Hacked

In this episode: the inside story of Danabot, the malware-as-a-service platform that thrived in the shadows for nearly a decade—until a critical mistake exposed its creators. Just last week, U.S. prosecutors unsealed charges against sixteen alleged operators, using evidence pulled not from a takedown, but from Danabot’s own infection logs. Plus: a roundup of other top stories. Last week was a reru...

Today malware is all nation state actors and organized crime, but in the beginning it was more about making a statement. Dan is a malware historian. He finds old hardware and viruses, runs them, and sees what happens. So we sat down to discuss the history of malware, where it's come from, and where he thinks it's going next. Check out his amazing YouTube channel at ⁠https://www.youtube.com/user/da...

Schools out for summer. Another collection of computer confessions and strange tales of technology. Hacked is brought to you by Push Security. Check them out at Pushsecurity.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Content warning: This episode contains descriptions of exploitation, self-harm, and abuse. Listener discretion is advised. A network called 764 has turned abuse into currency. It spread through Discord, Telegram, and gaming platforms—built around “lorebooks,” collections of coerced violence traded for status. In a strange twist, this harm group has connections to cybercrime groups we've covered on...

We discuss a schism years in the making — the infamous imageboard 4chan gets hacked by its own offshoot, Soyjak.party, in a breach that exposed moderator identities, source code, and shattered the myth of online anonymity. Then, we look at Cluely — an AI tool built by a suspended student to help users “cheat” on job interviews — and the viral campaign pitching it as a revolution. Is it a tech brea...

A tech worker stumbles upon mass fraud and brings receipts, a flag football prank goes very right, a teenager uses Net Send and gets in trouble — but not as much as the person they're in trouble with, and a guy almost sends his pal on a "Taken" style revenge mission to Kosovo. Got a strange tale of technology, security, or hacking? Share it at HotlineHacked.com. Hacked is brought to you by Push Se...

In 2009, a Pennsylvania high school accused sophomore Blake Robbins of dealing drugs—based on a photo secretly taken through his school-issued laptop. The image, captured without his knowledge in his own bedroom, turned out to show candy. But the real story wasn’t about what was in his hand—it was about how the school got the photo in the first place. In this episode, we speak with filmmaker Jody...

A former developer at Eaton Corp, Davis Lu, is convicted of deploying a kill switch script that disrupted thousands of users worldwide—he’s now facing up to 10 years in prison. A major AI image generator, GenNomis, accidentally exposed 95,000 image prompts online, raising serious privacy and security concerns. And finally, researchers discover debug commands in the popular ESP32 Bluetooth chip, sp...

Hacked Discord accounts, zombie emergency alerts on TV, and a crime spree in Diablo 3—just another day. As always, thanks for sharing your calls with us—we had a blast listening. Note: We mention and explain this in the episode, but we’ve pumped the brakes on the ads. Things got overstuffed—that’s on us. Thanks for the honest feedback. Got a strange tale of technology, security, or hacking? Share...

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Double Digits! Featuring caller stories of sarcastic keyboard pranks, failed SEO birthday gifts, vending machine hijinks and more. Hacked is brought to you by Push Security—helping companies stop identity attacks before they happen. Phishing, credential stuffing, session hijacking—Push tackles it right where it starts: in the browser. Smart, seamless, and built for how people actually work. Check...

Adam used to break into companies for a living—legally. As a red teamer, he watched the attack surface shift from networks to endpoints to something new: identity. The Snowflake breach proved it—attackers aren’t breaking in anymore, they’re logging in. Adam saw it coming, founded Push Security to stop it, and now he’s here to break it all down. They’re our new sponsor, so if that’s not your thing,...

We dive into the story of Silk Road—the infamous darknet marketplace that changed the internet. We revisit its rise under Ross Ulbricht, aka "Dread Pirate Roberts," and how law enforcement finally brought it down. With Ulbricht’s recent presidential pardon in 2025, his release reignites debates on digital privacy, cybercrime, and government overreach. Plus, we’ve got a lot to catch up on—DeepSeek,...

Quantum computing raises big questions—about security, power, and who benefits as the technology advances. To kick off 2025, the International Year of Quantum, I sat down with Joan Etude Arrow—Founder and CEO of the Quantum Ethics Project and a Womanium Quantum Solutions Launchpad Fellow—to talk about what’s real, what’s next, and why it matters. This is our chat with Joan Etude Arrow, here on Hac...

A bunch of great stories, including a prank between brothers with video evidence, a DOS frat war, and a person who tried to buy a building with a credit card. Want to share your story? Check out hotlinehacked.com. Hotline Hacked is brought to you by DeleteMe. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Now at a special discount for our listeners: Today...

We have a bunch of stories to get to, but before you listen, check out our new Youtube page we'll be putting a lot of love into in 2025: https://www.youtube.com/@hackedpodcast and this very useful site a listener made based on our last episode about an extremely expensive pizza delivery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy holidays, everyone. We’re bringing you a hacked classic to tide you over while Scott and I take a break to relax and gear up for the new year to hit us like a ton of bricks. This is one of my favorites from a couple of years ago, back in the halcyon days of June 2022—an interview with music professor Meryl Goldberg that I still think about. It’s got Cold War intrigue, hidden codes, and Klezm...

Let's get festive with it. Calls concerning grocery point systems, Australian internet providers, and so much more. Want to share your story? Check out hotlinehacked.com. Hotline Hacked is brought to you by DeleteMe. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Now at a special discount for our listeners: Today get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go...

It's been a wacky one. In this very loose year in review, we discuss adversarial agents being gamified for fun an profit, DNA companies changing ownership and what it means for your data, and take a tour through some of the biggest tech, hacking, AI, and security stories of the year. And yes, I'm aware we never actually revisit the intro story during the ep. We apparently had too many broken bones...

Can you trick the AI model running locally on a security camera into thinking you're a bird (and not a burglar)? We sat down Kasimir Schulz, principle security researcher at HiddenLayer, to discuss Edge AI, and to learn about how AI running on your device (at the "edge" of the network) can be compromised with something like a QR code. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...

A collection of calls, including an extremely wholesome story about a hacked internet contest and an electric guitar that changed a caller's life. Hotline Hacked is brought to you by DeleteMe. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Now at a special discount for our listeners: Today get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/HACK...

A chatty chat in which we discuss the Infinite Backrooms and the extremely profitable shock-meme-cult it spurred, a big update in the McDonald's ice cream machine right to repair story, Apple Bug Bounties, Canadian hackers and so much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We wanted to know: How was USDoD, the hacker behind major data breaches, unmasked? On this episode, we trace his journey from infiltrating FBI-linked networks to leaking sensitive data, and hear from OSINT specialist and Predicta Lab CEO Baptiste Robert, who used open-source intelligence to follow USDoD’s digital trail, revealing what law enforcement missed along the way. Learn more about your ad...

The whole second half of this one is one long call but trust us it's worth it. A call in show with tales of hackers getting hacked back, spoofed emails, and operating system vulnerabilities. Hotline Hacked is brought to you by DeleteMe. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Now at a special discount for our listeners: Today get 20% off your Delete...

A chatty chat episode where we discuss a Harvard research project turning Meta Ray-Bans into facial recognition hardware, an Irish court case resolution on a password breach, a live-action roleplaying game solved basically while we were talking, and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices