Hacking Humans

Latest Episodes:

The best way to break in is to walk through the front door. Jun 06, 2019

Show notes

Joe describes one of history's great con artists, Victor Lustig, who sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice. Dave shares a story from a listener involving a UPS tracking number scam. The catch of the day involves am attempted romance scam on the XBOX platform. Dave interviews Sherri Davidoff, CEO of LMG Security and is the hacker named "Alien" in Jeremy Smith's book, "Breaking and Entering." She has her own book coming out this summer, "Data Breaches: Crisis and Opportunity."

Links to this week's stories:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/12809/smooth-operator-how-victor-lustig-sold-eiffel-tower

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Shipping-Returns/Seller-Scam-UPS-Tracking-Shows-Delivered/td-p/26206551

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 willing to admit you don't know everything. May 30, 2019

Show notes

Dave reviews Google's recent security report on basic account hygiene. Joe describes passive social engineering, including USB charging stations at airports. The catch of the day exposes a trunk box scam involving ill-gotten war profits. Carole Theriault speaks with the head of a group that call themselves Scam Survivors.

Links to stories:

https://security.googleblog.com/2019/05/new-research-how-effective-is-basic.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2019/05/21/why-you-should-never-use-airport-usb-charging-stations/#4116498a5955

https://scamsurvivors.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.

People aren't perfectly rational. May 23, 2019

Show notes

A listener writes in with the results of his phishing attempt on his wife. Joe describes research from F-Secure on the most dangerous email attachment types. Dave shares the story of scammers impersonating local hospitals to scare a response from their victims. Our catch of the day involves a LinkedIn scam impersonating a fighter pilot.

Joe interviews Elissa Redmiles, an incoming assistant professor of computer science at Princeton University. She studies behavioral modeling to understand why people behave the way they do online.

Links to stories from today's show:

https://labsblog.f-secure.com/2019/05/08/spam-trends-top-attachments-and-campaigns/

https://www.nbc15.com/content/news/Text-message-scam-impersonates-local-hospitals-509615981.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.

Live at KB4CON 2019. May 16, 2019

Show notes

It's a special edition of the Hacking Humans show recorded live at the KB4CON conference in Orlando, FL. Join Joe, Dave and their special guests Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4's CEO, and Kevin Mitnick, world-famous hacker and KnowBe4's chief hacking officer, as they discuss malicious scams making the rounds and how to protect yourself and your organization against them.

Dave describes a late-night phone call scam, Joe explains a Social Security scheme, Stu shares deadly catch of the day, and Kevin shares stories from his own hacking experience, and takes questions from the audience.

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.

A data-driven approach to trust. May 09, 2019

Show notes

Joe describes a church scammed out of millions of dollars. Dave shares good news about a group of scammers being apprehended and arrested. The catch of the day involves a Vietnamese investment offer that's almost too good to pass up on. Dave speaks with Dr. Richard Ford from Forcepoint about the models of trust.

Links to stories in today's show:

https://www.grahamcluley.com/hackers-steal-1-75-million-from-catholic-church-in-ohio/

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/nine-defendants-arrested-new-york-florida-and-texas-multimillion-dollar-wire-fraud

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.

Twitter bots amplifying divisive messages. May 02, 2019

Show notes

Followup from listeners on Google search result scams. Dave describes the city of Ottawa sending $100K to a fraudster. Joe shares results from the FBI's Internet Crime Report. The catch of the day involves a dating site and an offer to be someone's "sugar daddy." Our guest is Andy Patel from F-Secure, describing how Twitter bots are amplifying divisive messages.

Links to storys:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/city-treasurer-sent-100k-to-fraudster-1.5088744

https://threatpost.com/fbi-bec-scam-losses-double/144038/

https://www.ic3.gov/media/annualreport/2018_IC3Report.pdf

https://labsblog.f-secure.com/2019/04/03/discovering-hidden-twitter-amplification/

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.

Let's play, "Covered by cyber insurance — true or false?" Apr 25, 2019

Show notes

Dave and Joe answer a listener question about a mysterious Netflix account. Dave describes a service for Airbnb scammers. Joe explains a particularly "nasty" Instagram scam. Carole Theriault interviews cyber insurance expert Martin Overton from OMG Cyber.

Links to stories:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/the-nasty-list-phishing-scam-is-sweeping-through-instagram/

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/04/land-lordz-service-powers-airbnb-scams/

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.

I have been practicing honesty and truthfulness my whole life. Apr 18, 2019

Show notes

Followup from an Australian listener. Dave shares a Paypal scam leveraging Google ads. Joe describes TechCrunch reporting on a spam service that was left out in the open. The catch of the day promises a lifetime supply of gold. Dave interviews Asaf Cidon from Barracuda Networks

https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/02/inside-a-spam-operation/

https://www.barracuda.com/spear-phishing-report

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.

Scammers have no ethics whatsoever. Apr 11, 2019

Show notes

Joe describes a study of people's perceptions when presented with a magic trick. Dave shares the story of fake boyfriend app. Our catch of the day involves the promise of millions from a bank in Africa. Dave interviews Chris Parker from WhatIsMyIPaddress.com.

Links to stories:

http://nautil.us/issue/70/variables/a-magician-explains-why-we-see-whats-not-there

https://youtu.be/vJG698U2Mvo

https://www.pedestrian.tv/tech/fake-boyfriend-app/

https://whatismyipaddress.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.

Girl Scouts empowering cyber security leaders. Apr 04, 2019

Show notes

Dave describes a survey of call center security methods. Joe explains a spam campaign raising the specter of a flu pandemic to scare people into enabling macros in an Office document. The catch of the day highlights a Facebook scammer promising a prize-winning windfall. Carole Theriault returns with a story about special badges Girls Scouts can earn for cyber security.

Links to stories:

https://marketing.trustid.com/acton/attachment/32513/f-0039/1/-/-/-/-/TRUSTID_2018_State_of_Call_Center_Authentication_Survey.pdf

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/fake-cdc-emails-warning-of-flu-pandemic-push-ransomware/

http://blog.girlscouts.org/2018/07/girl-scouts-introduces-30-new-badges-to.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.