This content details the rise of the first cyber spies, a group of German hackers who transitioned from playful system infiltration to engaging in espionage for the KGB during the Cold War, ultimately leading to a complex conspiracy involving international intelligence agencies and an unsolved murder.
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Summer 1982. Chelabinsk, Soviet Union. [Music]
>> This is the Chelubinsk natural gas
processing unit. And while the Soviet
emergency team scramble to get control
of the chaos, a satellite watches
silently from orbit. It belongs to the
American CIA who are responsible for the
explosion by planting a virus into the
Soviets pipeline software. The attack
marked the beginning of a new digital
front in the Cold War. But while both
the US and Soviets began the race for
cyber supremacy, a different type of
battle was happening in Western Germany.
There a group of young Germans were
fighting with their weed dealer. And
after getting what they actually paid for,
They fire up both their joints and their PCs.
PCs.
They're part of the first generation of
hackers and are currently having fun
infiltrating random systems and devices.
However, what they don't know is that
pretty soon they will also be involved
in the Cold War, specifically in a
massive international hacking
conspiracy. one that involves money,
drugs, spies, and a murder mystery that
remains unsolved to this date. This is
the story of the KGB hackers, the first
cyber spies in history.
This video is sponsored by NordPass, but
1985, Hanover, West Germany.
It's around 1000 p.m. when a group of
German computer enthusiasts come
together in a scene restaurant called
Spectacle and Sesame. The group is made
of a bunch of hackers, but the following
story mainly revolves around Carl Cau,
alias Hagbard, a 19-year-old pthead and
conspiracy theorist, Marcus Hess, alias
Umerell, a 25-year-old physics student,
and Hans Hinrich Hubner, aka Pangu, a
17-year-old from Berlin. The three are
big fans of the Chaos Computer Club, a
German hacker association that got
famous by exploiting a bank in an
incredible way. They managed to steal
130,000 German mark or about $100,000 US
adjusted for inflation by hacking into
an account of the Sparasa bank and using
it to load their BTX site, which was
basically a pre-in online service
operating via telephone lines. Either
way, Carl Kau is convinced that they can
also pull off a move like that. However,
right now, the rest of the group just
wanted to party. [Music]
[Music]
And at the end of a turbulent night full
of alcohol, the trio create their own
unofficial hacking group and with it
Mid 1985, Hanover, West Germany. Over
the next few days, the three begin to
hack everything they can get their hands
on. German universities, US military
facilities, and even the European
Organizer for Nuclear Research,
otherwise known as CERN. [Music]
[Music]
There was just one problem. They weren't
making any money. But this was about to change.
Mid 1985, Hanover, West Germany.
The three hackers are once again at
their group's headquarters. the now
so-called computer stampish table at
their favorite restaurant. However, this
time it's not to celebrate, but to add a
recruit to their team. The prospect is a
man called Dirk Otto Berzinski, aka Dob,
a 25-year-old computer specialist
motivated by the group's opposition to
government surveillance and, of course,
the adrenaline rush from hacking the
biggest institutions. But while West
Germany is going through a liberal cyber
rebellion against authoritarian ideas,
East Germany is the complete opposite.
It was the most extreme surveillance
state in the world at the time and
especially strict in East Berlin. Both
the East German secret police known as
the Stacey and the Soviet intelligence
services were constantly spying on their
own populations and suppressing any
ideas of personal freedom. It went so
far that for every seven East German
citizens, at least one of them was a
secret informant. However, both the
Stacey and the Soviet intelligence
agencies were not only surveilling their
own people, they were also closely
monitoring the West. And as interest in
the emerging hacker underground grew, so
did their concern.
A concern that culminated when a CIA
planted software program triggered a
massive explosion in a Siberian gas
pipeline, thus marking the start of a
new type of warfare in the digital
realm. This led Nikolai Tigonov, one of
the highest ranking Soviet statesmen, to
build up the KGB's capacity for
telecommunication related warfare. This
included the establishment of a digital
defense division within the KGB's 8th
directorate as well as the creation of a
specialized school for digital spies in
the first directorate. The students
there didn't just learn programming
skills. They were also trained in
espionage tactics and networking skills.
And right in the back of this class was
a young Russian man called Sergey. And
even though he didn't know it yet, he
was going to be part of one of the most
controversial cyber espionage cases the
Late 1985, Hanover, West Germany. This
is Peter Carl, a 30-year-old man from
Hanover, and he's just been fired from
one of the city's biggest casinos. The
casino was going through a rough time
with the owner allegedly using profits
to gamble and losing most of it in other
casinos. The story would turn into an
entire scandal a few years later. But
right now, the main focus is on Peter
Carl. He's currently sitting on a bench.
He knows that he's pretty much broke and
pers on what to do next. That's when he
remembers that one of his good friends
had been talking about something called hacking.
That friend was Durk Otto Berzinski aka
Dob. And after the latter explained what
hacking actually is, Peter proposes an
idea so that both Dob and his team of
hackers can make money. He explains that
he's got connections to businessmen in
the East and they'd probably love to buy
secret information. Dob thinks the
proposal is interesting and after a
short consideration agrees to reach out
to the rest of the hacking group, all of
whom agree to Peter's idea. There was
just one problem. Nobody knew who
exactly the buyer would be, at least not
Late 1985, Munich, West Germany.
>> It's late at night in German
intelligence service, BND headquarters,
and the higherups of the agency have
come together. The reason for the
meeting is the rising popularity of the
hacking scene, the dangers this could
cause, and the unchecked behavior of the
Chaos Computer Club. It was a serious
concern and even more because at this
time Arpanet a precursor to the modern
internet had been connected from the US
to the rest of the world. However, this
version of Arpanet allowed anyone with
the right credentials to access both
research and military systems that were
connected to the network. This openness,
while initially beneficial for
collaboration, became a weakness that
hackers began to exploit and thus turned
the German hacker scene into a major
risk factor. Either way, a BND official
called Christian Stusel, who was a
computer expert himself, explained that
they needed to do two things. First of
all, keep the German hackers in check,
and if plausible, use them for their own
intelligence benefits. Stusel superiors
like the idea and with the help of BND
director Iberhard Blum Stusel and a few
other BND members are tasked with
surveillance of hackers under an
operation cenamed project Rahab
something that will play a major role in
understanding future events.
March 14th 1986 Hanover, West Germany.
It's a rainy night in Hanover and the
group is meeting at Carl Kau's
apartment. They're chugging beers,
passing joints, and telling awful jokes.
But a few hours into the night, Peter
Carl suddenly tells everyone to quiet
down. He's got important news. He says
he's found a way to turn their hacking
skills into money, and a lot of it.
Apparently, Peter had contacted someone
in the East and was told that the
Soviets had serious embargo issues. This
meant that they were buying everything
they could. information on new tech,
weapons, and even simple memos. And they
were paying well. The group quickly
realizes where Peter's going with this.
He wants to sell their stolen info not
to Eastern businessmen, but directly to
the Soviet government itself. This
announcement was obviously unexpected.
However, money is money, and because all
of them needed some, they agreed to
Peter's proposal. Furthermore, they make
the case that to keep a lasting peace,
both the East and the West should have
the same levels of tech. Basically, they
thought that they could contribute to
worldwide peace by leveling the
technological playing field. There was
just one tiny issue. Peter Carl's
contact told him that for this to go
down, someone would have to talk to the
KGB directly, and that meant that one of
them would need to cross the border
straight into the heart of East
Germany's surveillance state. [Music]
Mid 1986, East Berlin border.
It's early in the morning and a car from
Hanover is waiting at the Hinrich
Hinastrasa crossing, a border checkpoint
between East and West Berlin. Inside
sits Peter Carl. He really doesn't want
to be there, but since it was his idea,
the group insisted he be the one to talk
to the KGB.
Everything is gray. Massive concrete
walls flank the checkpoint. Armed guards
patrol the street. And just when Peter
looks up at one of the guards in a
fortified tower, the traffic barrier
opens. He slowly drives into the control area.
And just when he stops, one of the East
German border officers orders him to
exit the car. The officer pats him down
and asks for his documents. At the same
time, another officer uses a mirror to
check underneath the vehicle. Peter is
incredibly nervous. He has stolen
documents on floppy discs hidden in the
car, and if they're found, he'll be in
serious trouble. Either way, while Peter
shows the first guard his documents, the
second soldier suddenly decides to
inspect the inside of the vehicle. But
luckily for Peter, he doesn't find
anything suspicious and gives his
colleague the okay.
Peter gets back into his car and drives
He's overcome the first obstacle, but
the second one will be just as hard. He
drives to the Soviet Trade Mission, a
known hot spot for undercover KGB
agents. There, he simply walks through
the front door and naively asks the
receptionist about the person he's
supposed to meet. The receptionist,
however, has no idea what he's talking
about and leaves.
A few minutes later, a tall suited man
appears. The man is none other than
Sergey, one of the new KGB specialists
in cyber related topics. About 180 mi
away. The gang is smoking pot at Coff's
apartment. Everyone is nervous and
nobody is talking. It's really late and
everyone is worried when suddenly [Music]
[Music]
It's Peter Carl. When Peter enters the
apartment, he walks through a room full
of smoke, slowly takes out an envelope,
and throws it on the table. Inside are
about 20,000 mark, which would be about $23,000
$23,000
today. The group erupts. Their plan had
worked and money was finally flowing.
However, there was one catch. The last
thing in the envelope was a strange
list. You see, Sergey had explained to
Peter that he needed better intel and
made a list of stuff they should search
for. This list included a bunch of
different bounties. For example, a
unique source code would be bought for
25,000 mark, compilers for 5,000 mark,
and so on. Basically, the Soviets gave
Peter a shopping list, and now it was
all up to the hackers. They could
finally use their abilities to make
money. And that's exactly what they did. [Music]
Kau and his gang lived in a world of
secrets, selling stolen data from the
west to the east, always looking over
their shoulders. Carl knew better than
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