Lex Fridman Podcast: #272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal

Lex Fridman Lex Fridman 3/27/22 - Episode Page

Brett Johnson was a US Most Wanted cybercriminal, called the Original Internet Godfather by US Secret Service for building the the first organized cybercrime community called ShadowCrew, which was the precursor to today’s darknet and darknet markets. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:

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EPISODE LINKS:

Brett’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/GOllumfun

Brett’s Website: https://anglerphish.com

PODCAST INFO:

Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast

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Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8

RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/

YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman

YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips

SUPPORT & CONNECT:

– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast

– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman

– Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman

– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman

– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman

– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman

– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:

Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.

(00:00) – Introduction

(08:47) – Early years

(43:05) – Phishing and social engineering

(1:01:09) – SolarWinds cyberattack

(1:06:56) – Future social engineering fears

(1:09:37) – Early cybercrimes

(1:22:10) – Cybercrime entrepreneurship

(1:25:39) – ShadowCrew

(1:56:42) – Dark web

(2:05:29) – ShadowCrew arrested

(2:17:28) – Cybercrime

(2:22:34) – Love

(2:54:39) – Prison

(3:22:50) – Life after prison

(3:44:39) – Advice for young people

(3:46:03) – Hope for the future

(3:49:32) – Meaning of life