Masked Actors
True crime meets cybercrime. Discover the people behind the keyboard.
From Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) gangs to global financial crime syndicates, the rise of sophisticated cyber threats is reshaping the world. These aren’t lone hackers — they’re organized groups running multi-million dollar operations in the shadows.
In the Masked Actors podcast, cyber threat expert and former soldier turned hacker Gary Ruddell joins forces with Nick Palmer, a seasoned financial crime fighter, to investigate the top 10 most dangerous cybercriminal groups of 2025 — drawn from Group-IB’s High-Tech Crime Trends Report.
Each episode explores the tactics, motivations, and impact of major cybercrime groups, uncovering their role in the latest cybercrime, RaaS, and financial crime trends. You’ll learn how these actors exploit vulnerabilities, fuel geopolitical tension, and affect businesses and consumers alike.
Tune in to Masked Actors — and stay one step ahead of cybercrime.
Masked Actors
Latest Episodes
Defenders: The life of a threat researcher
Threat researchers work deep in the digital underground, mapping adversaries, exposing tactics, and turning fragments of intelligence into protection that actively stops attacks. Despite the impact of their work, the reality of what they do rem...
Scattered Spider: Could one phone call bring down your whole organization?
Can you recognise every employee in your organisation? Most companies cannot — and attackers know it.A routine IT request comes in from a senior leader locked out of their account. Everything checks out, so access is restored. Except it ...
Defenders: What does it take to orchestrate international takedowns across borders?
Cybercrime operates at a scale most people never see. A single incident can cost hundreds of millions of pounds, disrupt businesses overnight, or devastate individuals and families. What often follows is a simple question: how do you stop somet...
Team TNT: Could you be unknowingly mining for crypto?
Cryptocurrency promised huge potential for investors. But it’s cybercriminals who are reaping the benefits. From multimillion-dollar ransomware payouts to borderless money laundering, cryptocurrency has quietly become the fuel powering a global...
Boolka: The evolution of a cybercriminal enterprise
If evolution has taught humanity anything, it’s that adaptation is key to survival. As prey develop camouflage techniques, predators get faster, sturdier, and better at detection. Now this game of cat and mouse is taking over the digital world....
.png)
