Hacking Humans

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-mill...

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...

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://krebsonse...

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...

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://ww...

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://m...

Followup on remotely previewing websites. Joe has the story of scammer bilking Facebook and Google out of millions. Dave reviews best practices for deleting data on devices you dispose of. The catch of the day is an offer of criminal partnering with the CIA. Our guest is Jeremy N. Smith, author of the book Breaking and Entering - the extraordinary story of a hacker called Alien. Links from today's...

A listener recommends an online tool for safely previewing web sites. Dave shares research on what time of the work week is best for scams. Joe explains credential stuffing. Our guest is Frances Dewing, the CEO and co-founder of Rubica. They recently published a report on how crooks are accessing parents’ mobile devices via apps their kids load.   Links to stories mentioned in today's show: https:...

Joe tracks the surprising number of malicious links hosted on legit websites and why it's dangerous. Dave describes an extortion scheme targeting podcasters. Our catch of the day involves a lonely Russian woman promoting a dating site. Dave interviews Gary Noesner, author of Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator. Links to stories mentioned in today's show: https://www-cdn.webroot...

Followup on last week's TLD discussion. Dave shares a sextortion scam with a tragic ending. Joe highlights conveyance scams that rely on certain days of the week. Our catch of the day features a wealthy Londoner hoping to pass on her fortune. Guest Dale Zabriskie from Proofpoint has results from their State of the Phish report. Links to stories: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6744421/Arm...

Joe describes fraudsters taking advantage of top-level domain name confusion. Dave explains how a Google Nest security system shipped with an undocumented microphones. Our catch of the day involves a postcard missed package campaign. Our guest is Matt Devost from OODA LLC describing their work protecting high-net-worth individuals. Links to today's stories: https://rebootcamp.militarytimes.com/new...

We've got followup from a listener on cognitive dissonance and behavioral science. Dave shares a listener story about a University Dean's List scam. Joe shares statistics from a government agency phishing test. Our catch of the day involves funds from the FBI, the IMF, and yes, Nigeria. Dave interviews Crane Hassold from Agari with phishing trends they've been tracking, plus his experiences as a f...

On this Valentines Day edition of Hacking Humans, Joe and Dave examine romance scams, including the sad tale of woman bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. There's a silly, non-murdering catch of the day, and Dave interviews Max Kilger from UTSA on the six motivations of bad actors. Links to today's stories: https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/17057-online-romance-scams-a-bbb-study...

Dave shares a bank spoofing scam with a reminder to mind those links, especially on mobile devices. Joe describes a case of someone turning the tables on a Twitter scammer. Our catch of the day involves a clumsy claim of physical harm. Dave interviews author Dave Levitan about his book Not a Scientist: How politicians mistake, misrepresent and utterly mangle science. Have a Catch of the Day you'd...

We've got followup on bank scams and ransomware. Joe describes a highly sophisticated multinational business scam. Dave shares a story about private school parents falling for a Bitcoin discount scam. Our guest is Jordan Harbinger, host of The Jordan Harbinger Show, with insights on influence and social engineering.  Links to this week's stories: https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/cyber-fr...

Dave reviews tips on protecting yourself from ransomware. Joe describes a clever way to trick people into enabling macros. An attempt at celebrity friendship is our catch of the day. Carole Theriault returns and speaks with Dr. Jessica Barker from Cygenta about effective training techniques. Links to stories mentioned: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3331981/ransomware/how-to-protect-backups-fro...

Joe shares the tale of a prisoner running a variety of romance scams from the inside. Dave outlines direct deposit scams. The catch of the day is a clever variation from (where else?) Nigeria. Our guest is Sam Small from ZeroFox. Links to stories: https://hubpages.com/politics/The-Games-That-Inmates-Play https://ogletree.com/shared-content/content/blog/2018/january/diverting-employees-payroll-dire...

Dave warns of scammers gaining access to homes by pretending to be workers from the local utility company. Joe shares a story of a sophisticated bank transfer scam in the UK. Our catch of the day outlines an attempted email scam targeting an architectural firm. Carole Theriault is back with the second part of her interview with the pen tester who goes by the name freaky clown. Links to today's sto...

Joe describes a reply-all scenario gone wrong. Dave explains the criminal use of steganography in memes as a command and control technique. Our catch-of-the-day features alluring photos texted to an unimpressed listener. Carole Theriault interviews physical pen tester Freaky Clown.   Links to stories mentioned in this week's show: https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/cybercr...

We follow up on critical feedback of last week's show. Dave describes how online extortionists have pivoted from sex to explosives. We've got an auto-responding catch of the day from one of Joe's colleagues. Guest is Sean Brooks, Director of the Citizen Clinic and a Research Fellow at the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at UC Berkeley. He shares their research into online attacks of politically...

Joe describes a Nigerian gang called London Blue that focuses on business email compromise. Dave shares surprising Cyber Monday phishing statistics. Guest Chris Bailey from Entrust Datacard teaches us how to detect lookalike sites online and better protect ourselves from fraud. Links to today's stories: https://www.agari.com/insights/whitepapers/london-blue-report/ https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/re...

Listener follow-up on a URL issue. Dave describes an elderly couple scammed out of savings. Joe wonders if it's wise to unsubscribe. Guest Andre McGregor from TLDR Capital describes his work as a former FBI agent, and his experience consulting on Mr. Robot. Bank account transfer scam: https://abc11.com/troubleshooter-durham-couple-loses-$8900-in-computer-virus-scam/4782799/ Have a Catch of the Day...

Joe explains URLs and DNS. Dave has tips to prevent holiday skimming. A bogus bank barrister is the catch of the day. Writer Ben Yagoda explains cognitive biases. Links: Wikipedia page on URLs - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URL Tips to prevent skimming -  https://www.social-engineer.org/newsletter/social-engineer-newsletter-vol-07-issue-96/  Ben Yagoda's article from the Atlantic - https://www.th...

Listener feedback on the "Can you hear me?" scam. Dave shares an ongoing Elon Musk Bitcoin giveaway scam. Joe describes the malicious use of a compromised DHL email address. This week's catch of the day comes from down under. (Apologies to the fine citizens of Australia.) Carole Theriault returns with an interview with MimeCast's Matthew Gardiner.  Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Emai...

Joe gathers open source information online. Dave wonders if a tow truck driver got the better of him. A listener shares a possible custom app scam. Former FBI agent Dennis Franks shares his experience developing human intelligence sources. 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.