Nickolas Sharp worked for Ubiquiti, a company that makes networking equipment. He noticed that there were some security problems at work. He tried to point them out, but didn’t feel like he was being listened to enough. What do you do when the company you work for isn’t securing their software up to your standards? Well, he thought he needed to teach them a lesson, but in the end, he learned an even bigger lesson.
Sponsors
This show is brought to you by Drata. Drata is the trust management platform that uses AI-driven automation to modernize governance, risk, and compliance, helping thousands of businesses stay audit-ready and scale securely. Learn more at drata.com/darknetdiaries.
This show is brought to you by Material Security. Your cloud office (think Google Workspace or Microsoft 365) is the core of your business, but it’s often protected by scattered tools and manual fixes. Material is a purpose-built detection and response platform that closes the gaps those point solutions leave behind. From email threats to misconfigurations and account takeovers, Material monitors everything and steps in with real-time fixes to keep your data flowing where it should. Learn more at https://material.security.
Support for this show comes from ThreatLocker. ThreatLocker is a Zero Trust Platform that gives organizations control over what can run and what users and devices can access. It combines prevention with real time detection and automated response, helping security teams stop unauthorized activity and quickly contain compromised machines. Learn how ThreatLocker can strengthen your defenses at threatlocker.com/Darknet.
Sources
- https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/01/ubiquiti-change-your-password-enable-2fa/
- https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/31/22360409/ubiquiti-networking-data-breach-response-whistleblower-cybersecurity-incident
- https://x.com/briankrebs/status/1377394042342756355?mx=2
- https://www.lastweekinaws.com/blog/ubiquiti-teaches-aws-security-and-crisis-comms-via-counterexample/
- https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/ubiquiti-insider-hacker-sentenced-to-6-years-in-prison-a-22043
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/05/ex-ubiquiti-engineer-behind-breathtaking-data-theft-gets-6-year-prison-term/
- https://www.csoonline.com/article/571717/ubiquiti-breach-an-inside-job-says-fbi-and-doj.html
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/05/ex-ubiquiti-engineer-behind-breathtaking-data-theft-gets-6-year-prison-term/
- https://www.terranovasecurity.com/blog/garmin-security-breach
- https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/US-v-Sharp-Sentencing-5-11-2023.pdf https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29412262
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-employee-technology-company-sentenced-six-years-prison-stealing-confidential
Attribution
Darknet Diaries is created by Jack Rhysider.
Researched and Written by Laura Woods.
Assembled by Tristan Ledger.
Sound Design by Andrew Meriwether.
Episode artwork by odibagas.
Mixing by Proximity Sound.
Theme song created by Breakmaster Cylinder. Theme song available for listen and download at bandcamp. Or listen to it on Spotify.
Transcript
JACK: I’m just gonna get right into it. Yeah, I don’t even want to ask your name ‘cause I don’t even want to know who’s doing this, but tell me the first time you did this.
SPEAKER: I started a new job a couple of months back, and it’s entirely remote work from home except for the occasional trip to the office.