FBI agent: We don't catch the smart criminals

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: • Chris Tarbell: FBI Age...
Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
- True Classic Tees: trueclassictees.com/lex and use code LEX to get 25% off
- InsideTracker: insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off
- ExpressVPN: expressvpn.com/lexpod to get 3 months free
- BetterHelp: betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off
- Blinkist: blinkist.com/lex to get 25% off premium
GUEST BIO:
Chris Tarbell is a former FBI special agent and cybercrime investigation specialist who brought down Ross Ulbricht and Silk Road, and Hector Monsegur (aka Sabu) of LulzSec and Anonymous.
PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
Full episodes playlist: • Lex Fridman Podcast
Clips playlist: • Lex Fridman Podcast Clips
SOCIAL:
- Twitter: / lexfridman
- LinkedIn: / lexfridman
- Facebook: / lexfridman
- Instagram: / lexfridman
- Medium: / lexfridman
- Reddit: / lexfridman
- Support on Patreon: / lexfridman

[@LexClips]

Full podcast episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/anzMgGt9h8yqes0 Lex Fridman podcast channel: kzbin.info Guest bio: Chris Tarbell is a former FBI special agent and cybercrime investigation specialist who brought down Ross Ulbricht and Silk Road, and Hector Monsegur (aka Sabu) of LulzSec and Anonymous.

[@jonathonisherwood5531]

I was a wannabe hacker when I was younger and I remember being on an IRC with loads of legit full time hackers who would offer services like using botnets to bring down any website you want. Some of them were in that Lulsec thing which went on a hacking rampage. I remember 1 guy who offered a lesson on how to build a personalized Ubuntu operating system for personal hacking laptops that was totally minimal and secure and he lived on the move using McDonalds wifi with Tor etc to hack places, he basically completely untraceable. I sometimes think about how rich they must be now because they used to sell lessons for 2 bitcoins and did all their transactions in bitcoins.

[@kawhi-theking_of_the_north3536]

I know its illegal but that hacker using mcdo's wifi sounds really cool 🤣

[@Rafiki9112]

@@kawhi-theking_of_the_north3536 Don't you worry, we're not holding you, or your hearing *account-able* for anything...🤭🐒🌴

[@johnsonandyjohnson]

They’re all very rich, I’m sure.

[@saliv8154]

@Delete reddit not that hard either, i mean it used to be much more easy but yeah...

[@austinl5158]

@Delete reddit haven't been on the dark web since Agora, but weren't coin tumblers common? I remember one service being accused of scamming but I never knew what to believe on there.

[@yugenheorte6828]

"A criminal has to be lucky everyday, the law only has to get lucky once"

[@amg863]

Who said that. Sounds familiar

[@steveberman2619]

@@amg863 your mum

[@jessem8281]

⏫️ this!!!

[@mikeoverlin3573]

Seems untrue. Look at the streets of Seattle

[@yugenheorte6828]

@@amg863 can't remember I heard it when I was in highschool, I think I heard it from guest speaker who visited my high school to persuade us away from crime. I can't fault the validity of the statement though

[@stevenlarrabee3438]

The FBI gave themselves a lot of credit for catching the Unabomber. Except they didn’t catch him. His brother turned him in. If it wasn’t for that they would have never figured it out.

[@AdamBechtol]

Mmmm

[@Matthew-qq9nx]

Imagine reading that manifesto and going "fuck thisis definitely my brother"

[@stevenlarrabee3438]

@@Matthew-qq9nx Talk about awkward conversation at the family reunion.

[@leemagaming696]

Can imagine the first face to face behind the glass screen picks up the phone n goes my bad bro

[@everlastbella8229]

True

[@sirhenrystalwart8303]

“You wouldn’t believe how much time is spent naming cases” Naming things is evidently one of the two hardest problems in law enforcement and computer science.

[@ArchieBl3h]

And beer brewing

[@auralfanart]

They desperately need a copywriter

[@AndSaveAsManyAsYouCan]

Put it to vote on the internet. Anyone else ever hear of Boaty McBoat Face?

[@xlgapelsin6173]

Considering how good the names are i am not surprised

[@allanshpeley4284]

Considering they're a branch of the government I'm not surprised. I love how they openly admit to wasting taxpayer money like that too.

[@IAMTHEJUGGERNATE]

If the last few years taught me anything, it's that the FBI doesn't arrest the most influential criminals not because they're too smart to be caught, but because they're all FBI informants...

[@dannylo5875]

FBI is corrupt. I dealt with the head of the FBI. They are legitimately worse then cyber thieves

[@cashisking7172]

Ofcourse

[@ricardoignacio916]

There ya go

[@Dibbz_TV]

Yup

[@hunterkluser5188]

Amen

[@abcdeeer]

silkroad was like being a kid in the candy store except i was too scared to buy any candy lol

[@trentbateman]

Candy gives you diabeetus. You’re better off without it

[@PenguTT44-sh2oe]

I have this strong feeling unless you were in the know and proved a basic level of trust you were just asking to get scammed, or worse.

[@stevegoldstein3402]

The way they caught Ross was because they filter google searched silkroad website to see when it was first mentioned. Turned out, before it got big, Ross had advertised his own website on a random forums using his personal email that included his real name. If he hadn’t have done that he’d probably never have gotten arrested.

[@rustyrocks69]

Wrong, he publicly posted on a help forum. on a line of code, and the only place that line of code existed was silk road. They found the email adress linked to the forum with Ross in the name. It was d day the moment they found that email adress

[@ascensionunlimited4182]

Ls for the chat

[@rawmen3657]

I’m glad you guys can watch KZbin and type out what they said thanks idiots

[@zKsery]

@A he didn’t “leave it open”. They were following him in real life, he used a public library and they got two of the agents to pretend to be normal people making a scene. As soon as he turned around to look at what the noise was they grabbed the laptop (while it was logged into the Silk Road admin panel). They also were using one of his trusted lieutenants as an informant. They made her (the informant) message him about something he could only resolve using his admin account and admin powers, so they knew he would be logged into the admin control panel. This guy was clearly out of his depth.

[@bertuj]

you all seem to know better then the previous so tell me whats a good video on this

[@longslongprong]

"We don't catch the smart criminals" Yeh, they're called politicians

[@unknown-mw4gm]

And himself

[@alohatigers1199]

You are the ones that voted for them. Capitalism is the root of corruption

[@blacksheep9278]

This sound like sum shit Brian Griffin would say

[@fazehank5311]

I wouldnt call them smart

[@ILLUMINATED-1]

They dont want to catch them lol

[@Chuck_N0rris]

Laziness is their downfall. Hackers know all the methods to stay safe but when they let down their guard, forget or skip some of the safety measures, that is when they go down. Sometimes it is just best to burn your pc and start over because it is likely compromized if you skip steps often.

[@woolfel]

I saw the hacker community growing up. Criminals that get sloppy are the ones that get caught. Plenty of hackers are never caught and don't let their ego make them sloppy. Then same thing is true in general. When some one thinks they're gods gift to earth or some other non-sense they become their own worst enemy. Lots people with bloated Ego in the USA and around the world.

[@michellelanden3017]

Egos ☝️

[@Nathan-jt8zt]

@@michellelanden3017well done Michelle, kudos for pointing that out. Everyone is proud of you

[@actionjksn]

It's also a lot more inconvenient to do things right. The ones who get lazy and fail to follow every single protocol are the ones they can catch.

[@actionjksn]

@@Nathan-jt8zt Everyone is very impressed with your comment, very snarky and edgy. You really taught her a lesson didn't you?

[@sciencecompliance235]

@@actionjksn I found Nathan's comment funny.

[@PrhymeScheme]

FBI Agent: "They make mistakes" Edmund Kemper: "Seems To Me Everything You Know About Serial Killers Has Been Gleaned From The Ones Who've Been Caught." From the series called : Mindhunter

[@Guizambaldi]

So Ed Kemper knew about selection bias, but the FBI didn't.

[@VladosBb]

Watched the series, it’s pretty cool

[@benbowland]

Why Did You Capitalize Every Word

[@WrightBrother83]

Was pissed they canceled it

[@Udontlikeice]

@@WrightBrother83 don’t mention that bc I’m pissed too fvck Netflix for that

[@austingriff5905]

Chris Tarbell’s explanation of how they “found” the Silk Road servers has been torn to shreds by actual cyber security experts. And the trial is one of the shadiest miscarriages of justice in the modern era.

[@keithmichael112]

@Fearless Joy i think he's saying that they used stuff that's outside the law to catch him, then made up a story on how they tracked him down

[@garbour456]

Source please

[@SHITSTAINDA5TH]

They basically used entrapment

[@snipinmonsta]

@Fearless Joy probably used the fact that the NSA literally taps all our phones ….

[@RegimeTwenty4seven]

@@garbour456 I'd like the source too lol

[@Mister_Durden]

YOU ARE NOT ANONYMOUS ON THE TOR NETWORK ANYMORE.

[@obiwayne2247]

how so?

[@maartent9697]

@@obiwayne2247 CIA/NSA and other Western intelligence took over a lot of endpoints so they can decrypt the messages

[@digitalzomb]

The FBI gave an illusion it's secure in this interview and right after admitted they work their way up to being administrators to systems

[@GeneralZhang]

US authorities now control the majority of nodes. Be careful.

[@sciencecompliance235]

@@digitalzomb I think he was talking about the guy being administrator of Silk Road, but they run TOR nodes, too, so you're both wrong and right.

[@rashedusman9717]

There is a saying : Don't do crimes youre not willing to pay for. I think the people that are not caught have the most realistic view of the riscs they take and the fact that law enforcement agencies have competent and dedicated members working on their cases.

[@jccusell]

That explains honors killings then. I have saying. It says "Dont Do crime"

[@rashedusman9717]

@@jccusell I don't think that a dogmatic aproach to such problems is the solution. In real life things are not always right or wrong and in order to survive rules must be bent, and sometimes broken.

[@antoniopope4398]

That was my motto when I was in the streets. Also don't get involved with people who always get caught. And know the laws, at least the ones you a to break.

[@revoltncock]

Did you really spell risks with a “c”??

[@rashedusman9717]

@@revoltncock Yes, it seems I did. Well, English isn't my first language but I try my best.

[@_JM-]

use to be a cop and i vividly remember that exact quote being said to me and it always stuck. “we don’t catch the smart criminals.” the more i was on the job the more i realized it was true

[@THEVACUUMEDMIND]

yo man. can you elaborate on that for me?

[@_JM-]

@@THEVACUUMEDMIND The smart criminals are smart enough to not put themselves out there and avoid any police contact whatsoever. If they do come in contact, unless we know beforehand we wouldn’t even assume they were criminals. The smart ones stay lowkey and out the way while the dumb ones are loud and all over the place. Not to say we NEVER caught the smart ones but most of who we got were pretty dumb.

[@thejourney9415]

@@THEVACUUMEDMIND It's pretty straight forward, no?

[@pab1381]

That’s why most criminals get caught bc most of them aren’t smart. That’s in all fields. Whether it’s cyber, narcotics, weapons, or finance most of them aren’t smart and if they are they become too comfortable and that’s why they get caught. I was always taught that if I am going to commit a crime regardless of what it is, do it by yourself. Only one who can rat on you is you. You don’t have to worry about anybody else while doing it and nobody will know about it beforehand as well.

[@micfail2]

Two people can only keep a secret if one of them is dead. Even then, dead men do sometimes tell tales.

[@ernesth.gilliamiii473]

U were always taught . . . By whom??

[@pab1381]

@@ernesth.gilliamiii473 my grandfather. Old school Italian from the south side of Chicago. You can do the math.

[@Pepe_Von_Wojak]

Fun fact: the Tor network was developed by the United States Navy who also happen to own all of the exit nodes.

[@sdmcelroy]

this is false. they released it to the public because if they owned all the exit nodes it would be immediately apparently who was using it. it only works if it's democratized

[@outisnemo8443]

Not even remotely true. Why make up bullshit?

[@ctaaaaaaa]

“You would not believe how much time is spent coming up with the name” In other words = “We cost tax payers $20k for us to come up with the case name “onion peeler”” 💀💀

[@VeloVios]

Imagine how your life would be if you didn't pay tax. You would have homeless people everywhere, people getting robbed for $5 and damn you might even have people selling their bodies on the streets just to feed their starving children. Oh wait, wtf is tax for again? Ahh it's to pay government employees, nothing more or less then paying people who don't deserve it

[@delocon]

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that complete waste of money.

[@Rambleon444]

Actually quite a deal, the FBI spent $35 million and 3 years trying to prove Trump colluded with Russia using Hillary Clinton's made-up dossier.

[@bowmanencore]

For $20k, I'm gonna need a more tryhard name - Onion Vortex, PhantasmaTORia, etc.

[@TheIronpusher]

You do realize most if not all federal employees are salaried employees? You do understand we are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a day for all those people to sit down and take a shit. They don't clock out to go drop a deuce

[@XxtuckerdxX]

Staying anonymous is harder than staying out of jail

[@landsystems5807]

But not impossible ;)

[@bobhope4949]

Yeah cuz that’s like two different things, like the complete opposite of each there…… lol you could have way with words…… or not much way

[@tehf00n]

I was a network engineer that used black hat sources to gather information for my white hat job. There was a point where hacking required botnets to decrypt and it was super slow on data collation that you had no real chance of any immediacy on action in a real-time hacking situation. But bandwidth and computing power changes over the years has brought a true battle to intrusion detection and data safety that has given criminal elements the edge they lost for a few years. I've often imagined the use of quantum computing combined with instantaneous bandwidth and machine learning will change everything in the world of encryption to the point where whoever gets the tech first, wins everything.

[@goofballbiscuits3647]

As computational power increases, so will the bit depth of encryption.

[@tehf00n]

@@goofballbiscuits3647 There will definitely have to be changes to encryption as we see it now. One Time Pad may be revised in a quantum encryption state and be functionally uncrackable, but who knows what instant bandwidth and quantum power will bring us? We can guess at a few things that require computational power, but the whole paradigm will change and so will the format of data, protocols and so on.

[@Android6Thousand]

Bandwidth will always be limited by the amount of information you're trying to capture/access. As long as you can manipulate the data you can always make it relatively time consuming to Crack no matter how much bandwidth you're working with. Machines will be learning to defend attacks at the same rate they’re learning new attacks. There will never be an end game moment just constant one upping. Ultimately it will come down to timing, who’s actively protecting/attacking better than their opponent. Depending on how you look at it, the argument can be made we’re already at that point.

[@goofballbiscuits3647]

@@Android6Thousand You said whoever gets it first wins. Then, you said there will be no end game. What...? As innovation is revealed, it's weaknesses are not far behind. Conversely, as vulnerabilities are exposed, solutions will follow. Nobody ultimately wins the war; it's a constant, neverending battle. I think Dr. Seuss wrote a book about this called "Red Team, Blue Team, 1 sec, 2 EZ"

[@Android6Thousand]

@@goofballbiscuits3647 nowhere in my paragraph does it say “whoever gets it first wins” your reading is impeccable. You’ve just reiterated what I’ve said “there will never be an end game moment, just constant one upping” again I’m not sure wth you thought you read smh.

[@YehoshuaD]

The "social engineering" method is big business...I used to work for a company that developed those tools...

[@XanderFenikkusu]

Glowies be glowing

[@jmf5246]

Great episode. Went on a long run and this made the miles click by

[@nolan8859]

You can’t run very far in 5 minutes bro

[@voltic7133]

@@nolan8859 My mans gotta be a superhuman saying he runs "miles" in 5 minutes

[@itsjcob4570]

@@voltic7133 probably watched the whole pod

[@rickypaynetube]

Lex is zero personality but with perfectly timed, worded and appropriate questions

[@MrOndra15]

Just because he’s different doesnt mean he has zero personality.

[@rickypaynetube]

@@MrOndra15 Maybe zero was a bit harsh. Hey and I'm speaking as someone who is a renowned robot around my parts.

[@ascensionunlimited4182]

The hidden conversation here with the 4th wall is insane

[@JoyfulUniter]

What, the onion/relay thing?

[@ravecrab]

@@JoyfulUniter I think he means with criminals listening in. I could tell the FBI guy didn't want to go into any detail and give his methodologies away.

[@MrGreen-dp4oz]

They don't catch the smart criminals, they hire them

[@trollwayy5981]

You have to catch a smart criminal to hire them..

[@PepsiFuture]

@@trollwayy5981 Pedantic. The point is they hire rather than press charges for the skilled cybercriminals they find.

[@TheIronpusher]

It depends. Early late 80s, 90s, 00s, and a little in the early 10s that would have stood as a fact. But, the world has evolved. There are MANY more hackers and prospective hackers. Why would a 3 letter agency risk a damning breach by bringing in a criminal when they can just get an equally skilled individual sign up in their "Careers" page. I would say in todays climate you would have to be really something special, a savant, for the NSA/CIA to bring you in from the criminal side.

[@borismiller2046]

@Big Daddy Rikka 90+% of hackers want to work for the FBI. In fact, many do it just to get noticed. Haven't worked for anyone in the past 5 years afaik, there's no point hiring criminals anymore just slap 10 years on a guy and they will effectively work for you while imprisoned desperate for better conditions and early release

[@templarjustice7137]

They don’t catch criminals period. They have to go around stinging people with entrapment just to get a case. The FBI is totally incompetent

[@chrisriehl1696]

This was a great podcast. I highly recommend watching/listening to the whole thing. Maybe do a little crime while you listen 😉

[@vedicapproach8105]

😅😅

[@ascensionunlimited4182]

Just a lil bit of crime

[@seniorarubia]

🤣

[@mr.ricochet8603]

that's exactly what I did recently, I was a straigth arrow my whole life, I felt I needed to put some little crime on the bucket list, and so I did.

[@scottcannon1383]

@@mr.ricochet8603 mr rapeochet

[@Trabsol]

Imagine how many criminal hackers there are out there that haven’t been caught. Probably a lot more than we can imagine

[@hadoken95]

It's kind of just idle speculation without evidence of actual crimes being committed though right? You might be right, but what are you basing it on? Other than a fantasy that there's a lot of "sexy bad guys" out there dunking on the cops, of course :P

[@giftapfel]

@@hadoken95 Considering over half of murders in the USA go unsolved I don't think its hard to believe that there are plenty of cyber criminals especially in other countries that have never been caught. Not to mention cyber criminals who wont be caught because nobody cares that someone is hacking an enemy countries computers.

[@ScuffedLife]

Probably around tree fiddy

[@Brondon96]

What if I can imagine that there are Global Pop minus 1 hackers out there?

[@Lvl.9Turtle]

@@Brondon96 you don’t even realize you’re a hacker..

[@dmsalomon]

The corollary is that very few people are actually smart enough to not get caught

[@sage3236]

lex is trying to ease the strategy out of this guy, for research purposes.

[@IndianKGB]

😂

[@blanarazvan5941]

How’s the host looking like the real FBI agent and the FBI agent looking like the host of the interview?

[@Danny201PS3]

Lol yea

[@tribecalledshabbazz8758]

It doesn't have a look fool

[@kenuffff]

there are ways to track even on TOR.. but I think most people know how to get around that now

[@TheDevil939]

like which one

[@blasphemite]

Lex looks like the FBI agent.

[@AGfrom83]

Does this guy mention Carl Force and Shaun Bridges at all in the full ep?

[@sancho7863]

That reminds me, we gotta disband the FBI

[@Red_AIert]

I would love to be smart enough to have a job like his.

[@TheIronpusher]

John, I can tell you from experience that it's not solely a "smart" people thing, it's an "obsessive" people thing. If you got the drive, with proper learning material, you too can do it.

[@johnconor5485]

@@TheIronpusher well said this is so true

[@dialecticalmonist3405]

They don't want them to be smart. They want them to be dumb. The smart ones are paid to work under-the-table on real jobs. These clowns exist for the public consumption of common morons to feel they are nestled within a government "safe space".

[@southernguru1455]

Anything is possible of you put your heart into it

[@victoralley708]

If you were capable of doing his job there would be so many other jobs that would be much more rewarding, and you wouldn't have to set people up to ruin their lives over some arbitrary bullshit. LEO's have the most twisted perception of reality and do more harm to society than good.

[@austiniscoolduh]

I tell people this All the time and people think im stupid for it.... And it's especially easy to get away with crimes if you're an Elite with A LOT of connections...

[@user-wv9ni7bz3e]

That guy really named himself after a princess bride character 💀

[@dreddiemurphy6990]

I'm waiting for the clip where Lex admits to being The Lizard King.

[@Ultrajamz]

Prob disinfo - they can catch who they’re motivated to catch

[@DJKrol-pv8ft]

Also let's not forget they are incentivized to create crime for a host of reasons and certainly have the means to do so.

[@uqs57bju]

@@DJKrol-pv8ft Not hacking though. These people can do immense damage with the clear advantage of not being at the site in person. They are way too high-risk. They are also hard to make. You can't just get a random person to do these things.

[@swivarithanlgooding-splatt3256]

@@DJKrol-pv8ft Tin foil hat

[@DJKrol-pv8ft]

@@swivarithanlgooding-splatt3256 read a book

[@swivarithanlgooding-splatt3256]

@@DJKrol-pv8ft pfff. You wouldn’t like the books on my shelves. None of them have pictures.

[@actionjksn]

When you read the do's and don'ts on using Tor successfully without getting caught, there is a process that must be followed. It adds inconvenience so the dumb lazy people will do things wrong. I haven't been on Tor in a few years So I don't remember the specifics, but I do remember there were protocols that you have to follow to keep from being detected. The ones they catch are the ones who probably don't follow everything down to the letter, due to both laziness and ignorance.

[@mattk8810]

Tor alone does not protect you PERIOD

[@los1wochos]

Tor alone does nothing if the FBI wants to get you. It might hide your IP from your preschool teacher or your gardener.

[@mistervanderveer]

Also, dont use a VPN thinking its safer. Tails, virtual machines, botnets and most importantly, dont use the common coins. Monero seems to be safe(r). Et cetera.

[@latenightcake1147]

You seriously think Tor is safe?

[@Dev1l19q]

@@mistervanderveer so don't use tails ?

[@andyreidsmustache9247]

You can see the FBI guy wince when Lex tries to oversimplify a concept.

[@giantgrowth4204]

Well in cod 4 we used to force ourselves as the host. And lag switch everyone hahahaha

[@AdamBechtol]

:p

[@Jesusholmes64]

This is s great ad for Tor

[@toshobg]

it's a trap

[@iv7796]

Tor is fed

[@lowridr2]

this was a good podcast interesting stuff

[@skeginaldp1533]

Gotta love a good hecking story

[@thr417]

Nice try FBI, you will never catch me.

[@shellderp]

Legalize drugs already

[@OfficialMarcusLy]

i drink coffee everyday bro. its already legal

[@ray_x6959]

cant make money like that. nvm you still can

[@AdamBechtol]

Amen

[@poolhalljunkie9]

They make money double dipping by keeping them illegal.

[@bobhope4949]

Welp, if ya keep it between people ya know, don’t take it everywhere with ya, and don’t be a complete dumb ass drugs were always legal

[@TheCrimsonOne508]

Nice try Fedboi

[@GeneralZhang]

Tor is no long anonymous. Administration of it has been infiltrated by authorities.

[@GeneralZhang]

I tried posting a similar comment that mentioned specific agencies, and it was instantly/automatically deleted. Be careful folks.

[@54nnu]

>Administration What type of nonsense are you spouting? There is no centralized administration which is "infiltrated by authorities". TOR relays are already hosted by public individuals, willingly, with their own spare devices. There is no some sort of "master password" or whatever the fuck you're thinking. You connect from one node to the other. Simple as.

[@lymphomasurvive]

@@GeneralZhangIf you’re doing something a 3 letter agency has interest in, you’re likely to get caught in the long run. But the tools can be used for general privacy if one wants it for other reasons.

[@copper178]

They might as well be talking Chinese to one another since all the hacking terminology is unknown to me.

[@rxpe]

bruh what hacking terminology>?

[@Quarkss]

When I was younger I came across people in mIRC that sold botnets & rats.. I still remember this guy named “Lil Ghost” that was able to hack live apps server side and give you or anyone whatever, as if he had access to an admin panel or something. At one point I had a Linux Botnet from one of these guys One of my buddies was one of the first people ever to make GTAIV script mods online, like way back when you’d use a keyboard an shit lmao. I’m a software engineer now, and still amazes me how these guy did what they did back then

[@sev7463]

"I knew a hacker" "I had a botnet" "one of my buddies was the first to make GTAIV mods" "I'm a software engineer" so cool!!!

[@brilliant_stories]

The most convoluted and overcomplicated explanation of how an onion browser works. Of course it’s from a fed 😂

[@dj6837]

So how do you peel the onion

[@lymphomasurvive]

Ogres have layers.

[@cheapscifi]

Lex really wants to talk to AVUnit

[@everettbound6502]

if i was av unit watching this i would be smiling mad hard

[@AnimalStomper]

Of course you don't bite the hand that feeds.

[@denisblack9897]

That’s what I always said: people in jail and in news reports aren’t criminals, they are amateurs.

[@GuardianShad]

Smart criminals get caught all the time. The law only has to be lucky once. Don't let this be an advertisement for crime

[@Aydn999]

We only hear about the criminals who get caught, the smart ones never do.

[@robertheadley3483]

Not even just the smart ones. Only about half of all murders get solved. Hell there are serial killers who had numerous dropped charges and were reported multiple times before being caught. I read about one the other day that had been charged with attempted kidnapping twice, murder on another occasion, lied to police every step of the way and never got convicted of anything until a woman he tried to kill got lucky and got away with a police officer coming right down the road. That guy slipped through the cracks of the legal system 5 or 6 times minimum.

[@nazmunnakib8644]

Mind blowing

[@DiegoGarcia-dr1vi]

Rocking sideways on the chair signals disinterest

[@mohamadsami7131]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@uberempty]

Before even watching this I just have to say. Because they’re smart. We all meet and talk to real criminals every single day and do not know it. Because they’re smart.

[@cat8088]

hi:)

[@evansoutdoors4022]

@@cat8088 “hi:)”🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓

[@president8102]

@@cat8088 bros bio is “i don’t like society”

[@cat8088]

@@president8102 why you care so much ab my bio? weirdo

[@cat8088]

@@evansoutdoors4022 made my day❤️

[@Michael-hw5wk]

Maybe because you HIRE them and ignore their criminality?

[@JarvisArson]

We need a movie on this

[@vladmkrtumyan1660]

Read the title and I’m thinking damn shame, Lex could have bodies in his closet and they’ll never know

[@turistsinucigas]

Like, beeing a russian spy, or something? Nah...

[@rickhall8119]

Unless he started voting Republican. Then they'd plant some in his closet.

[@michellelanden3017]

AVunit is someone like Tarbel is my guess..inside man

[@erichagan7153]

+ savant autism.

[@formeolosuslasvenators1777]

How do you get ahold of hackers safely? Asking for a friend.

[@chrisroman4639]

Anything about the fbl playing dirty ?

[@markadams8041]

I would like you to have the whistle blower on your show, last name Friend. He was recently featured on the Matt Taibbi substack.

[@token112]

Huh, Tony Soprano was a fed the whole time?

[@DestroyerOfLiberals]

"The successful criminal brain is always superior" - Dr. No

[@TheSkyline5467]

1:04 yeah I'd believe.

[@jojackjohnson4185]

This 100% makes me feel even more like fbi runs tor, y'all getting pimped then locked up instead of payed out 😂😂

[@justincbryant]

tor was created by the navy

[@MrJoosebawkz]

its tough to say _what_ 3 letter agency(s) run tor but you can bet your ass at least one of them has _all_ the traffic that goes through there. Thats why you always use pgp for _every_ single message u ever send on there.

[@momoyachou]

@@MrJoosebawkz now european police have cracked 2 of the biggest pgp companies, the police are really closing in on them, even though the pgp cracks were more drugrelated, it helps out against any criminal

[@MrJoosebawkz]

@@momoyachou thanks for letting me know. i haven’t been a part of that world for years now so if i ever dipped my toes in i wouldnt know that

[@IndianKGB]

😂👍

[@lostpianist]

Lexs face all through: this guy ruined my sophomore year

[@trippysponge]

you know what else has layers....

[@xenophon5159]

It should say, “ we don’t catch the connected criminals period”.

[@peterdachille5972]

“You wouldn’t believe how long we spent creating names” …. Hahahah that’s not a good flex man

[@DeePBurnouT]

Like journalists do with what constitutes as "news", federal law enforcement picks and chooses what "criminal" to arrest and prosecute, guilty or not...

[@zaco-km3su]

Not the case.

[@neileapenninan8706]

My guy that's not even the same realm

[@slomnim]

If you're saying there could be a bias, then yes. I'm sure all militaries and Intel agencies are doing "criminal" things all the time

[@alvareo92]

@@zaco-km3su I admire your faith in law enforcement's ethics and lack of bias

[@zaco-km3su]

@@alvareo92 No, law enforcement doesn't prosecute. Also, arrests without a pretty good reason can end up in a lawsuit which would mean there will be someone fired and the arresting policemen will be that guy. Sometimes they are also TOLD who to investigate. Basically they might focus more on drug dealers than gun runners for example.

[@thefloors2193]

Smart criminals after watching this: it’s free real estate

[@TinHatRanch]

What tools. He was in the pacific time zone. That narrows it down to a hundred million people. We got him now!

[@kylegood2622]

shout out to AVUnit the living legend

[@PlutoTheGod]

Silk Road was so weird. Ross was smart, but INCREDIBLY naive / stupid at the same time. He fell for seemingly everything

[@zKsery]

He was book smart but not street smart. Simple

[@pompeythegreat297]

You have many types of intelligence.

[@vanillathunder3024]

I thought he was gonna say something like “ the best ones, the top guys…we hire ‘em” or something like that but he legit said we just can’t catch them. Shoutout to the outlaws.

[@Baneslayer]

Haven't caught me 😉😎

[@awakendsails]

A little time and luck and you'll finally come out the basement and get seen by a camera lol

[@iipronk]

Even if caught, they dont get arrested. They probably get recruited to work for them instead of against them with a lot of supervision

[@J-jizzy_]

I think it depends how good they are and what they’ve done. If they’ve done some fucked up shit then they are going straight to jail, but if they are a solid cyber criminal that hasn’t done anything too horrendous, then I’m sure a plea deal to help the FBI would def be on the table

[@oeoeoeoe6765]

there was a computer science student in the Philippines who literally hacked 10% of the computer in the world, and the total damage, including the destructive actions of its variants, is estimated at about $10 billion. and he in fact didn't get caught even though what he did is so obvious, the FBI even tried to recruit him but he didn't accept it. FBI wasn't able to caught him for the reason that the Associated Press reported that the charges against Onel de Guzman, 23, were dropped for lack of evidence. if you think I'm exaggerating or you have no idea about that "I love you virus" you can just search it up.

[@oeoeoeoe6765]

and the funny thing is that he made that virus for his college thesis and his reason was to hack other people's account so that they can browse easily on the internet or social media for free, and his professor thinks that he's stupid so he rejected his project resulting for Onel de Guzman to drop out on the school.

[@drew4176]

i was thinking *operation steingrabber*

[@NahaleGuitar]

Forgot "Strictly, no."

[@malves2807]

Plot twist: Lex is AV Unit.

[@cheapscifi]

Lol that would be amazing

[@dialecticalmonist3405]

Lex is an overrated dimwit.

[@Beetwate305]

Think about that for a second!!! Ross wasn’t a techie guy! But he still managed to create a huge business and made a billion!! Think about that!! That fact is my inspiration in my online business endeavors.

[@CAZMO410]

Well that was a transnational drug marketplace... Not your average online business.

[@BrokeMalone]

and now hes in prison lol

[@LawAbidingCitizenHelloOfficer]

My Dad told me people who brag about going to jail are just the criminals that got caught so they are dumb 😂😂 My Dad is a retired Teacher we run a legit Bussiness Car Rental we deliver to Airport. Glad I was able to witness how to leverage credit and make an honest living.

[@Sayper1]

FBI knows everything you do, but cannot peak into hunters laptop.

[@lucasoni1990]

They never used tor to catch anyone. They caught the silk road guy by searching name through forums and getting lucky.

[@FrankBott]

the best part is 5:05.. why not? .. that is worthy of another interview..

[@Scampi95]

He's like Hank Schrader with mostly a head of hair.

[@solomioist]

3:00 NO! There is no mathematical proof that AES and RSA is impossible to decrypt. The reason why they are considered secure is the lack of computing power in the world. Eg: You could try to guess the prime number for RSA, but it will take several hundred years with the current computing power.

[@LBNMKRS]

Only in the movies the bad guys lose. In reality they rule everything.

[@valtteri716]

What you’re saying has a nice dramatic ring to it, but is obviously bs. The authorities only need to make sure crime is annoying enough and not lucrative enough to attract the most capable individuals and they’re doing that just fine.

[@dialecticalmonist3405]

In reality the good guys (free information) and bad guys (FBI) are in a constant struggle to survive. The good news is that the bad guys always lose in the end. No matter how long it might take.

[@ThingE05]

Imagine Lex is AV unit lol