Spearphishing in industrial espionage. Ransomware gets more widespread, ruthless, and perfidious. The US Intelligence Community assures the Senate that the Russians hacked the DNC.

In today's podcast, we hear about a worldwide spearphishing attack against industries in 50 countries. Ransomware is already proving as much of a problem as predicted: exposed data bases are hijacked in a turf-war among extortion gangs, and KillDisk has now appeared in ransomware kits. Investment analysts wonder if Verizon's bid for Yahoo!'s core assets will go through. Ben Yelin from the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security discusses the IRS demanding info on some bitcoin users. FireEye's Tony Cole reviews their latest report on what to expect in 2017. The US Intelligence Community tells the Senate that, yes indeed, the Russians were hacking during the election. A full report is promised for next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices