The Cyber Front in the War on Ukraine

<p>There are a lot of companies out there willing to sell shady customers the tools they need to spy on just about anyone. All over the world software vendors like Hacking Team and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vp93/nso-group-pegasus-demo-nypd" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NSO Group</a> will help you break into a cellphone or read an email you’re not supposed to. But that might soon be changing.</p><br><p>On this episode of Cyber, Motherboard senior staff writer Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai joins host Matthew Gault to talk about spyware vendors. It’s the subject of Lorenzo’s <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgmbag/the-us-crackdown-on-spyware-vendors-is-only-beginning" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">new piece</a>, “The US Crackdown on Spyware Vendors Is Only Beginning.”</p><br><p><br></p><p>After a brief break, Gault and Franceschi-Bicchierai discuss the war in Ukraine. It’s a wide ranging conversation about the digital battleground. As of this recording, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvnpnv/russian-government-websites-are-currently-down" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Russian Government Websites are Down</a> and the world is discussing whether it's feasible and effective to prevent Russia from <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/akvyvb/would-banning-russia-from-getting-software-updates-make-it-easier-to-hack" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">updating its software</a>. Gault also talks about how a college professor used Google Maps <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgd7dd/google-maps-live-traffic-showed-the-russian-invasion-of-ukraine" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">traffic data</a> to figure out the war had started before news had even broken.</p><br><p><strong>We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live on Wednesdays at 4pm EST.</strong><a href="https://www.twitch.tv/motherboardtv/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> Follow us</strong></a><strong> there to get alerts when we go live. We take q