Hacking Humans

Is change presenting a window of opportunity for attackers?

Trevin Edgeworth, Red Team Practice Director at Bishop Fox, is discussing how change, like M&A, staff, tech, lack of clarity or even self-promotion within and around security environments presents windows of opportunity for attackers. Joe and Dave share some listener follow up, the first one comes from Erin, who writes in from Northern Ireland, shares an interesting new find about scammers now keeping up with the news. The second one comes from listener Johnathan who shared thoughts on reconsidering his view on defining Apple's non-rate-limited MFA notifications as a "vulnerability." Lastly, we have follow up from listener Anders who shares an article on AI. Joe shares a story from Amazon sellers, and how they are being plagued in scam returns. Dave brings us the story of how to save yourself and your loved ones from AI robocalls.

Could AI's doomsday be deferred?

Dr. Robert Blumofe, CTO at Akamai, sits down to talk about the AI doomsday versus a "very bad day" scenario. Dave shares a story from The Knowledge Project Podcast, where the host talks to Adam Robinson, a multifaceted individual known for his work as an author, educator, entrepreneur, and hedge fund advisor, and he talks about what is all incorporated into the term "stupidity." Dave goes on to share that while most people may feel stupid when falling for a scam, this research suggests otherwise, and you should never feel that way for falling for any scam. Joe's story comes from Hayley Compton at BBC, and is on a Facebook scam sneaking it's way into a family's home after a couple just had their first child. Our catch of the day comes from listener Michael, who shares an email he received that caught him off guard at first.

Cyber crime chronicles featuring scams, spies, and cartel schemes.

This week we are joined by Maria Varmazis, host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus. Maria shares an interesting story about Apple users reporting that they are being targeted in elaborate phishing attacks that involve's a bug in Apple’s password reset feature. Joe and Dave share some listener follow up from Leo who shares some thoughts on episode 282 and the recruiter scam that was discussed. Dave shares a story from Mexico on one of the most violent criminal groups and drug cartels, Jalisco New Generation. They have been running call centers that offer to buy retirees’ vacation properties and then empty the victims’ bank accounts. Joe has the story of Facebook spying on users' Snapchats in a secret project. Our catch of the day comes from listener Van, who writes in to share a voicemail they received related to a tax scam.

Exploring emerging trends in online scamming.

Graham Cluley joins to discuss trends he’s been seeing lately in online scams. N2K's very own Gina Johnson shares some insights on a discussion a few episode ago on why people need a prescription for oxygen in the US. Joe brings up the topic of getting and exploiting access to your infrastructure, and shares an article that deals with the rise of social engineering fraud in business email compromise. Dave shares a personal story this week, on how he got scammed from a Facebook post, sharing that it can happen to anyone. Our catch of the day comes from listener Vance, who writes in to share a scam he found via "snail mail," regarding a life insurance policy that he needs to collect on.

Job seeker beware: Spotting sneaky scammers on job boards.

This week we are joined by Maria Varmazis, host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus. She shares the story on scammers posing as recruiters on LinkedIn to get you to fall for an age old phishing scam. Dave and Joe share some listener follow up, the first being from listener Alex who shared a video on scammers being forced to prove they are not robots. Listener Chloe wrote in with a question, asking about a potential scam she encountered. Joe has a story from the BBC this week regarding a love scam in the Philippines. Finally, Dave shares the story on the FCC approving a voluntary cybersecurity labeling program for wireless IoT products. Our catch of the say comes from Mark, who shares a personal story on a recruiting scam nightmare.