Cloak and Dagger | An OSINT Podcast

Host MJ Banias sits down with Sapper Lab's Director of Communications, Kennedy Chappell, in this Season 1 wrap-up episode. They walk us through their favourite episodes, what they've learned over this season, and how the show has impacted them. From AI conspiracy theories to tracking child predators, this episode takes you through the behind the scenes moments that truly makes Cloak &...

In this special bonus episode, Cloak & Dagger partnered with The Nighttime Podcast to dive into the bizarre story of Karim Baratov, the 22 year old Canadian involved in the Yahoo hack, the largest computer hack in history. Join MJ Banias and Jordan Bonaparte from Nighttime as they discuss this strange tale from the darkest parts of the internet, and then dive into an interview with Baratov him...

Host MJ Banias heads to Winnipeg to visit the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a non-profit agency dedicated to eliminating child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from the internet. From supporting survivors of abuse to scraping the dark web to utilizing intelligence and OSINT techniques, the team at the centre has been responsible for some of the largest purges of CSAM off the internet. Please v...

Guest Griffin Glynn recounts a favorite story of how he went about scamming a scammer. From Grabify links, to breach data and social media searches, to a lot of social engineering, hear how the Director of Investigations for the National Child Protection Task Force spends his free time tracking down the people behind those email scams. You can find Griffin here: https://hatless1der.com/⁠  You can...

2017 saw some of the wildest conspiracy theories, but the most prolific was QAnon. However, as the COVID pandemic swept through the world and with the election of a Democratic president in 2020, Q's followers began to vanish. Joining the show this week is Nick Backovic, an OSINT analyst with Logically AI, and he tells the tale of a mysterious and ghostly figure who turned the QAnon conspiracy...

Looking behind the shadows of Canadian history and shedding light on an overlooked chapter of LGBTQ+ persecution: The LGBT Purge. Joining us this is week is guest host, Kennedy Chappell, and Artur Wilczynski. Artur has more than 30 years in the Canadian public service working on foreign policy, intelligence, security, and defence issues, and is a champion of equity, diversity and inclusion. We dis...

Information is complex. The lines between fact and fiction have become easier to blur as new technologies create wild ecosystems of data. In this episode, Dr. Alicia Wanless from Carnegie’s Partnership for Countering Influence Operations, talks about whether disinformation is something we can even fight, and why it may end up costing us our heads. You can find Alicia's work here: https://lagen...

In 2022, Sapper Labs Group was established by bringing together Sapper Labs Inc., Sapper Labs Cyber Solutions, and Dark River Systems. Behind this consolidation was the immense power and potential of Hunchly, originally developed by Justin and Clare Seitz and the team at Dark River Systems Inc. in 2016. Today we chat with Chief Innovation Officer Justin Seitz and CEO Al Dillon about this powerful...

In 2021, Newfoundland’s hospitals were hit by a massive Hive ransomware attack that halted them. We sit down with cyber policy expert Alexander Rudolph to talk about persistent engagement and how cybersecurity policy needs to be reshaped into a proactive and holistic system. You can find Alexander here: https://linktr.ee/alexfrudolph Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global...

In the last episode with Marcus Kolga, we touched on a global investigation into the doping of Russian athletes during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. In this bonus episode, Sapper Labs’ Chief Intelligence Officer, Dave McMahon, discusses his personal work in elite sports, Canadian intelligence, and how the Olympics is more than just a sporting event, but a complex game of tradecraft.  You can find Dave...

Public dissent in Russia is dangerous. Complex disinformation strategies, arrests, and assassinations are popular with the Kremlin. The activists who oppose these norms are risking their freedom and their lives. Founder of DisinfoWatch, Marcus Kolga, joins us on this episode to talk about the arrest of his friend, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and how Russian disinformation spreads around the globe. You ca...

It's become increasingly difficult to determine the difference between fact and fiction. From the mouth of a sailor, a strange tale of a mystery island in the South China Sea—true or just another conspiracy from the dark tides of the internet? Author and artist Tim Boucher joins the show to discuss this mystery, and whether truth itself is just another illusion. Images mentioned in the episode...

Steven Carrillo shot and killed two law officers in 2020 in an attempt to incite a second American Civil War. Journalist, lawyer, and OSINT instructor Gisela Pérez de Acha joins the show to talk about her work in uncovering his motives, his role in the Boogaloo movement, and how open-source intelligence can track down networks of extremists who use the internet to radicalize others. You can find G...

A collective of hackers from Latin America, Guacamaya, hack into government and corporate servers. Rallying around calls for justice, many people see Guacamaya as a modern day Robin Hood, hacking Sherwood Forest to weaken the rich and empower the poor. Journalist and researcher, AJ Vicens, joins the show to discuss their hacks, the culture they create, and the complicated politics and ethics that...

Every tool can be used for good—or evil. A series of leaked documents reveal that some companies sell OSINT tools targeting activists and journalists in an attempt to monitor and track them. Investigative journalist Phineas Rueckert expands on the work he did looking into some of these OSINT firms, and the dark secrets they keep. You can find his work here: ⁠⁠ https://phineasjfr.contently.com/ You...

Host MJ Banias is live at CANSEC, Canada's largest global defence and security trade show. In this episode, we make a coffee run, and chat with Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. We discuss her book, and how we need to examine our national defence system to understand the culture. Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict...

Host MJ Banias is live at CANSEC, Canada's largest global defence and security trade show. In this episode, MJ sits down with Dave McMahon, Chief Intelligence Officer with Sapper Labs Group. They chat about the Sapper Labs difference, and why a diverse team makes a world of difference in the intelligence game. Cloak & Dagger is a podcast about OSINT, technology, global conflict, and the pr...

OSINT analysts and investigators often deal with massive piles of data. Similar to a 5000 piece puzzle, all those little tiles poured out on a table seem chaotically overwhelming. In this episode, analyst Ritu Gill dives into how we need to utilize open sources to understand how all those puzzle pieces fit together, and why governments need OSINT to see the whole picture. You can find Ritu's w...

Host MJ Banias is live at CANSEC, Canada's largest global defence and security trade show. In this episode, we're stepping into virtual reality with Harold Dumur from OVA. Whether it's learning how to do repairs to an aircraft, train soldiers, or even run OSINT analysis—VR may be the next step in training.. or in reality itself. Dive into the metaverse and see just how deep the rabbit...

Host MJ Banias is live at CANSEC, Canada's largest global defence and security trade show. In this episode, he takes a leap into the world of quantum cryptography with Mike Redding, the CTO of Quantropi. Encryption is what keeps your data secure, but as quantum computers loom on the digital horizon, all that encryption is pretty much useless. Staying ahead of the quantum curve is going to be e...

Host MJ Banias is live at CANSEC, Canada's largest global defence and security trade show. In this episode, he jumps into a brand new OSINT tool built by Microsoft that utilizes AI to make investigations and analysis faster, easier, and more effective. He is joined by George Earl and Derek Dobson from Microsoft, and they explore how AI is changing the intelligence game. Cloak & Dagger is a...

Nations are built by stories. They shape people's thinking, building a foundation where identities are moulded. In this episode, political scientist and national security expert, Dr. Christian Leuprecht, dives into the world of defence and intelligence, and explains why we often choose to bury our heads in the sand, disregarding the ever-changing world around us, and ignoring the enemy who is...

Sexual exploitation of children is a fast-growing problem, and the internet has only made it easier for predators to find and target minors. In this episode, the Chief Investigator of the National Child Protection Task Force, Griffin Glynn, tells us about his work tracking down predators using OSINT, and exposes how those predators attempt to hide in the shadowy corners of the dark web.  You can f...

OSINT is a team sport, because if you think you can do it alone, you can only imagine what you've missed...literally. Guest Micah Hoffman tells a few stories about his early days, his successes, his blunders, and why anyone who thinks they are the "god of intelligence gathering" is probably making a lot of mistakes. -You can find Micah's work here: https://webbreacher.com/ -His t...

When you think of Canada, it's all maple syrup, friendly people, and hockey. However, it's much more complicated. Whether its Chinese interference in Canadian politics, terror threats, or the rising tide of extremism; Canada's fairy tale story is starting to slip away. Veteran counter-terrorism and intelligence expert Phil Gurski weighs in on Canada's current intelligence culture,...