#272 – Brett Johnson: US Most Wanted Cybercriminal

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: – Public Goods: https://publicgoods.com/lex and use code LEX to get $15 off – NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour – Blinkist: https://blinkist.com/lex and use code LEX to get 25% off premium – MasterClass: https://masterclass.com/lex to get 15% off – Onnit: https://lexfridman.com/onnit to get up to 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Brett’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/GOllumfun Brett’s Website: https://anglerphish.com PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr 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