What the Hack?

Ethan Merritt is an WTH alum, but the last time he was on the pod he was the target. This time, he asked for it: Find four flags using only publicly viewable data. Social media posts, podcasts, leaked passwords, a cat-tree video. Listen to hear how we did. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A teenager rage-hacks a Tetris leaderboard and becomes a millionaire by 18. Now Tal Kollender breaks into companies for a living—and fixes whatever made that possible. We talk about that and Anthropic's Mythos, which is a cyber idyll for our time. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marketing visionary Seth Godin explains how the Internet got hijacked by an attention-stealing spam economy that keeps us in an endless loop of badly targeted marketing. Godin's anti-spam playbook: demand companies earn your attention with awesomeness, and break the digital slop loop that broke the Internet. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com Learn more about you...

A retired Army Colonel becomes the unwitting face of thousands of romance scams. Bryan Denny has been breaking the hearts of people he's never met for years. What do you do when hundreds of crime rings are using your face? Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She said her name was Clara Harper from Chase Bank. She argued with a police officer. She needed gift cards. Brian Ward shares the three times his 85-year-old father got scammed — and why the most unsettling thing wasn't the con. It was how reasonable it all sounded. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

Craig doesn't have Facebook. He's not a gamer. He builds things, fixes things, grows things, has an assortment of antique chainsaws. So why is his name, age, address, and phone number sitting on a website right now available to anyone who knows his name? Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A former military guy goes viral, but not in the way he'd hoped. With fake profiles popping up by the dozen using his photos to scam lonelyhearts out of money, Ethan Merritt did what we all fantasize about from time to time: he scammed the scammer. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ACLU's Nate Freed Wessler won Carpenter v. United States and changed how the Fourth Amendment applies to your phone. But data brokers found a workaround — and the IRS, the Pentagon, and ICE all bought in. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suveillance-for-profit bros say they can eliminate crime in America, but what about the Fourth Amendment? This week: a 1950s numbers racket and some real talk with Jason Koebler, Benn Jordan, GainSec, and the ACLU's Nate Freed Wessler. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Online fraud isn't just getting smarter, it's getting personal. Becky Holmes, author of "The Future of Fraud," traces con artists from ancient Rome to AI-powered scam compounds, and asks a question for our post-breach reality: Is Trust dead? Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sen. Ron Wyden, the longest-serving member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the ACLU’s Kia Hamadanchy and Marcy Wheeler explain why the deadline to reauthorize Section 702 of FISA may be the most important privacy vote in a generation—and what you can do about it.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

Data as duh-duh. It's all is out there—indexed, sold, and weaponized. Open source intelligence turns public records into a hacker's playground, your LinkedIn profile is dangerous, but you can still claw back a little privacy before it's gone for good. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The whisper: A downed U.S. pilot was located by tracking his heartbeat from 40 miles away. Real, or fake news to rattle Iran? Benn Jordan and physicist Chad Orzel help us separate the science fiction from the real threats we all face right now. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve heard how the compounds work. This week we go inside one—through the eyes of Small Q, an Ugandan musician who was trafficked in and got out—also: Erin West of Operation Shamrock on the bigger picture.  Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christopher Anderson has spent thirty years in high-stakes situations—war zones, sinking boats, the current White House. What he’s learned about the information people don’t know they’re giving away is the privacy lesson you need to hear.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year and a vocal advocate for diversity in tech, Tracy Chou built Block Party after discovering firsthand that the platforms have no real incentive to protect you from the people who want to harm you.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Clemente built a career reading criminals. FBI special agent, behavioral profiler, Unabomber case, the hit series Criminal Minds. Then someone bought his debit card number on the dark web, linked it to a peer-to-peer finance app, and cleaned him out.  Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flock Safety says their cameras have never been hacked. Benn Jordan and Jason Koebler watched themselves on one from their homes. This week: a deep dive into the vulnerabilities, the no-opt-out tracking, and a simple question: Does any of it makes us safer? Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No deep fake here. This week, Al Franken does his own impersonations of Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins in this mock Senate Hearing featuring Siri (played by the actual voice-over talent Susan Bennett) and Al’s fellow SNL alum Laraine Newman playing the part of Alexa. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more...

Benn Jordan—musician, acoustic scientist, and one of the sharpest minds on surveillance technology—joins 404 Media’s Jason Koebler and the ACLU’s Jay Stanley to trace how surveillance went ambient— and what it means when everyone’s being watched. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feeling watched? Join us as Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark breaks down the new reality of digital surveillance. From school apps to AI scams, we dive into how companies collect your data and how to take control of your online privacy. The war for privacy is real—and it's a fight you can't afford to lose. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more abou...

Online fraud isn’t just annoying. It’s a national crisis, one that may have drained $158 billion from the U.S. economy last year alone. In this episode, AARP’s Kathy Stokes joins us to explain how fraud has evolved into a sophisticated, global operation and why we’re still blaming the victims instead of stopping the crime. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Lear...

MGM lost $100 million in 2023. Then Caesars paid $15 million ransom. A few phone calls shut down Vegas, highlighting the destruction that one fast talker can unleash in a zero trust environment. This week we explore what that means in the here and now. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're going to the movies. Virginia Heffernan joins us to talk about Groundhog Day (the movie), surveillance, and why online systems reward repetition over reflection and connection with a special cameo by marketing maestro Seth Godin.  Magic + Loss: https://virginiaheffernan.substack.com/ Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad ch...

After exposing the scam compounds and human trafficking behind today’s fraud economy, we follow the money, the power, and the few pressure points—from crypto seizures to sanctions—that might actually help spell the end of Southeast Asian scam compounds. Make yourself harder to find, harder to hit: https://joindeleteme.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices