About this episode

Ahana Datta Fasel discusses China's cyber espionage tactics and her experiences as the UK's first ethical hacker.

Ahana Datta Fasel became the British government’s first ethical hacker in 2014, testing vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks that hackers could potentially exploit. She was only 23, but that gave her an early look at state-sponsored cyber intrusions, which have of course grown more serious and sophisticated. Today, her book, Full Stack Spies: Cyber Espionage in the Age of US-China Competition, explores China’s business of spying online. She joins Sasha from London to talk about the competition, vanities, and betrayals between hackers, tech companies, and the government, all through some of Beijing’s most destructive military and civilian cyber operations. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit:  https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic,  you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC. This episode was produced by Flora Warshaw and the team at Goat Rodeo. At the…

People in this episode

Host: Sasha

Guest: Ahana Datta Fasel

Topics covered

• cyber espionage
• China
• US-China competition
• hacking
• technology
• state-sponsored attacks

Keywords

• cyber espionage
• China
• hacking
• ethical hacking
• state-sponsored attacks
• technology
• US-China relations

Sponsors

N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, International Spy Museum

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: British government

Books & works: Full Stack Spies: Cyber Espionage in the Age of US-China Competition

Places: London, Washington, DC

More episodes of SpyCast

• The Triumphs and Failures of France's Foreign Intel Service · July 21, 2026 · 38 min
• The Navy Spy who Sold Secrets for $377 a Year · July 7, 2026 · 35 min
• Closer than Cuba: the Able Archer Nuclear Crisis of 1983 · June 30, 2026 · 40 min
• Putin’s Paramilitary 2.0 · June 23, 2026 · 40 min
• Tricked and Extradited: Inside the First FBI Operation to Lure a Chinese Spy to the US · June 16, 2026 · 38 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the SpyCast podcast page.