Hacking Humans

Latest Episodes:

threat hunting (noun) [Word Notes] Mar 25, 2025

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Please enjoy this encore of Word Notes.

The process of proactively searching through networks to detect and isolate security threats, rather than relying on security solutions or services to detect those threats.

CyberWire Glossary link: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/threat-hunting

Audio reference link: “My ‘Aha!" Moment - Methods, Tips, & Lessons Learned in Threat Hunting - sans Thir Summit 2019.” YouTube, YouTube, 25 Feb. 2020.

E-ZPass or easy scam? Mar 20, 2025

Show notes

On Hacking Humans, this week Dave Bittner is back with Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), and they are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. Joe shares a bit of follow up on scam victims sharing their experiences of losing money to various frauds, including investment schemes, romance scams, business email compromises, online shopping fraud, unusual payment requests, tax impersonations, remote access scams, and identity theft. Maria shares a story on scammers using fake E-ZPass toll alerts to steal personal information, and another on victims losing thousands to investment, romance, and online shopping scams. Dave's got the story of how digital scammers prey on the financially vulnerable, using AI-generated content and deceptive ads on platforms like Instagram to sell worthless "get-rich-quick" schemes that ultimately leave victims deeper in debt. Joe's got two stories this week, the first being on Wenhui Sun, a California man, and how he was sentenced to six and a half years for stealing nearly $800,000 through a gold bar scam targeting victims nationwide. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission reported a sharp rise in fraud, with 2.6 million people losing $12.5 billion in 2024, up from $2.5 billion in 2023, primarily due to impostor scams. Younger adults reported losing money more often than older ones. Our catch of the day follows how First Lady Melania Trump messaged an unsuspecting citizen claiming to give them a free gift.

Resources and links to stories:

You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

vulnerability management (noun) [Word Notes] Mar 18, 2025

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Please enjoy this encore of Word Notes.

The continuous practice of identifying classifying, prioritizing, remediating, and mitigating software vulnerabilities within this.

CyberWire Glossary link: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/vulnerability-management

Audio reference link: “Vulnerability Scanning - Comptia Security+ sy0-501 - 1.5.” YouTube, YouTube, 11 Nov. 2017,

Catch me if you scam. Mar 13, 2025

Show notes

On Hacking Humans, this week Dave Bittner is on vacation so our two hosts Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. Our hosts start out with some follow up on chicken talk from last week. Maria shares the story of scammers impersonating police officers in England to steal cryptocurrency by exploiting leaked personal data, creating fake fraud reports, and tricking victims into revealing their seed phrases, leading to losses totaling £1 million. Joe has two stories this week, his first one is on a $21 million "Grandparent Scam" in which 25 Canadians were charged for running a scheme from Montreal call centers, posing as grandchildren in distress to deceive elderly Americans into handing over money, with 23 suspects already arrested. Joe's second story is on two people charged in a ticket scam that exploited a loophole in StubHub’s system to steal and resell over 900 tickets—mostly for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour—netting more than $600,000 in profit before being caught by the Queens D.A.'s Cybercrime Unit. We have a special catch of the day this week, where we are joined by N2K's own Ma'ayan Plaut, who joins to discuss going out of business scams.

Resources and links to stories:

You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

software bill of materials (SBOM) (noun) [Word Notes] Mar 11, 2025

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Please enjoy this encore of Word Notes.

A formal record containing the details and supply chain relationships of various components used in building software.

Scams in the henhouse. Mar 06, 2025

Show notes

On Hacking Humans, this week Dave Bittner is on vacation so our two hosts Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start off the show with some follow-up from a long-time listener who shared how switching to Publii and Cloudflare Pages saved his wife's psychiatric nurse practice over $120/year in hosting costs after discovering static site generators on Hacking Humans. Joe's story is on a warning from an Oregon woman who fell victim to an online scam while trying to buy hens for her backyard chicken coop amid egg shortages caused by the bird flu, urging others to be cautious and avoid transactions on social media. Maria has the story on the increasing threats targeting sellers on online marketplaces, including phishing campaigns, scams designed to bypass platform protections, and the risks associated with off-platform transactions, all of which emphasize the need for heightened vigilance and security measures. The catch of the day, from Scott, highlights an email invitation that appeared legitimate but redirected to a phishing site designed to steal email credentials, with Scott’s wife recognizing the suspicious nature and forwarding it for further investigation.

Resources and links to stories:

You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

zero trust (noun) [Word Notes] Mar 04, 2025

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Please enjoy this encore of Word Notes.

A security philosophy that assumes adversaries have already penetrated the digital environment and tries to reduce the potential impact by limiting access by people, devices, and software to only the resources essential to perform their function and nothing more.

The new malware on the block. [Only Malware in the Building] Mar 04, 2025

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Welcome in! You’ve entered, Only Malware in the Building. Join us each month to sip tea and solve mysteries about today’s most interesting threats. Your host is Selena Larson, Proofpoint intelligence analyst and host of their podcast DISCARDED. Inspired by the residents of a building in New York’s exclusive upper west side, Selena is joined by N2K Networks Dave Bittner —and our newest totally unbiased co-host, Archy, a highly sophisticated AI robot who swears they have no ulterior motives (but we’re keeping an eye on them just in case).

Being a security researcher is a bit like being a detective: you gather clues, analyze the evidence, and consult the experts to solve the cyber puzzle. On this episode, we talk about the latest shake-ups in the fake update threat landscape, including two new cybercriminal actors, fresh Mac malware, and the growing challenge of tracking these evolving campaigns.

Live from Orlando, it's Hacking Humans! Feb 27, 2025

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In this special live episode of Hacking Humans, recorded at ThreatLocker’s Zero Trust World 2025 conference in Orlando, Florida, Dave Bittner is joined by T-Minus host Maria Varmazis. Together, they explore the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and cybercriminal exploits making headlines. Their guest, Seamus Lennon, ThreatLocker’s VP of Operations for EMEA, shares insights on Zero Trust security and the evolving threat landscape. Maria's story this week follows the IRS warning about a fake “Self Employment Tax Credit” scam on social media, urging taxpayers to ignore misinformation and consult professionals. Dave's got the story of the Better Business Bureau’s annual Scam Tracker report, revealing that online shopping scams continue to top the list for the fifth year, with phishing and employment scams remaining major threats, while fraudsters increasingly use AI and deepfake technology to deceive victims. Our catch of the day comes from Diesel in West Virginia, and features a scammer who tried to panic their target with a classic “We’ve frozen your account” scam—only to get hilariously mixed up with actual embryo freezing.

Resources and links to stories:

You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@n2k.com.

OT security (noun) [Word Notes] Feb 25, 2025

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Please enjoy this encore episode of Word Notes.

Hardware and software designed to detect and prevent cyber adversary campaigns that target industrial operations.