Hacker History: Titan Rain

In this episode of the Cybersecurity Defenders podcast, we recount some hacker history and tell the story of Shawn Carpenter; a rogue cybersecurity defender who singlehandedly identified a Chinese APT. It is a phenomenal story that exemplifies the grit and moral fortitude that the best defenders among us have.

Titan Rain was a series of coordinated attacks on computer systems in the United States since 2003; they were known to have been ongoing for at least three years. The attacks originated in Guangdong, China. The activity is believed to be associated with a state-sponsored advanced persistent threat. It was given the designation Titan Rain by the federal government of the United States.

Titan Rain hackers gained access to many United States defense contractor computer networks, which were targeted for their sensitive information, including those at Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories, Redstone Arsenal, and NASA.

This episode was written by Nathaniel Nelson, narrated by Christopher Luft and produced by the team at LimaCharlie.