Hacking Humans

Latest Episodes:

Swamping search results for reputation management. Aug 15, 2019

Show notes

Dave shares the story of a small community hospital dealing with a ransomware attack. Joe reviews the different types of extortion emails. The catch of the day is an inheritance scam from Canada. Carole Theriault interviews Craig Silverman from Buzzfeed about online reputation management companies.

Links to stories:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2019/07/30/how-4-technicians-saved-arizona-hospital-hacker-ransomware-wickenburg-community-hospital/1842572001/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/extortion-emails-on-the-rise-a-look-at-the-different-types/

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.

Positive pretexting on the rise. Aug 08, 2019

Show notes

Joe shares a cautionary Facebook tale from his own life. Dave has the story of an Australian IT company put out of business by scammers. The catch of the day tracks the response writer and comedian Dave Holmes had to scammers pretending to be from the IRS. Rachel Tobac from Social Proof Security returns with voting security information and the latest scams she's been tracking.

Links to today's stories:

https://www.crn.com.au/news/it-suppliers-forced-to-close-after-procurement-scam-528609

https://cheezburger.com/719877/troll-comedian-gets-a-scam-call-and-decides-to-play-along

https://www.vampirecaveman.com/

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.

Images are the language of the brain. Aug 01, 2019

Show notes

Dave outlines a church donation scam. Joe shares reporting from Ars Technica on romance scams coming out of Africa. The catch of the day is courtesy of London comedian James Veitch Our guest is Garry Berman from Cyberman Security who's developed a cyber security comic book series to help raise awareness.

Links to this week's stories:

https://www.churchlawandtax.com/blog/2018/june/what-to-know-about-new-donation-scam.html

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/07/im-not-100-with-anybody-ars-dissects-a-nigerian-twitter-catfish-scam/

https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-phishing-scam-emails-dot-con-james-veitch/

https://www.cyberheroescomics.com/

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.

Looking after Dad. Jul 25, 2019

Show notes

Joe shares a story on the market economy of phishing. Dave explains how gamers are being taken advantage of on popular chat app Discord. The catch of the day included a little bit of showbiz razzle-dazzle. Our anonymous guest this week shares his efforts to keep his father from falling for online scams.

Links to stories:

https://blogs.akamai.com/sitr/2019/06/phishing-factories-and-economies.html

https://twitter.com/Splatter_Shah/status/1143556723266994176

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.

The skills gap disconnect. Jul 18, 2019

Show notes

Dave shares a listener story of scammers calling drug stores to try to gather customer rewards points. Joe describes federal contractors being scammed out of over $10 million of hardware, some of it classified communications equipment. The catch of the day starts with a bank email scam and ends with a Rick roll. Carole Theriault speaks with Michael Madon, head of security at Mimecast about the cyber security skills gap.

Links to stories -

https://qz.com/1661537/us-defense-contractor-falls-for-3-million-email-scam/

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2018/01/man-sets-up-rick-astley-hotline-to-rescue-people-from-annoying-salespeople.html

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.

Know and spot the patterns. Jul 11, 2019

Show notes

Joe shares the heartbreaking tale of a catphishing case that leads to murder. Dave describes a shoe company using an unusual method to trick engagement with an online ad. The catch of the day engages a Nigerian scammer promising a fortune in precious minerals. Dave interview Michael Coates, head of Altitude Networks and former CISO at Twitter.

Links to this week's stories -

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/after-alaska-teen-s-murder-cybersecurity-experts-warn-catfishing-predators-n1019536

https://medium.com/shanghaiist/chinese-shoe-company-tricks-people-into-swiping-instagram-ad-with-fake-strand-of-hair-54d8a2d8ec1d

https://www.419eater.com/html/user_subs/godfather/godfather.htm

https://altitudenetworks.com/

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.

Encore — Separating fools from money. Jul 04, 2019

Show notes

We're taking a break for the Independence Day holiday in the US, so enjoy this episode from the early days of our show.

Dave shares a story of airport penetration testing with high degree of yuck-factor. Joe explores research on protecting passwords from social engineering. The catch-of-the-day comes courtesy of Graham Cluley's email spam box. Dave interviews Wired's Security Staff Writer Lily Hay Newman on her article tracking Nigerian email scammers.

Thanks to our show sponsor KnowBe4.

Be wary of all emails. Jun 27, 2019

Show notes

Dave shares the story of one Katie Jones, the fake online persona used to gain the confidence of high-status individuals. Joe describes the tragic case of Christine Lu, a Harvard Medical professor who was scammed out of her life savings. The Catch of the Day warns recipients not to trust the FBI. Carole Theriault interviews Akamai's Larry Cashdollar about scammers using Google Translate to obfuscate web sites.

Links to this week's stories:

https://www.apnews.com/bc2f19097a4c4fffaa00de6770b8a60d

https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/

https://www.nbcboston.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Woman-Scammed-Into-Giving-Away-Life-Savings_NECN-511108952.html

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.

The knowledge / intention behavior gap. Jun 20, 2019

Show notes

Joe shares the story of an elaborate check fraud scam involving HR impersonators. Dave reads an email from a listener who got phished by his own company, and has questions about authorization app vs. hardware keys. Our catch of the day involves an orphan looking to share her inheritance. Dave interviews author Perry Carpenter, who's new book is Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us about Driving Secure Behaviors.

Links to stories:

https://twitter.com/sigalow/status/1138918411394781185?s=12

https://www.yubico.com/2019/01/yubico-launches-the-security-key-nfc-and-a-private-preview-of-the-yubikey-for-lightning-at-ces-2019/

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.

Just because I trusted you yesterday doesn't mean I trust you today. Jun 13, 2019

Show notes

Dave describes researchers spotting scammers on dating sites using AI. Joe shares a phishing scheme that asks users to manage undelivered mail. The catch of the day involves cute puppies and Mogwai meat. Dave interview Avi Solomon, director of information technology for Rumberger, Kirk and Caldwell, an Orlando, Florida litigation firm.

Links to today's stories:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48472811

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1905.12593.pdf

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-phishing-scam-asks-you-to-manage-your-undelivered-email/

https://www.419eater.com/html/tommy_mark.htm

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.