Hamid Kashfi on the situation in Iran; Did cyber cause Venezuela blackouts?

(Presented by Material Security (https://material.security) : We protect your company’s most valuable materials -- the emails, files, and accounts that live in your Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 cloud offices.)




Three Buddy Problem - Episode 80: Researcher Hamid Kashfi returns to unpack Iran’s latest unrest, separating economic reality from propaganda while examining how information control, cyber pressure, and state surveillance are shaping events on the ground.




Plus, did cyber make the lights go out in Venezuela?




Cast: Hamid Kashfi (  / hkashfi  ) , Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade (  / juanandres_gs  ) , Ryan Naraine (  / ryanaraine  ) and Costin Raiu (  / craiu  ) .


Links:

• Transcript (unedited, AI-generated) (https://docs.google.com/document/d/11...)
• Sponsor: Material Security (https://material.security/)
• About Hamid Kashfi (https://www.darkcell.se/about)
• Israel-Iran cyberwar: Predatory Sparrow, vanishing crypto, bank hacks (https://securityconversations.com/epi...)
• Venezuela strike marks a turning point for US cyber warfare (https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01...)
• KittenBusters | CharmingKitten (https://github.com/KittenBusters/Char...)
• Comprehensive Threat Intelligence Report: Charming Kitten (https://gist.github.com/Hamid-K#compr...)
• Between Three Nerds: The evolution of Iranian cyber espionage (https://risky.biz/BTN148/)
• Trump says U.S. will hit Iran "very hard" if violence continues at protests (https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-s...)
• Venezuelan oil giant PVDSA hit by cyberattack (https://www.techradar.com/pro/securit...)
• CIA cyberattacks targeting the Maduro regime didn’t satisfy Trump in his first term (https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/29/po...)
• Antiy Report on cyber operations in Venezuela (https://www.antiy.cn/research/notice&...)
• Nationwide internet blackout reported in Iran (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-...)