more than any flaw in Tor.
- 13
53:00The Internet Was Weeks Away From Disaster And No One Knew
Veritasium · Picked by 1 · 2026To close, Veritasium's documentary on the xz backdoor: an attacker who spent years earning a maintainer's trust and very nearly compromised SSH across Linux.