Layer 8 Podcast

Episode 117: Nathaniel Fried - OSINT with Only An Email Oct 28, 2024

Nathaniel Fried is the CEO of OSINT Industries. He's also one of the founding members and current chair of UK OSINT, a non-profit public meetup group.

In this episode, we talk about ways to perform OSINT with only a single selector, such as an email address, a phone number or a username.

We also discussed how he discovered that Donetsk was using western-based IT tools, in spite of sanctions. Nathaniel walked through this investigation with his OSINT methods.

He explained his thoughts on how to get started in the OSINT world, recommendations on areas to focus on and also told us a brief story of how he did not get extradited to the Philippines.

Episode 116: Matt Linton - A Better Phish Test Oct 14, 2024

Matt Linton (@0xMatt)is a Googler and former NASA employee and red teamer. He has some opinions on the way we do phishing testing today with comparisons to how fire safety evolved. Even better, he offers solid solutions on how we can do better phishing testing so that people better understand the expectations of them and to still keep the enterprise protected.

In this episode, we discuss a blog post that he wrote for Google. You can read the blog post here: https://security.googleblog.com/2024/05/on-fire-drills-and-phishing-tests.html

Episode 115: Jennifer Isacoff - Breaking Into SE Sep 30, 2024

Jennifer is a hacker, a social engineer, a locksmith and a private investigator. In this episode, we talk about how she got into each of those fields and about her path to being a part of her company's red team. She has some great social engineering stories including where she's climbing through a ceiling!

Episode 114 - Phil Eil, The Investigative Journalist Sep 16, 2024

Phil Eil is an investigative journalist who has written for publications such as Vice, Huffington Post, the Boston Globe and the Providence Phoenix. But there was always one story he wanted to write.

In his new book, Prescription for Pain, Phil documents the story of Dr. Paul Volkman, a midwestern physician who was convicted of distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death, plus additional charges.

Phil tells us about the story but also describes the various less-common investigative (OSINT) tools that he used to tell the story.

Episode 113: "I'm Not a Threat, But You're Adorable" - Alethe, Part 2 Sep 02, 2024

This is the second part of a two-part podcast episode with Alethe Denis. If you missed the first part, you'll want to go back and listen to that first as this episode picks up, mid-story where Alethe has just caught the eye of a security guard during a social engineering engagement. Can she evade the guard or will the job come to an end?

Alethe is a senior security consultant with Bishop Fox, has given presentations to multiple conferences, including a keynote on redteaming. Alethe was also the featured guest on one of the most popular episodes of Darknet Diaries.

Episode 112: Red Teaming with Alethe Denis, Part 1 Aug 19, 2024

Alethe Denis is the first ever three-time guest to the Layer 8 Podcast. When Alethe comes on, we can swap stories for hours. And we did! This is part 1 of a two-part episode, as Alethe had so many great stories to share.

For this episode, she talks her way into buildings, tells us how she prepares her OSINT and when she knows it's time to go into the building.

Check back in two weeks for part 2!

Episode 111: OsmosisCon's Cynthia and Bret Aug 05, 2024

For this episode, we're joined by Cynthia Navarro and Bret Anderson from OsmosisCon. They are the two people that head up the annual OSINT conference in Las Vegas. The conference will be October 20-22 and can be attended in person or remotely.

Cynthia and Bret tell us about the origins of Osmosis, the certification they offer and we also talk about some methods, ethics and share some fun investigation stories.

Episode 110: Andreas Heideck and Social Engineering Simplicity Jul 22, 2024

Andreas Heideck, the CEO of the Germany-based Impossible Security, joined the show to tell some incredible social engineering stories. The part that is different about his stories is the simplicity of his pretexts and thought process. As we tend to overthink these engagements, Andreas shows us how to stay in the moment, choose pretexts that make sense, are very simple and very successful.

Episode 109: Justin Seitz and Kennedy Chappell Jul 08, 2024

This episode is a great discussion with Justin Seitz (@jms_dot_py) and Kennedy Chappell (@kcath23) of Permanent Record Research. They also write the free Substack newsletter https://www.bullshithunting.com/ along with its fun weekend edition, For the Weekend Warriors, Weirdos & Whackjobs, where you can get even more fun insight into the work they do and the lives they lead.

In this episode, Justin and Kennedy talk about how they "unf**k" things like junk science and pseudo-experts in courtrooms. Kennedy also talked about how she has helped friends by doing some OSINT on their online dating lives. Justin also talks about the importance of getting an investigation right, especially when you feel in your gut that you have it wrong.

Episode 108: Bluma Janowitz Talks How She Used Social Engineering in Other Industries Jun 24, 2024

Note: This episode contains language that would be considered not safe for work (NSFW) and around some children.

Bluma Janowitz, aka @x25Princess is a social engineering instructor and one of the original phone phreaking hackers. She has also worked as a phone sex operator and as a dominatrix. Her work in these areas, as well as her own personal survival, has taught her the social engineering skills she uses today. She also wrote some interesting blog posts about various aspects of social engineering and rapport building, which can be found at https://blumajanowitz.com/?blog=y

Episode 107: Alex Lozano on OSINT in Business and AI Jun 10, 2024

Alex Lozano is the founder and CEO of the Barcelona-based Cibergy and is a professor of OSINT at the University of Autonoma de Barcelona. In this episode, Alex talks about the role of OSINT in corporations and businesses. How it can enhance the business and also show trends and potential threats. We also discussed the future of OSINT and how Artificial Intelligence (AI) may be able to help and where it might come up short.

Episode 106: Ajaka Shamsudeen on Social Engineering in Nigeria May 27, 2024

At the Layer 8 Podcast, we aim to get a global perspective on social engineering and OSINT topics. For this episode, we spoke with Ajaka Shamsudeen, also known as @Mydeen4u on Twitter. Ajaka is a part of the SE awareness and education community in Nigeria and here he shares his perspective of the state of social engineering in Nigeria.

Ajaka is also an alumnus of Cyblack, an organization that is building the next generation of Black and African cybersecurity talent.

Episode 105: Hervé from OpenFacto May 13, 2024

Hervé is the creator of the non-profit and non-governmental organization OpenFacto in France. This organization teaches investigational skills to journalists to help them find the truth in facts.

We also talk about using OSINT for good and in this episode, Hervé tells a story about how he did exactly that and very likely saved lives with one specific investigation and how he performed it.

OpenFacto offers their training to all French-speaking individuals and more information can be found on their site at https://openfacto.fr/

Episode 104: Why Phishing Simulations Suck with Rebecca Markwick Apr 29, 2024

Bex Markwick joins us today to tell us what she feels is wrong about the way we do phishing testing today. We'll talk about some of the areas where those might not go in the right direction and why, but also how we can do them better and what we should be focusing on.

Bex has presented twice at PancakesCon and gave a keynote presentation at BSides Basingstoke. You can find all of Bex's presentations at https://infobex.co.uk/speaking/

Episode 103: Trace Labs Search Parties with Tom Hocker Apr 15, 2024

Tom Hocker is the Director at Trace Labs. Trace Labs is a non-profit organization who crowdsources OSINT skills from the public to find information and clues on people in missing persons cases.

As mentioned in this episode, you can get more information about Trace Labs, get in contact with Tom and jump into a Search Party all by joining their Discord channel here: https://discord.gg/tracelabs

Episode 102: A Ghostie Breaks Into Casinos and Airports Apr 01, 2024

Chris Pritchard is a UK-based social engineer with Lares Consulting. He has accessed some of the most secure facilities, sometimes seemingly too easily. In this episode, Chris (aka @Ghostie_) talks about what was his process to access seemingly secure facilities like airports and casinos. He also gives his thoughts on dealing with the adrenaline rush of getting in and also has advice on how to get started in the industry.

Episode 101: A Deep Dive with Rae Baker Mar 18, 2024

Rae, aka @Wondersmith_Rae is back! After chatting about maritime OSINT in episode 75, Rae came back to discuss her book "Deep Dive - Exploring the Real World Value of Open Source Intelligence" and to talk about what skills or mindset is important in the OSINT world. We also talked about how to practice your OSINT skills in a realistic way by using Kase Scenarios, a learning site she built along with Espen Ringstad.

Episode 100: Dylan the Magician Mar 04, 2024

Dylan is named the Magician yet he doesn't do card tricks, doesn't pull a rabbit from a hat and doesn't cut his assistant in half. Dylan is a social engineer who earned that moniker during an engagement. In this episode, Dylan will explain the job where he was tagged "The Magician." We'll also talk about the planning that went into his engagement and other aspects of social engineering he uses every day.

This episode is brought to you by Compass Cyber Guard. To find out more about Cyber Guard's social engineering or pentesting services, contact ⁠info@layer8podcast.org

Episode 99: Ritu Gill on OpSec, Sock Puppets and Lesser Known OSINT Sites Feb 19, 2024

Ritu Gill is back! A return guest who first appeared on episode 20, Ritu (also known as OSINT Techniques) is back to talk about Operational Security, about how to create and curate sock puppets, how to keep the integrity of an investigation and to tell us about Forensic OSINT, a Chrome extension that can easily help with investigations!

This episode is brought to you by Compass Cyber Guard. To find out more about Cyber Guard's social engineering or pentesting services, contact ⁠info@layer8podcast.org

Episode 98: Social Engineering My First Bank with Patrick Laverty Feb 05, 2024

Our host, Patrick Laverty, has gotten to talk with experts in OSINT and social engineering and heard their stories. But Patrick has never told one of his own. That's what we get here as he explains how he got access to sensitive areas of a bank during a social engineering job.

This episode is brought to you by Compass Cyber Guard. To find out more about Cyber Guard's social engineering or pentesting services, contact info@layer8podcast.org

Episode 97: Charles Shirer - BSDBandit Talks OSINT! Sep 19, 2022

Charles Shirer, aka @BSDBandit is the part of the internet that exudes positivity and happiness. He frequently posts happy and affirming messages for people to enjoy. He's also a self-taught OSINT expert. In this episode, he'll explain how he learned OSINT, projects he took on and give suggestions and advice for others who might look to follow in his path.

Episode 96: Dr. Abbie Maroño - The Science of Social Engineering Sep 12, 2022

Dr. Abbie Maroño is the Director of Education at Social Engineer, LLC. She earned her PhD in Behaviour Analysis from Lancaster University in the UK. In this episode, we talk about human lie detection and that everything we learned on Lie to Me might be a lie! How can we discern good scientific information from bad, so we can learn the skills of social engineering and Dr. Maroño also talks about her own new podcast where she goes into the detail of the science and research behind many social engineering topics!

Episode 95: Intel Inquirer - Using Dating Apps and Exercise Apps from an OSINT Perspective Sep 05, 2022

Venessa Ninovic is @Intel_Inquirer on Twitter and frequently posts her findings and research at https://intel-inquirer.medium.com/ She has been on the OSINT Curious podcast and presented at the 2022 SANS OSINT Summit. In this episode, she tells us how much OSINT one can find just in dating apps. She explains how some military members failed so badly at OpSec that they were forced to delete their social media applications and she digs into the exercise app Strava. Strava can reveal quite a bit about the person exercising, even as much as where they live!

Episode 94: Alan Neilan - The Phishing Kit Hunter Aug 29, 2022

Alan Neilan is a security analyst who searches for phishing kits in his spare time, using x0rz's Phishing Catcher. Alan often tweets out his work at @aneilan and he also posts his findings under the title "Crap I Found on the Internet" on his blog at aneilan.github.io. In this episode, Alan talks about how he uses certificate transparency certstreams to feed the analysis tool and tells some of his experiences with reporting the kits he's found.

Episode 93: The Gumshoo - Tales of a PI in OSINT Aug 22, 2022

John TerBush, known as TheGumshoo on Twitter joins us to talk about his previous life as a private investigator and how he merged into the information security world. He, like so many others, was doing OSINT before we called it OSINT and he describes some of the locations and techniques. John is also a founding member of OSINT Curious and a course developer/instructor for the SANS SEC 487 and SEC 587 OSINT courses. He is also a threat researcher for Recorded Future. John has some great advice for getting started in the OSINT world and some fun stories of life on the job.

Episode 92: Dalin McClellan - SE'd Into a Highly Secure Building...How?!? Aug 15, 2022

On this episode, we speak with Dalin McClellan, a penetration tester and social engineer for NetSPI. The idea for this episode came from a blog post that Dalin wrote here: Not Your Average Bug Bounty: How an Email, a Shirt and a Sticker Compromised a High Security Datacenter. Dalin explains the preparation necessary for an on site physical penetration test when the location is highly secured with barbed wire fencing, human guards 24x7, retinal scanners and mantraps. Sometimes very simple solutions can be used to bypass highly technical controls. Just ask.

Episode 91: Sylvain Hajri - What Can You Do With An Email Address? Aug 08, 2022

Sylvain Hajri, aka Navlys_ on Twitter created Epieos.com a freemium site that lets you perform passive OSINT with just an email address. Sylvain wears an incredible number of hats as the creator of not just Epieos but also MyOSINTJob, OSINTFr, the SpyingChallenge and is also an organizer of LeHack in France and also the OSINTVillage.

In this episode, Sylvain has great advice on how to use passive OSINT, on how he created his company and whether people should focus on tools and learn python to get better at OSINT, plus even more!

Episode 90: The Next Generation of Phishing Attack Vectors Aug 01, 2022

When we think of phishing attacks, we immediately think of email. In this episode, Chris Cleveland, the Founder and CEO of Pixm Security walks us through a massive phishing attack that his company discovered. In this attack, millions of Facebook credentials were stolen using multiple layers of trusted environments. Have you ever gotten contacted by a friend in Facebook messenger with a link to check out a funny video? After this episode, you might be a little more careful with those.

If you want to read the blog post that we discuss: https://pixmsecurity.com/blog/blog/phishing-tactics-how-a-threat-actor-stole-1m-credentials-in-4-months/

Episode 89: The Fake PhD Investigator Jul 25, 2022

People claim degrees and credentials that they haven't earned. This could be for a number of reasons, whether professional or personal. In this episode, we speak with the Fake PhD Investigator, a person who uses OSINT to determine whether the doctorate degree that someone claims, has actually been conferred on them. This episode goes through the methodology, some stories and some of the reasons that someone might claim to have earned a doctorate degree when they actually have not.

You can find the Fake PhD Investigator on twitter at FakePhD_reveal.

Episode 88: Jason Downey - The Legend of...Triforce? Jul 18, 2022

Jason Downey is a penetration testing security consultant with Red Siege and is known as HackAndBackpack on Twitter. In this episode, we talked with Jason about phishing, vishing and on-site physical social engineering engagements. He talked about some of the tools he uses, some of his successes and some campaigns that might not have gone exactly to plan. Plus, find out how the Legend of Zelda's Triforce can help people understand a path into this industry.

More information about Jason can be found on his web site, https://hackandbackpack.com

Episode 87: Steven Harris, aka NixIntel Jul 11, 2022

We talk with Steven Harris, aka @nixintel who is an Executive Board Member with @OSINTCurious and is currently employed by Qomplx to perform investigations. He also teaches SEC 487 for SANS. In this episode, we walk through some of the Quiztime investigations that he did on his web site (https://nixintel.info) and another where he was able to figure out exactly who was plagiarizing his content. Steven gives great advice for people starting out, what they should focus on and the value of learning Python.

Episode 86: Griffin Glynn, the Hatless1der! Jul 04, 2022

Griffin is also known online as @hatless1der. You can find his tips and blog articles at hatless1der.com and at the Ultimate OSINT Collection. Griffin is also a part of the National Child Protection Task Force (NCPTF) where he is a speaker at their conference. He also speaks at the ConINT conference. In this episode, Griffin discusses how to do OSINT investigations that require pivoting off data, how to find people who really don't want to be found, and some great ways to get started in the field of OSINT, plus a whole lot more!

Episode 85: Josten Peña - Using Bias in Social Engineering Jun 27, 2022

Josten Peña is a Human Risk Analyst at Social Engineer, LLC. Josten performs risk testing with contracted company employees via phone calls and email. In this episode, Josten focuses on various shortcuts our brains use, commonly known as biases, that can help in some situation, but can also be detrimental in others. Josten describes these biases and how a social engineer might use them to achieve the desired goals.

Episode 85: Erich Kron - Phishing As A Service Jun 20, 2022

In this episode, we talk with Erich Kron from KnowBe4. We go into a number of topics, but mainly focus on phishing. Erich talks about phishing as a service, ransomware as a service and gives recommendations on how to best perform your own phishing engagements within your company.

Episode 84: Oliver Lebhardt - Digital Fingerprinting with Complytron Jun 13, 2022

Oliver Lebhardt is the creator and CEO of Complytron, a tool used for OSINT investigations to determine if seemingly unrelated websites are actually related. In addition, Complytron has data about politically-exposed people (PEP), people who have been sanctioned and who are on government watchlists. The data can be heavily used in anti-money laundering situations, but is also valuable for human intelligence.
Oliver's background is in investigative journalism and has paired his investigatory skills with code developers who have built this powerful database that offers free trials. He originally created the Source Code Leak Project which received funding from Google's Digital News Innovation Fund in 2019.

Episode 83: Chris Russell - The Military's Human Lie Detector Jun 06, 2022

Chris Russell, the CISO of tZero, is @cr00ster on twitter and https://github.com/cr00ster, joins us today to talk about his experience in the military and how he obtained intelligence during the Iraq War. Chris talks about some of the techniques used to help determine when people were telling the truth and when some might have just been looking for a payday. He also talks about his biggest social engineering concern from a CISO's perspective, and why we should focus on treating developers well.

Episode 82: Lock Down Your Life! May 30, 2022

Known online as @LockDownUrLife, we talk about how she helps people who have been a victim of online scams and harassment. She also talks about ways we can protect our own privacy, and what you can do when you are threatened or harassed. Her web site with a lot more information can be found at https://LockDownYourLife.com

Episode 81: Andrew Lemon - Just Walk Right In! May 23, 2022

Our guest this week is Andrew Lemon, who often just goes by "Lemon." You can find Lemon on Twitter as @LemonItUp or on his YouTube channel with original hacking videos. In this episode, we discuss a presentation he gave at the 2021 Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association conference titled "A Social Engineer's Toolkit". He had some fun physical social engineering stories on ways he gets into facilities, on how he tries to get caught and even a story about why one of his engagements didn't go to plan.

Episode 80: Rosa Rowles - Goin' Vishing! May 16, 2022

Rosa (@Rosa_Rowles) is a social engineer working with Social Engineer, LLC. She has an interesting story that includes moving from Spain to England to the US all at a young age. She was a billing coordinator for a hotel before she moved into social engineering. In this episode, she discusses how she uses various principles of influence to evaluate the security posture of her clients. She gives advice on how to build rapport in mere seconds and how to get into the social engineering field without any background in information technology.

Episode 79: Jack Rhysider - Darknet Diaries May 09, 2022

For this episode, we step away from discussing social engineering and OSINT directly and talk with Jack Rhysider. Jack is the creator and host of the hugely popular podcast, Darknet Diaries. Jack talks about and interviews people about "true stories from the dark side of the internet." Jack discusses how he does it, how he finds his guests, how much work goes into creating his biweekly podcast and more.

Jack Rhysider is a veteran to the security world. He gained his professional knowledge of security by working in a Security Operations Center for a Fortune 500 company, a place to where threats are detected and stopped. During that time he was exposed to hundreds of client’s networks ranging from schools, to government, to banks, and commercial organizations.

Episode 78: Christine Talley - Contact Exploitation May 02, 2022

Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of human trafficking and exploitation.

Christine Talley, aka @AthenasOwl_97 joins us to talk about her work as an analyst with the anti-human trafficking task force in California. She talks about how she got started with OSINT after changing careers, tells us one instance where she got to use her former career during a law enforcement engagement and also tells us about contact exploitation. This is a method where she often can begin or continue to follow an OSINT trail with just one small piece of information. Her investigations often have a focus in social media intelligence, or SOCMINT. Christine also recently gave a presentation at the SANS OSINT Summit on April 7, 2022 titled "I Know You: Contact Exploitation in SOCMINT Investigations."

Christine Talley works human trafficking investigations as the analyst for a county-wide task force in California. She is Crime & Intelligence Analysis and GIAC Open Source Intelligence Certified.

Episode 77: Lorand Bodo - Using OSINT to Find Extremists Sep 20, 2021

For this episode, we talked with Lorand Bodo, one of the creators of OSINT Curious. Lorand talks with us about how he recommends people get started with OSINT, what OSINT is and then takes us through some stories about how he tracks jihadists and extremists. He also tells us about his role with OSINT Curious and the webcasts and streaming events that he puts on with them. Lorand also has a weekly updated list of curated tweets from extremists on his web site, lorandbodo.com

Episode 76: Alethe Denis - Creating Pretexts for Social Engineering Sep 13, 2021

Alethe Denis is an amazing accomplished social engineer. She won the Social Engineering Capture the Flag competition at Defcon 27. She was part of a team that won a Trace Labs OSINT Capture the Flag competition. She will again be a judge at the Collegiate Social Engineering competition. She created the Defcon 209 chapter in California, and is the original ambassador to the Innocent Lives Foundation. In this episode, Alethe takes us through her pretext preparation for Defcon and how she creates pretexts for social engineering. She breaks down some of the principles of persuasion that she talks about in her presentation "Phishy Little Liars" and lets us in on an attempted financial scam against her that she exposed.

Episode 75: Rae Baker - Maritime OSINT, Breaking In and OSINT Competitions Sep 06, 2021

For this episode, we get to speak with Rae Baker, also known as Wondersmith_Rae on Twitter. Rae changed careers a few years ago from a graphic designer to the world of OSINT. Along the way, she has competed in and won OSINT competitions, given presentations at BSides, ShmooCon and most recently, Defcon's Recon Village. She has some great advice for how to get into the field and also how to succeed in an OSINT Capture the Flag competition. Rae is on the executive board of OSINT Curious and is also a volunteer with the Innocent Lives Foundation.

Episode 74: Robin Dreeke - Social Engineering Tradecraft Aug 30, 2021

TW: Brief discussion of sexual assault/abuse.

For this episode, we got to speak with Robin Dreeke, a 29 year veteran of federal service, including the US Naval Academy, US Marine Corps and the head of the FBI's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program. Robin owns https://peopleformula.com where he offers skills, newsletters, training classes and his books. In this conversation, we reference his books as we talk about building rapport and Robin's five basic principles of trust: 1) Suspend Your Ego, 2) Be Nonjudgemental, 3) Validate Others, 4) Honor Reason, 5) Be Generous.

Robin's books discussed in the episode are:

When we discuss validation, we referenced a video on YouTube that demonstrates the concept titled "It's Not About the Nail".

Episode 73: Vishing with Curt Klump Aug 23, 2021

For this episode, we talk voice phishing, or vishing, with Curt Klump. Curt is a hacker with Social Engineer, LLC and he gets to hack people simply by calling them on the phone. We got to talk with Curt about how he went from being an actor to a social engineer, how to get started in the industry, great resources for learning, tips for particularly difficult environments and he shares stories of some of his favorite compromises and shut downs.

Episode 72: Onderdompelen with Technisette Aug 16, 2021

For this episode, we are joined by Lisette Abercrombie, probably better known as Technisette. She is a Dutch OSINT investigator and one of the creators of OSINT Curious. We get to talk about her OSINT methodology, some tips and tricks and she shared two stories of her investigations. One that included the value of the color of garbage barrels in an image. We also learned the Dutch term "onderdompelen" meaning to submerge or immerse yourself. Jump in the deep end and start swimming!

Episode 71: The Art of Attack with Maxie Reynolds Aug 09, 2021

For this episode, we get to talk with Maxie Reynolds about her new book, "The Art of Attack: Attacker Mindset for Security Professionals". She talks about her four laws of attack and the skills necessary to be successful. These skills can help you as a social engineer as well as in other areas of life. Maxie is the Technical Team Lead at Social Engineer LLC where she also co-teaches the Advanced Practical Social Engineering course, co-hosts the Social Engineer Podcast, is involved with the Innocent Lives Foundation and you can find her on Instagram.

Episode 70: The OSINT Dojo with Sinwindie Aug 02, 2021

For this episode, we get to talk with Sinwindie. He got his start in law enforcement, learning tools of the trade in open source investigations. Eventually, Sinwindie had the idea to create the OSINT Dojo, a free online resource where people can learn the strategy and methodologies necessary to become better at OSINT investigations. Additionally, if one follows the progression through the Dojo, they'll have tangible results that can be shared with others or assist in job searches.

Episode 69: Natalia Antonova - GeoLocation Challenges and Keeping Safe Online Jul 26, 2021

For this episode, we hear from Natalia Antonova, a journalist, a researcher and an OSINTer. She frequently posts on Substack at https://nataliaantonova.substack.com/ where she has given Geolocation challenges, tips for spotting a catfish, and using Google Lens, among other topics. She also posts on Twitter at @NataliaAntonova. Check out this episode for her tips on how to avoid online stalkers, why she posts photos of herself and challenges people with "Where am I?" and about learning human psychology.

And please join us for the Layer 8 Conference, happening online, October 8th. https://layer8conference.com

Episode 68: Kate Kelley - The Photo Angel Jul 19, 2021

In this episode, we talk with Kate Kelley, also known as The Photo Angel. Kate connects old photos with relatives of those in the photo. She uses OSINT techniques to locate the family members, often starting with little information. Kate finds the photos in antique stores and then goes to work on finding the family members. She also runs a Facebook group where she and others share stories of successful connections. The group is also named The Photo Angel. Kate was also recently featured in the Boston Globe, in an article describing her project.

Episode 67: "Lead with What Makes You Good" by Charles Hein Wroth Jul 12, 2021

In this episode, we speak with @AngusRedBlue, Charles Hein Wroth. Charles founded redherd.io and is a technical recruiter, but not your typical recruiter. Charles is a technical recruiter who understands the technical aspects of security, has given presentations at security conferences, regularly volunteers at conferences and also created Hack South, a South African infosec community. Charles also competes in the Trace Labs OSINT competitions.
Charles tells us what he looks for in technical candidates, the value of certifications, how to get experience without having experience and his recommendations on how to make your resume stand out and catch the eye of the hiring managers.

Episode 66: Micah Hoffman - His Origins in Infosec and in OSINT Jul 06, 2021

Micah Hoffman, known as WebBreacher on Twitter is a pioneer in the OSINT field. He created his own company, Spotlight Infosec, he created and teaches SANS 487: Open Source Intelligence Gathering and Analysis and also created OSINT Curious. We talked with Micah about how he got his start in infosec, how he started in OSINT and a little about Impostor Syndrome and feelings. Micah also gives advice on getting started and about OSINT strategy vs. tools.

Episode 65: ILFest with Shane McCombs, Mandy Cox and John McCombs Jun 28, 2021

The second annual ILFest will begin at 11 am US ET on July 10th and available on Twitch.tv. In this episode, we hear from Shane, Mandy and John about what the Innocent Lives Foundation (ILF) is, the type of work that they do to unmask predators of children online and how they work with law enforcement to take these people off the streets. We'll hear about ways they raise money at ILFest including a "Sandwich of Suffering" which might be much to Chris Hadnagy's chagrin.

Episode 64: The Sweet Old Lady and the Devil by Sam Moses Jun 21, 2021

We are joined by our good friend, Sam Moses, who generally goes by Moses. He tells us two stories of phishing and vishing engagements. He talks about the OSINT he performed and shows its value. He takes us through the ups and downs of calling people and how sometimes, no matter how prepared you are, there can still be an unforeseen curve thrown at you. He also tells us about a really nice conversation with The Sweet Old Lady and all the fun information she shared with him. Moses also gives advice on how to defend against these types of calls and how someone can get started as a social engineer!

Episode 63: Joe Gray's Book Release - Practical Social Engineering Jun 14, 2021

For this episode, we talk with Joe Gray, also known as @C_3PJoe on Twitter. His web site is https://www.theosintion.com, a destination for OSINT and social engineering training. Joe is an accomplished conference speaker and won the social engineering capture the flag competition at DerbyCon. Joe tells us about a couple of his favorite presentations and projects he has worked on, how to get started in the OSINT industry and tells us about his book Practical Social Engineering, available from No Starch Press. There is even a free chapter available for download!

Episode 62: Jonathan Younie - Social Engineering from a CISO's Point of View Jun 07, 2021

On this episode, we talked with Jonathan Younie, aka @InfosecCanuck. Younie is a CISO for a financial services firm and a social engineer. He talks with us about his experience at the recent Human Hacking Conference, and the lessons he brought back for his own company's social engineering training. Younie has also created and is a part of social engineering and OSINT professional networking groups on Clubhouse and Slack. Younie also gives us a little bit of information about the upcoming ILF Fest, being run by the Innocent Lives Foundation and the associated "Sandwich of Suffering" that could be in Chris Hadnagy's future.

Episode 61: Polarisu Solves the OSINT Challenge May 31, 2021

On April 3, we re-shared a photo from a friend of a building and asked "Where is this?" People from literally around the world began searching, and it wasn't until the following day when Marlena von Hoffer, aka @Polarisu used her skiptracing OSINT skills to finally locate the building in the image. In this episode, Marlena tells us about the tools, techniques and strategy she used to eventually figure out the location. She also tells us a fun story of how she was able to locate someone using only incomplete information.

The original image that we were searching for can be found here: https://twitter.com/Layer8Con/status/1378372070153785346

Episode 60: Breaking Into Buildings with Crystal May 24, 2021

For this episode, Crystal aka UnluckyNum7 joins us to talk about her methods and strategy for bypassing security controls to access buildings. She talks about what she did when faced with locked doors during an upstate New York winter, or when the elevator required a valid badge to get to floors and what she came up with when someone asked what she will bring to the company holiday party. All this and more in today's fun episode!

Episode 59: Twig - Identifying Locks and Vishing Her Targets May 17, 2021

For this episode, we welcome our friend Twig. Twig is a member of IBM’s X-Force Red and a social engineer. She tells us about a lock identification tool that she created and presented at Shellcon. She also takes us through a vishing engagement and the various strategies that she uses.

Episode 58: Siobhan Kelleher - "Be Stubborn and Want to Learn" May 10, 2021

For this episode, we're joined by Siobhan Kelleher, also known as @Secure_Coffee. Siobhan's day job is in higher ed but she got introduced to OSINT by joining in to a Trace Labs Capture the Flag competition at the 2019 Layer 8 Conference. She has worked in sales, so she's also always had a knack for social engineering, plus it appears to run in her family. Let's hear from Siobhan about the strategies and many tools that she has learned to use during her OSINT investigations.

Episode 57: Collegiate Social Engineering Capture the Flag Organizing Team May 03, 2021

The main organizers of the Collegiate SECTF include Temple University's CARE Lab of Professor Aunshul Rege, Rachel Bleiman and Katorah Williams, plus Patrick Laverty from Layer 8 Conference. In this episode, the team discusses the origins of the SECTF, how it works, who can compete, as well as the impressions of the competition by graduate students Rachel and Katorah. If you are a college student and would like to compete in this tournament, this is a can't miss episode!

Episode 56: Michele Stuart - Evolution of OSINT Tools and Talking Her Way Into a Super Bowl Party Apr 26, 2021

For this episode, we speak with Michele Stuart of JAG Investigations. Michele is a social engineer and OSINT investigator. She also offers training on her strategies and techniques. Michele tells us about the OSINT tools that she used when she first got started in the field, which was before searching on the internet became common. She also tells us how she talked her way into a Super Bowl party and also ended up selling raffle tickets at a holiday party!

Episode 55: Magic and Social Engineering with Lee Anderson, Richard Davy and Chris Kirsch Apr 19, 2021

For this episode, we speak with three social engineers who are also hobbyists in the art of magic. Magic is often about deception, distraction and sleight of hand techniques. We'll talk with Lee, Richard and Chris about how they got started learning these techniques, as well as some of the psychology needed to make people believe the tricks and find the overlaps with social engineering.

Episode 54: Searching the Dark Net with Levitannin Apr 12, 2021

What is the dark net, the dark web, the clear web and the differences between them? For this episode, we'll hear some fun stories from Levitannin, an OSINT researcher and Innocent Lives Foundation volunteer. Are Red Rooms real? And what are some of the places to look for some of the rumored illicit information that is on these layers of the internet? Join Levi today and find out all this, plus even more!
And you can also join Levi for the Innocent Lives Foundation gamer streams on Twitch!

If you enjoyed this episode or any others here, please donate to the Innocent Lives Foundation.

Episode 53: Collegiate SECTF with Ragnhild "Bridget" Sageng, Prof. Aunshul Rege and TinkerSec Apr 05, 2021

From October 2nd to 4th, six teams competed in the first ever Collegiate Social Engineering Capture the Flag competition at Temple University. They were tested on their ability to perform OSINT, create a phishing email and even make phone calls to gain information. This episode speaks with the creator of the competition, Professor Aunshul Rege and the winner of the competition, a one-woman team from Noroff University College in Norway, Ragnhild "Bridget" Sageng. We also have one of the judges with us, our long time friend and all around great person, TinkerSec!

Stay tuned for announcements about the second annual competition, coming soon!

Episode 52: Tokyo_v2 - Anonymous Reviews Might Not Be So Anonymous Mar 29, 2021

For this episode, we welcome our friend Tokyo. Tokyo is a member of Team Searchlight community, and is the author of many blog posts on OSINT investigations. Today, Tokyo shows us the steps, methodology and tools that can be used to trace a single online review all the way to the person who left it.

Episode 51: Stefanie LaHart - The Defcon Social Engineering Capture the Flag Experience Mar 22, 2021

For this episode, we hear from Stefanie LaHart. Stefanie is an expert social media strategist and podcaster who has competed in the Defcon social engineering capture the flag competition twice! She tells us how she got into the competition as someone who was unfamiliar with the terms social engineering and OSINT, showed up to the competition without much of a strategy and figured it out on the spot. She also tells us about what happened when a person from her competition target was in the audience, listening to her vishing calls.
This summer, Stefanie has a book being released, she has a class on safe online dating for women as well as many social media tips, tricks and strategies. You can find all of this and more at http://StefanieLahart.com.

Episode 50: BOsintBlanc - Let's Talk Methodology Mar 15, 2021

For this episode, we welcome BOsintBlanc. He loves to use OSINT tools and loves to help others with their OSINT skills. But there's one thing that he'd love to see everyone do before using tools. That is to develop a solid methodology and mindset around the OSINT process. In this episode, he talks about how he got started in OSINT and other tips and tricks to refining your own methodology. Also, he asks that you consider making a donation to the National Child Protection Task Force, where he volunteers.

Episode 49: Nicole Beckwith - Going Undercover for Roses and the PornHub Interview Mar 08, 2021

For this episode, we welcome Nicole Beckwith. Nicole is a Staff Cyber Intel Analyst with GE Aviation. She previously worked in law enforcement and was tasked with going undercover into the world of sex work. She played the role of a sex worker and explains all the background and research that went into it, learning the language, the acronyms, the signal words and ways to protect herself in the job. She also tells a second story of a night when one unsuspecting person crossed paths with Nicole and other social engineers and inadvertently began an interview for PornHub.

Episode 48: Phillip Wylie - Pwn School, Pentester Blueprint, and Wrestling a Bear! Mar 01, 2021

In this episode, we talk with Phillip Wylie. Phillip is a former professional wrestler turned hacker and now teacher, and an ambassador to the Innocent Lives Foundation. Please donate today on Phillip's page! Phillip works as an offensive security instructor for INE, he created the Pwn School, co-authored The Pentester's Blueprint with Kim Crawley which he also turned into a conference presentation, and also co-hosts the podcast The Uncommon Journey with Alyssa Miller and Chloe Messdaghi. Phillip tells the lessons he imparts on his students, getting into pentesting as well as the crossover of social engineering into his professions in jewelry sales and professional wrestling. Oh, and did you hear he wrestled a bear?

Episode 47: Deviant Ollam - The Covert Entry Specialist Feb 22, 2021

For this episode, we speak with @DeviantOllam who runs both the Core Group and Red Team Alliance. Deviant is also the author of two books, Practical Lock Picking: A Physical Penetration Tester's Training Guide and Keys to the Kingdom: Impressioning, Privilege Escalation, Bumping, and Other Key-Based Attacks Against Physical Locks. Today, Deviant tells us three stories of covert entry, including much of his strategy, tips, techniques and the social engineering that goes into an engagement. He also tells us of the most difficult building he has ever had to enter and what made it so difficult for him.

Episode 46: Ryan MacDougall and Curt Klump - Using OSINT to Get the Win! Feb 15, 2021

For this episode, we talk with Ryan MacDougall, the Chief Operating Officer at Social-Engineer.org and Curt Klump, a Human Risk Analyst, also at Social-Engineer.org. They tell two stories of using OSINT during social engineering engagements. In Ryan's, he shows how sometimes no matter how deep you dig, it might not be enough. In Curt's story, he tells us about ways that he was able to use OSINT to find a ghost.

Curt and Ryan also join us to talk about the upcoming Human Hacking Conference on March 11th to 13th, 2021. If you sign up now, use the Promo Code L8HHC100 to get $100 off your registration price!

Episode 45: Zlata Pavlova - Доверяй, но проверяй Feb 08, 2021

Доверяй, но проверяй - Doveryai, No Proveryai (Trust, but verify)
For this episode, we welcome Zlata Pavlova aka @3latka_ on Twitter. By day, Zlata works with InGuardians but she is also working with OSINT and social engineering. Zlata speaks multiple languages which is a big asset with the type of OSINT she does. Today, she walks us through the steps that a hacker took to take control of a celebrity's Instagram account.

Episode 44: Jon Nichols and John Kirbow - PsyOps and Disinformation Campaigns Feb 01, 2021

For this episode, we talk with Jon Nichols, aka @WVUAlphaSoldier and @JohnKirbow, two men trained by the US military in psychological operations and disinformation. We talk with them about current disinformation campaigns, where they come from, how they work and how people can start to understand each other again.

Episode 43: Benjamin Strick - OSINT Takedown of West Papua Disinformation Jan 25, 2021

For this episode, we welcome Benjamin Strick, also known as BenDoBrown on Twitter. Ben tells us of an investigation that he published for Bellingcat where he was seeing contrasting information coming from Indonesia during a genocidal event. He began digging in, starting with a Twitter timeline that was publishing videos and eventually got to the source, but not without experiencing death threats for his work along the way.

You can find Ben's writeups here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-world/2019/10/11/investigating-information-operations-in-west-papua-a-digital-forensic-case-study-of-cross-platform-network-analysis/ and here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/11/11/west-papua-new-online-influence-operation-attempts-to-sway-independence-debate/

Episode 42: Edward Miro - Social Rideshare Experience and Hacking Your Own Brain Jan 18, 2021

We welcome Edward Miro to this week's episode. You can find his work on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/MiroLabs or his own site, https://mirolabs.info. In this episode, Edward walks us through his start in the field as he gave a presentation in the Defcon Social Engineering Village to hundreds of attendees, and he talks about social tips he learned as a rideshare driver and also tells us how we can hack our own brain.

Episode 41: Leon Johnson and Shane Young - Pwning the Check Casher Jan 11, 2021

Two expert social engineers, Leon (“sho_luv“) Johnson and Shane (“t1d3nio“) Young are assigned to infiltrate a financial institution. In this episode, they tell us how they went on the roof, to the basement, got into the safe and even got some valuable shirts for themselves.

Episode 40: Hakeem Thomas - The Unredaction Expert Jan 04, 2021

Hakeem Thomas tells us about his start in OSINT, beginning with a Capture the Flag competition where he got a simple, helpful tip that led him in a career direction. He also became the expert at being able to unredact a great deal of hidden information in documents, some of which he'll share with us. You can find Hakeem on Twitter at @S6Vet_Infosec

Episode 39: Jenny Radcliffe - The Cat and the Cake (and the Open Window) Dec 28, 2020

We get to talk with social engineer and fellow podcaster Jenny Radcliffe as she tells us a couple great stories. The first story is one that she has never told before, and the second one is what she did when on an SE job and faced with a birthday cake, a cat, and an open window. You can see Jenny's work and check out her podcast at https://humanfactorsecurity.co.uk

Episode 38: Tigran Terpandjian - The Experience Catch-22 Dec 21, 2020

We have Tigran Terpandjian, also known as Th3CyF0x talking to us about how he also faced the common Catch-22 of needing experience to get a job, but how do you get the experience without a job. He talks about the strategies that he used and gives tips on things others than try too. You can also ask Tigran about his love of foxes and ramen!

Episode 37: Billy and Vache - Flair Bartending and SE Dec 14, 2020

This is an interview episode with Billy (@fuzzy_logic) Boatright and Vache (@flying.v) Manoukian. These guys are social engineers and flair bartenders. During this interview, Billy and Vache talk about how quickly the build rapport and some of the tips and tricks they have for winning people over quickly.

Episode 36: Inês Narciso - Teamwork Makes Dreamwork Dec 07, 2020

Our friend, Inês Narciso talks about how to best use multi-disciplinary teams to be most efficient during OSINT and social engineering investigations. She talks about bringing together specialists to create teams that will better get the needed information.

You can find Ines on Twitter at @IWN_LX and she also presented at the Layer 8 Conference in 2020 on OSINT’s Role Tackling Disinformation In Portuguese Elections

Episode 35: Joshua Richards - Buying/Selling Body Parts on the Dark Web Nov 30, 2020

Joshua Richards, is also known as AccessOSINT on twitter and can be found as an administrator on the Searchlight Discord server. Josh was doing a little searching on the dark web one day and found someone looking to sell human body organs. In this episode, he tells us how he used OSINT to discover the identity of the person, and hand that information off to law enforcement officials.

You can read Josh's blog at https://accessosint.com/

Episode 34: Shelby Dacko - ScaryLilHuman in the Trash Chute Nov 23, 2020

For this episode, Shelby Dacko, also known as @ScaryLilHuman tells us how she got started as a social engineer, and also about one engagement where the team was running into roadblocks. That is, until they discovered one path into the server room was through a very narrow trash chute that only a small person could fit through. Shelby fit the bill.

Catch Shelby teaching a course on vishing at the Human Hacking Conference from March 11th to 13th.

Episode 33: MangoPDF - The "Don't Get Arrested Challenge" Nov 16, 2020

MangoPDF, also known as Alex Hope is from Australia. One day, a friend asked him what information can he get from a simple boarding pass. With this, the "Don't Get Arrested" challenge began. What information can one person get from a boarding pass, what kind of legal trouble might it lead to and who might even call your phone. All things Alex found out!

You can follow along with Alex's story on his blog at The Mango.PDF.Zone!

Episode 32: Marina Ciavatta - Tropical Spy: Stories And Tricks From Social Engineering Jun 29, 2020

Here is Marina's presentation from the Layer 8 Conference. She did not want the video released but allowed for the audio.

Episode 31: Joe Gray - His Origins and a Phish Jun 29, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Joe Gray, a senior OSINT specialist at QOMPLX, a frequent public speaker at conferences and trainer of OSINT and social engineering. Joe joins us to tell us how he got into the field and how he got to where he is today. He also tells a second story about a particular phishing engagement where a senior manager built him up as someone who was unstoppable. But was he? Let him tell you how that went.

Episode 30: Brent White and Tim Roberts Jun 22, 2020

For this episode, we veer off course again. This time, to talk with Brent White and Tim Roberts from NTT Security and their own site wehackpeople.com. One day, Brent asked on twitter what types of things people would want to know about social engineering and he got some great questions. I asked and he and Tim agreed to answer those questions on this podcast. Let’s hear their answers now.

Episode 29: Social Engineers from Rapid7 Jun 15, 2020

For this episode, we talk with three expert social engineers from Rapid7. Leon Johnson, Aaron Herndon and Jonathan Stines will tell us about some of the best security they’ve seen, some of the worst, some of the tools they carry on an engagement and how they sleep at night, knowing it is their job to trick people.

Episode 28: Josh (@Baywolf88) Huff Jun 01, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Josh Huff, but you might know him as BayWolf88 on Twitter. He is a member of the OSINTCurious Advisory board and runs the web site LearnAllTheThings.net. In his experience doing digital forensics, he learned how to best frame information for those who hired him, which also helps with his OSINT investigations. Plus, he talks about how he dabbles in social engineering!

Episode 27: TrustedSec Social Engineers Ask Me Anything May 25, 2020

For this episode, we have another Ask Me Anything treat for you. Today’s guests are four social engineers from TrustedSec. We’ll hear from David Boyd, Paul Koblitz, Scot Berner and Jason Lang. Let's talk about their favorite engagements, some times when things went well, and some engagements that didn’t go so well and how they handle the situation when an engagement goes upside down. We’ll hear of one time when a medical procedure almost went too far and plus some resources on how to get started in social engineering.

Episode 26: Krittika Lalwaney - One Woman's Domination in a Male Dominated Field May 18, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Krittika Lalwaney. Krittika is a red teamer on the offensive security team for Capital One. She is a social engineering capture the flag black badge winner at DerbyCon in 2018. She takes us through her career path, where she started, which was not in IT, to eventually joining a SOC, catching a red teamer due to her awareness, all the way to her successes of today. This is a story of one woman’s domination in a male dominated field. Take it away Krittika!

Episode 25: Tracy Z. Maleeff, a.k.a. The InfoSecSherpa May 11, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Tracy Z. Maleeff, also known as InfosecSherpa. He has a blog set up at medium.com/@infosecsherpa and a newsletter at nuzzel.com/infosecsherpa. Tracy harkens us back to her presentation from Layer 8 Conference last year titled Lawyers, Guns and Money where she showed us great sources of OSINT research. Today, she gives us even more sources to search and explains how at the heart of it, security is a people problem so let’s also focus on interpersonal communications.

Episode 24: OSINT AMA with Noneprivacy and Ding0snax May 04, 2020

For this episode, we break our format again and interview two OSINT experts, Francesco Poldi and Jason Edison. Also known as @NonePrivacy and @Ding0snax on Twitter. These two are commonly found sharing information on the https://osint.team server. In this “Ask Me Anything” find out their thoughts on an OSINT mindset, some investigations they have dug in to, what gets them excited and how you can also be a better OSINT investigator.

Episode 23: Amanda Berlin - The $15,000 Teddy Bear Apr 27, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Amanda Berlin of Blumira. She is also the CEO of the non-profit organization Mental Health Hackers, and can be found on twitter at InfoSystir. Today, she tells us about a romance scam where she helped a friend finally understand she was being duped, and explains how these work, plus she’ll tell us a little bit about a fifteen thousand dollar teddy bear.

Episode 22: Derrick Levasseur - Going to College...for the Bust Apr 20, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Derrick Levasseur, winner of Big Brother season 16, host of the Discovery ID tv show Breaking Homicide and the author of the best selling book, Undercover Edge, which helps you find your strengths and gain confidence to win in all situations. Derrick tells us the story about the first time he went undercover as a police officer and the methods he used to quickly gain the trust of a university drug dealer over a few games of pool that eventually led to a bust.

Episode 21: Adam Compton - The Ladder and the Big Gulp Apr 13, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Adam Compton, a pentester and social engineer for TrustedSec. You can also meet TrustedSec at the Layer 8 Conference, and you can find Adam on twitter at Tatanus. Adam talks about the various ways and methods that he was able to successfully test the physical security of a health care facility, using the remnants of a Big Gulp and a ladder in the snow, as well as simply asking for a tour.

Episode 20: Ritu Gill - Tips and Tricks from OSINTtechniques Apr 06, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Ritu Gill, also known as OSINTTechniques on twitter and at osinttechniques.com. First, Ritu helps us to understand the differences between intelligence and data. Then she takes us through some examples of combinations of OSINT and social engineering. In one such example, she finds a way to get a target to reveal his real name on Facebook. She also tells us about canary tokens and phone spoofing.

Episode 19: Jayson E. Street - "One of the Best Stories I Can Tell" Mar 30, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Jayson E. Street, VP at SphereNY and will be teaching a two-day course at Blackhat titled “Access Denied - Social Engineering Detection and Incident Response”. Jayson tells us about a huge success for him, getting caught. Physical social engineers are often able to breach a company’s physical defenses, but are we teaching the client how to improve? Jayson proudly tells us about one incredible success story.

Episode 18: Christina Lekati - They Never Saw Her Coming Mar 23, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Christina Lekati, a social engineer and psychologist for Cyber Risk Gmbh in Switzerland. You can find her on twitter at ChristinaLekati. Christina was tasked with confirming one client’s suspicions that their employee was stealing information from them. In this story, you’ll hear that the target had no idea what was coming for him once Christina got started.

Episode 17: AMA with Snow and TinkerSec Mar 19, 2020

Warning: Some language used is NSFW or children.
For this episode, we break our format. Usually, we have a social engineer or OSINT investigator on to walk us through a great story, a fun engagement or the methodology of an investigation. On this episode, we welcome two extremely accomplished social engineers, Snow and TinkerSec to just chat, answer a few questions, give opinions and recount a lot of fun stories. You can find them on Twitter at @_sn0ww and @TinkerSec.

In this episode, Snow mentions her Full Scope Social Engineering class being taught at BlackHat USA. You can find out more about that class here: https://www.blackhat.com/us-19/training/schedule/index.html#full-scope-social-engineering-and-physical-security-14232

Episode 16: Julie Clegg - Top 5 Things Not Seen on Hunted Mar 16, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Julie Clegg, the OSINT expert on the United Kingdom-based television show "Hunted". Julie is also putting together OSINT2020, an event where OSINT investigators can come together and talk about the future of investigations. You can find out more at OSINT2020.com. Julie talks with us about her five favorite events that happened on Hunted but you didn’t get to see on television. She talks about various activities by the hunters and some pranks that the hunters and hunted played on each other. You can contact Julie on Twitter at @HuntedJulie

Episode 15: Cat Murdock - Know Your Name and Bring Snacks Mar 09, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Cat Murdock, a security consultant and social engineer from Guidepoint Security. You can find Cat on Twitter at CatMurd0ck. While most of our episodes are safe for work, this one has a few words mixed in that you might not want children to hear. Cat takes us through some of her social engineering encounters, explains why snacks and bathroom breaks are important and why the names on paperwork are very important.

Episode 14: Dutch_OSINTGuy - Spot the Jihadi Mar 02, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Nico Dekins, also known as Dutch OSINT Guy and a co-host of the OSINT Curious podcast. You can find Nico on Twitter at Dutch_OSINTGuy. Law enforcement officials in the Netherlands asked him to confirm whether a potential Jihadi’s threats were credible. They only gave him a first name and minimal other information. Find out how Nico went through his methodology to get the confirmation they needed.

Episode 13: Alethe Denis - Social Engineer Your Own Brain Feb 24, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Alethe Denis, the founder of Dragonfly Security and the reigning champion of the Defcon social engineering capture the flag competition. This is Alethe’s story of where she came from, how she was always a social engineer from childhood and also how words from Lady Gaga turned her life around. She tells us how we can social engineer ourselves to move in a positive direction.

Episode 12: Keith Cox - The Value of Flexibility During Vishing Feb 17, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Keith Cox, a social engineer and pentester from Rapid7. Keith takes us through a recent vishing engagement and he tells us how sometimes you can learn from the initial calls you make to drastically change your pretext and how it worked for him. Keith also describes how he got to flip the script a little and help his mentor fine tune his own social engineering skills.

Episode 11: Kirby Plessas - Happy Birthday...or is it? Feb 10, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Kirby Plessas, host of the OSINT curious podcast. She is the founder and CEO of the Plessas Experts Network, found at plessas.net where you can find online training about how to perform OSINT investigations. Kirby tells us how she was able to track down a hacker, simply because someone wished him happy birthday.

Episode 10: Marina Ciavatta - Just Ask For Feedback Feb 03, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Marina Ciavatta, the journalist turned social engineer, from Brazil. Marina describes her first physical social engineering engagement where she will tell us how she successfully bypassed biometrics and how people will willingly give you more information if you just ask.

You can find Marina on Twitter at: @MarinaCiavatta

Episode 9: Wondersmith Rae - Unraveling an Online Puppy Scam Jan 27, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Wondersmith Rae, a professional OSINT investigator who tells us the story of an online puppy scam. This is a story where pulling on one thread of information seemed to lead down varying paths and exposing additional interesting areas to investigate. She and @Tokyo_v2 also wrote a blog post on Medium.com about her investigation titled “Anatomy of a Puppy Scam, Part 1, Meet Layla” where you can find even more details.

You can find her on twitter at @Wondersmith_Rae

Episode 8: Deveeshree Nayak - Turning a Facebook Feature into a Ticket to Defcon Jan 22, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Deveeshree Nayak, an educationalist and information security professional where she tells us about how she was able to find weaknesses in Facebook for gathering information on friends of friends, which eventually led to the company inviting her to Defcon.

You can find Deveeshree on LinkedIn.

Episode 7: Robby Stewart - Sometimes the Client Wins Jan 21, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Robby Stewart, a social engineer and pentester at Rapid7. Robby tells us about a story that we don’t hear that often from social engineers...failure. He explains why some might consider his test a failure and why some would call it a success.

You can find Robby on Twitter at @RizzyRong.

Episode 6: Robby Stewart - How a Social Engineer (Ab)uses Trust Jan 20, 2020

For this episode, we welcome Robby Stewart, a social engineer and pentester at Rapid7. Robby takes us through the first social engineering engagement and the various decisions he needed to make along the way. He also explains how a good social engineer can really take advantage of people’s assumptions and their trust.
You can find Robby on twitter at @RizzyRong

Episode 5: Matthias Wilson - Combining OSINT with SE in Germany Jan 13, 2020

For this episode, we have Matthias Wilson, also known as MwOsint on twitter and owner of the https://keyfindings.blog site. Matthias is in Germany where the default is to trust no one and privacy is the utmost concern. Matthias takes us through how he was able to combine social engineering and OSINT to find out if a given business address was legit, or something a little more shady.

Episode 4: Steve Laura - A Full PSE Walkthrough Jan 06, 2020

For this episode, we have Steve Laura, a social engineer and pentester for Blue Cross Blue Shield. On this longer episode, he takes through the recon, the initial access, his thought process along the way and how he dealt with employees on the lookout for a pentester trying to get into their building!

You can find Steve on twitter at Steven1669.

Episode 3: Katelyn Bowden - Her First OSINT Dec 31, 2019

For this episode, we have Katelyn Bowden, CEO of the BADASS Army, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to victims of revenge porn and image abuse. Katelyn tells us about her first experience with OSINT. A personal experience that involved some social engineering to drum up some small town drama and how a machine gun was the one piece of information that got Katelyn the goods.

You can find Katelyn on twitter at BadassBowden.

Episode 2: Katelyn Bowden - Taking Down a Criminal Dec 31, 2019

For this episode, we have Katelyn Bowden, CEO of the BADASS Army, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to victims of revenge porn and image abuse. Katelyn tells us about how her organization works and how her experience with a siren, and how one guy’s desire for Funko Pops ended up being his downfall in the world of trading nude images.

You can find Katelyn on Twitter at BadassBowden.

Episode 1: Trevor O'Donnal - Rapport Building with Vishing Dec 17, 2019

For our first episode, we have Trevor O’Donnal from Rapid7. Trevor tells us about a particularly difficult social engineering engagement where he needed to engage staff through phone calls. But it was a small company, everyone knows each other and sits near each other. Let’s hear Trevor tell us how he used good reconnaissance to build rapport and get people talking.

You can find Trevor on Twitter at todonnal.

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