Hacking Humans

Latest Episodes:

cloud computing (noun) [Word Notes] Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

On-demand pay-as-you-go Internet delivered compute, storage, infrastructure, and security services that are partially managed by the cloud provider and partially managed by the customer.

Finding targets of opportunity. Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

Guest Peter Warmka, founder of the Counterintelligence Institute, joins Dave to talk about how insider targets are chosen and assessed, Joe shares a weird phone call he received, Dave's story from a Twitter use named Jake on flower shop scams, Joe has a story about student loan forgiveness scams, and our Catch of the Day comes from a listener named Andrew about a pricey software subscription renewal scam.

Links to stories:

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com or hit us up on Twitter.

APT (noun) [Word Notes] Apr 06, 2021

Show notes

An acronym for Advanced Persistent Threat to describe hacker groups or campaigns normally, but not always, associated with nation state cyber espionage and continuous low-level cyber conflict operations.

The pandemic is slowing, time to travel? Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

Guest Fleming Shi of Barracuda joins Dave to talk about about travel-related phishing attacks now that vaccines are more readily available, Dave and Joe share listener advice about preventative email blocking, Joe shares a story about romance scams by someone that includes fake W2s and other documents in the process, Dave's got a story about a phone scammer posing as McDonald's CEO, and our Catch of the Day is from a listener named Tarik with an email about his reported death. Tarik awards this email the Unlikely Phishing Hook of the Year Award presented by the Institute of Questionable Intentions.

Links to stories:

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com or hit us up on Twitter.

backdoor (noun) [Word Notes] Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

An undocumented or publicly unknown method to access a computer system undetected or to break a cypher used to encode messages.

Technology is not designed for older users. Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

Guest Ming Yang of Orchard joins Dave to talk about ways to help your parents with technology (aka providing tech support for our parents). Dave shares the FBI's advisory warning of an expected increase in the use of deepfakes for social engineering attacks, Joe's got a story about phantom debts, and our Catch of the Day is from a listener named Anthony about an email from federalcrimeofinvestigation@gmail.com. Hmmm...seems legit.

Links to stories:

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com or hit us up on Twitter.

watering hole attack (noun) {Word Notes] Mar 23, 2021

Show notes

From the intrusion kill chain model, a technique where the hacker compromises sites commonly visited by members of a targeted community in order to deliver a malicious payload to the intended victim.

Ideally, look for someone open to deception. Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

Guest professional magician Brandon Williams talks with Joe about the art of deception. we have some follow-up on a watering hole attack we discussed a few episodes back, Joe's story is about the Attorney General of Vermont's top scams of 2020 report (no surprise #1 was SSN phishing), Dave's got a story about the level of sophistication of cybercriminals (hint: not all are that sophisticated), and our Catch of the Day is from a listener named Jo about a well-written request for donation.

Links to stories:

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com or hit us up on Twitter.

network telescope (noun) [Word Notes] Mar 16, 2021

Show notes

Network observation systems designed to monitor globally unreachable but unused Internet address space or the Deep Web in order to study a wide range of interesting Internet phenomena.

Insider threats and security concerns for APIs. Mar 11, 2021

Show notes

Guest Inon Shkedy, security researcher at Traceable and API project leader at OWASP Foundation, talks with Dave about the risks various types of insider threats pose to APIs, we have some follow-up from a listener closing on their home, Dave's story is about a new wave of scams saying they are from the Social Security Administration, Joe's got Deepfakes of Tom Cruise (thanks to Rachel Tobac for this one), and our Catch of the Day is from a listener named John's son and a job interview scam he experienced.

Links to stories:

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com or hit us up on Twitter.