Hacking Humans

Latest Episodes:

It's evolving rapidly and getting more furious by the minute. Sep 03, 2020

Show notes

Dave & Joe have a tip as some follow-up on cloning social media accounts, Dave's story is about turning the tables on hackers in the UK, Joe talks about Kaspersky's Spam and phishing report, The Catch of the Day is is from a listener, Bob, who received an email from Eddy looking for the love of a woman (but, Bob is not a woman), and later in the show, Dave's conversation with Max Heinemeyer from Darktrace on threats that he and his team have tracked throughout the onset and spread of COVID.

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.

social engineering (noun) [Word Notes] Sep 01, 2020

Show notes

The art of convincing a person or persons to take an action that may or may not be in their best interests. Social engineering in some form or the other has been around since the beginning of time. The biblical story of Esau and Jacob might be considered one of the earliest written social engineering stories. As applied to cybersecurity, it usually involves hackers obtaining information illegitimately by deceiving or manipulating people who have legitimate access to that information. Common tactics involve phishing attacks and watering hole attacks.

Take a deep breath. Aug 27, 2020

Show notes

Joe's story is about the effectiveness of social media account cloning, Dave talks about toll fraud, The Catch of the Day is a Bitcoin scam with some scam baiting on the side, and later in the show, Dave's conversation with Ben Rothke from Tapad on Medium piece: A conversation with an iTunes card scammer.

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.

man trap (noun) [Word Notes] Aug 25, 2020

Show notes

A physical security access control device consisting of an enclosed hallway with interlocking doors on each end where both doors can’t be open at the same time. A person presents credentials to the entry doorway. If authorized, the entry door opens and the person walks into the mantrap. The man trap exit door will not open until the entry door closes. The person presents credentials to the exit door. If authorized, the exit door will open. If not, the person is captured in the man trap until security arrives to handle the situation. Physical security leadership installs man traps to separate unrestricted areas from restricted areas, to prevent tailgating by uncleared personnel, and to impede access by unauthorized persons.

Many times it is less sophisticated than we think. Aug 20, 2020

Show notes

Dave's story is about robocalls to a telephony honeypot, Joe talks about postcards impersonating HIPAA communications (you have one? please let Joe know), The Catch of the Day is an email that our editor, Tom, received from the FBI about his COVID-19 death,, and later in the show, Dave's conversation with Rachel Tobac from SocialProof with her insights on the Twitter hack.

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.

Zero-day (adjective) [Word Notes] Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

A class of software-security-weakness-issues where independent researchers discover a software flaw before the owners of the code discover it. Zero-day, or 0-day in hacker slang, refers to the moment the race starts, on day zero, between network defenders who are trying to fix the flaw before hackers leverage it to cause damage. It is a race because on day zero, there is no known fix to the issue.

Flying under the radar. Aug 13, 2020

Show notes

Dave's story is about a forgotten scam, Joe talks about the recent Twitter hack, The Catch of the Day is a pretty standard phishing email for you to be on the lookout for, and later in the show, Dave's conversation with Carolyn Crandall from Attivo Networks on why human-controlled ransomware, Ransomware 2.0, is so threatening to today’s remote businesses.

Links to stories:

Catch of the Day:

Fake email notice for business owners on Bluehost.

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.

NMAP (noun) [Word Notes] Aug 11, 2020

Show notes

A network mapping tool that pings IP addresses looking for a response and can discover host names, open communications ports, operating system names and versions. Written and maintained by Gordon Lyon, a.k.a. Fyodor, it is a free and open source software application used by both system admins and hackers alike and has been a staple in the security community for well over two decades.

Ignore the actor, focus on the behavior. Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

Dave shares an horrific cyberstalking story from the local area, Joe's story is about a phishing campaign impersonating voicemail alerts, The Catch of the Day is an HR front for a check floating scam, and later in the show, Dave's conversation with Johnathan Hunt of GitLab on his perspective of dealing with bad actors: ignore them.

Links to stories:

Catch of the Day:

I was just super bored. But now I have something to do.

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.

Be the custodian of your own digital identity. Jul 30, 2020

Show notes

Dave talks about a deepfake recording impersonating a CEO, Joe's story is about a new phishing campaign, The Catch of the Day is a very persistent cash app scammer, and later in the show, Dave's conversation with Bruce Esposito from One Identity on digital identities and what they could mean for privacy.

Links to stories:

Catch of the Day: