''Darknet Diaries'' is an investigative

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

created by Jack Rhysider (), chronicling true stories about crackers,

malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...

botnets A botnet is a group of Internet-connected devices, each of which runs one or more Internet bot, bots. Botnets can be used to perform distributed denial-of-service attack, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, steal data, send Spamming, s ...

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from grc, , translit=kryptós "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adver ...

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...

cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing the ...

, and

Internet privacy Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, re-purposing, provision to third parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via Internet. Internet privacy is a subset of data privacy. Pr ...

, all subjects falling under the umbrella of "tales from the dark side of the Internet". Launched in October 2017, episodes average around 30 minutes to an hour, each meticulously dissecting a singular topic through original interviews, audio footage, and Rhysider's narration. The show's journalistic style has received widespread acclaim for its ability to "speak to your inner detective" and "productively substitute the thriller novel you intend to carry".

Production

Each episode begins with an introduction from Rhysider, followed by the theme music consisting of stringed instruments and a crunchy synthesizer, and then a structured narrative layered with interviews and suspenseful scoring. For the first 40 episodes, Rhysider was responsible for all of the research, writing, narrating, editing, sound design, publishing, marketing, and logistics. Later on, due to a passionate

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

, Rhysider was able to enlist the help of additional writers, researchers, editors, and graphic designers. By December 31, 2018, ''Darknet Diaries'' had amassed more than 1.2 million downloads. In 2019 only, there were more than 8.2 million downloads.

Impact and real-life influences

Some notable episodes have been praised for their deep-diving insights, such as episode 17 "Finn", where Rhysider explores a curious child's evolution into becoming a hacker, illuminating Finn's loneliness and outsider-mentality, which, when coupled with his

Asperger's Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavio ...

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inapp ...

, and affinity for computers, inspired Finn to hack his high school's network. "Finn" was also adapted and featured on the

WNYC Studios WNYC Studios is a producer and distributor of podcasts and on-demand and broadcast audio. WNYC Studios is a subsidiary of New York Public Radio and is headquartered in New York City. History In May 2015, WNYC began distributing its shows ''R ...

podcast '' Snap Judgment''. More details emerged regarding the case details for Roman Seleznev's 27-year prison sentence, thanks to a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

computer crimes

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

, court documents, and reporting by Rhysider on episode 32 "The Carder", which covered the

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

's tracking of Seleznev's online movements in the 2000s. Rhysider has been quoted as saying "a lot of hacks go unsolved"; however, at least in Seleznev's case, selling cards was his specialty while his hacking abilities were mediocre. Episode 27 "Chartbreakers" was highlighted for its investigation into the manipulation of the

Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts (known as simply Podcasts in Apple operating systems) is an audio streaming service and media player application developed by Apple Inc. for playing podcasts. Apple began supporting podcasts with iTunes 4.9 released in June 20 ...

Top Charts through a vast industry termed as "dark podcast marketing", the catalysts for this industry originating from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. Rhysider received and then subsequently released photos of the promoters themselves.

Crossovers and appearances

Rhysider has made appearances on a variety of other programs, the most notable being '' Snap Judgment'' and the

Lit Hub Literary Hub is a daily literary website that launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and Electric Literature founder Andy Hunter. Cont ...

/Podglomerate '' Storybound'', where he is accompanied by an original score from singer-songwriter Shane Brown. Other podcast appearances include ''Smashing Security'', ''The Many Hats Club'', ''Brakeing Down Security'', ''The Word From Mouth'', ''InfoSec ICU'', ''The Cyberwire'', ''Podcast Business Journal Spotlight'', ''Overnight America'', ''Aidan Wheller Podcast and Audio Reviews'', ''Getting into InfoSec'', ''Grimerica'', ''Cyber Speaks Live'', and ''Chartable Radio''.

Episodes

Reception

When describing the show's style and presentation, various media outlets have drawn comparisons between '' Reply All'' and ''

This American Life ''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internation ...

'', with ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' writing, "''Darknet Diaries'' is...where storytelling is mixed with investigative techniques to provide a strong narrative with real people at its core." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote, "Though the episodes are often startlingly short, condensing stories into 30 minutes that could easily justify a full hour, Rhysider’s hypnotic narration and deep expertise creates results that are never less than gripping." ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' called ''Darknet Diaries'' "a true-crime podcast with no blood ndno bodies... eavingyou wondering why there aren't more hacks, breaches, and cyber-crime."

Miranda Sawyer Miranda Caroline Sawyer (born January 1967) is an English author, journalist and broadcaster. Education and early life Sawyer was born in Bristol and grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire with her brother Toby, who is an actor. Sawyer was educated at ...

of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', sister paper to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', highlighted the podcast's reported "small disasters" of online life, writing: "Neatly edited and charmingly presented by Jack Rhysider, the podcast does occasionally stray into nerdiness, but it’s chock-full of real-life examples of when our virtual lives fail."

Vulture magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

listed ''Darknet Diaries'' among its list of "52 of the Best True-Crime Podcasts", following what they deemed as "the post- Serial boom", citing how "some of these ybercrimesmay hit a little too close to home" while also advising listeners: "Cover your laptop camera, throw that iPhone in the river, and hang out in that weird no-reception corner of your home."

Awards

* Runner-up in the 2018 Discover Pods Award for Best Technology Podcast * Winner of the 2018 Quartz Casties for Best Technology Episode * Winner of the 2019 European Security Blogger Awards for Best New Cybersecurity Podcast

References

External links

*
Official DiscordSubreddit
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darknet Diaries Audio podcasts 2017 podcast debuts Crime podcasts Technology podcasts