Smashing Security

Ransomware doesn’t just freeze computers - it can silence alarms too. And when the Natural History Museum in Paris went dark, thieves helped themselves to €600,000 worth of gold in a daring late-night heist. Meanwhile, developers have a new headache: a worm dubbed “Shai Hulud” has wriggled its way through more than 180 npm packages, quietly stealing secrets. But it’s not all doom and gloom - unles...

When "bad actors" stop being hackers and start being... actual actors. This week, Graham and special guest Jenny Radcliffe play “Hacker or Ham?” (yes, Steven Seagal, we’re looking at you), before diving into a campaign which saw an Iranian gang luring Israeli performers with fake casting calls for a serious film. We unpack why positive lures can short-circuit scepticism just as effectively...

Ever wondered what would happen if Burger King left the keys to the kingdom lying around for anyone to use? Ethical hackers did - and uncovered drive-thru recordings, hard-coded passwords, and even the power to open a Whopper outlet on the moon. Meanwhile, over in Silicon Valley, one AI wunderkind managed to turn a $7 million payday into a career-ending lawsuit by allegedly walking trade secrets s...

Your AI reads the small print, and that's a problem. This week in episode 433 of "Smashing Security" we dig into LegalPwn - malicious instructions tucked into code comments and disclaimers that sweet-talks AI into rubber-stamping dangerous payloads (or even pretending they’re a harmless calculator). Meanwhile, new research from Anthropic reveals that hackers have already used AI agents...

We unpack how some password managers can be tricked into coughing up your secrets, with a clickjacking sleight-of-hand, what website owners can do to prevent it, and how to lock down your personal password vault. Then we time-hop to the post-quantum scramble: "harvest-now, decrypt later", Microsoft's 2033 quantum-safe pledge, and whether your printer will survive the update apocalypse....

In episode 431 of the "Smashing Security" podcast, a self-proclaimed crypto-influencer calling himself CP3O thought he had found a shortcut to riches — by racking up millions in unpaid cloud bills. Meanwhile, we look at the growing threat of EDR-killer tools that can quietly switch off your endpoint protection before an attack even begins. And for something a little different, we peek into...

A poisoned Google Calendar invite that can hijack your smart home, a man is hospitalised after ChatGPT told him to season his food with… pesticide, and some thoughts on Superman’s latest cinematic outing. All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham Cluley, joined this week by special guest Dave Bittner from The Cy...

Those of you who tuned in to last week's episode (#428) will have heard the big news from my podcast pal Carole that she's decided to move on from her co-hosting duties on the show. There have been some lovely messages of support sent through for Carole, and indeed for me too. Thank you very much to all of you - it's really heart-warming to hear how much the last 428 episodes have mean...

The viral women-only dating safety app Tea, built to flag red flags, gets flagged itself - after leaking over 70,000 private images and chat logs. We are talking full-on selfies, ID docs, private DMs, and a dash of 4chan creepiness. Yikes. Plus, Carole takes us down memory lane as she hangs up her co-host mic after 428 glorious episodes. Expect tea, tears, and Tom Lehrer. All this is discussed in...

In this episode, Graham warns why it is high time we said goodbye to 2G - the outdated mobile network being exploited by cybercriminals with suitcase-sized SMS blasters. From New Zealand to London, scammers are driving around cities like dodgy Uber drivers, spewing phishing texts to thousands at once. Meanwhile, Carole unpacks a painfully awkward tale of amour fou, as a 76-year-old Belgian man dri...

In episode 426 of the "Smashing Security" podcast, Graham reveals how you can hijack a train’s brakes from 150 miles away using kit cheaper than a second-hand PlayStation. Meanwhile, Carole investigates how Grok went berserk, which didn't stop the Department of Defense signing a contract with Elon’s AI chatbot. So who is responsible when your chatbot becomes a bigot? Plus: Email headac...

In episode 425 of "Smashing Security", Graham reveals how "Call of Duty: WWII" has been weaponised - allowing hackers to hijack your entire PC during online matches, thanks to ancient code and Microsoft’s Game Pass. Meanwhile, Carole digs into a con targeting the recently incarcerated, with scammers impersonating bail bond agents to fleece desperate families. All this and more is d...

A Mexican drug cartel spies on the FBI using traffic cameras and spyware — because "ubiquitous technical surveillance” is no longer just for dystopian thrillers. Graham digs into a chilling new US Justice Department report that shows how surveillance tech was weaponised to deadly effect. Meanwhile, Carole checks the rear-view mirror on the driverless car industry. Whatever happened to those mi...

In this episode, Graham unravels Operation Endgame - the surprisingly stylish police crackdown that is seizing botnets, mocking malware authors with anime videos, and taunting cybercriminals via Telegram. Meanwhile, Carole exposes the AI-generated remote hiring threat. Could your next coworker be a North Korean hacker with a perfect LinkedIn? And BBC cyber correspondent Joe Tidy joins us to talk a...

A GCHQ intern forgets the golden rule of spy school — don’t take the secrets home with you — and finds himself swapping Cheltenham for a cell. Meanwhile, an Australian hacker flies too close to the sun, hacks his way into a US indictment, and somehow walks free... only to get booted back Down Under. Plus: flow states, Bob Mortimer, and the joys of pretending to carry an owl around on a cushion. Al...

What do a sleazy nightclub carpet, Google’s gaping privacy hole, and an international student conned by fake ICE agents have in common? This week’s episode of the "Smashing Security" podcast obviously. Graham explains how a Singaporean bug-hunter cracked Google’s defences and could brute-force your full phone number. Meanwhile, Carole dives into a chilling scam where ICE impersonators used...

A bizarre case of political impersonation, where Trump’s top aide Susie Wiles is cloned (digitally, not biologically — we think), and high-ranking Republicans start getting invitations to link up with "her" on Telegram to share their Trump pardon wishlists. Was it a deepfake? Or just someone with a halfway decent impression and access to a shady data broker? Meanwhile, we take a worryingly...

Why is a cute Star Wars fan website now redirecting to the CIA? How come Cambodia has become the world's hotspot for scam call centres? And can a WhatsApp image really drain your bank account with a single download, or is it just a load of hacker hokum? All this and much more is discussed in the latest edition of the award-winning "Smashing Security" podcast by computer security vetera...

In this week’s episode, Graham investigates the mysterious Iberian Peninsula blackout (aliens? toaster? cyberattack?), Carole dives in the UK legal aid hack that exposed deeply personal data of society's most vulnerable, and Dinah Davis recounts how Instagram scammers hijacked her daughter’s account - and how a parental control accidentally saved the day. All this and more is discussed in the...

Don't get duped, doxxed, or drained! In this episode of "Smashing Security" we dive into the creepy world of sextortion scams, and investigate how crypto wallet firm Ledger's Discord server was hijacked in an attempt to phish for cryptocurrency recovery phrases. All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast by cybersecurity veterans...

Brits face empty shelves and suspended meal deals as cybercriminals hit major high street retailers, and a terminated Disney employee gets revenge with a little help with Wingdings. Plus Graham challenges Carole to a game of "Malware or metal?", and we wonder just happens when you have sex on top of a piano? All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security...

He's not a pop star, but Jeffrey Bowie is alleged to have toured staff areas of a hospital in Oklahoma, hunting for computers he could install spyware on. We dive into the bizarre case of the man accused of hacking medical networks and then sharing how he did it on LinkedIn. Plus! Move over Nigerian princes — the WASPI scams are here. Fraudsters are now targeting UK women born in the 1950s, ex...

Graham explores how the Elusive Comet cybercrime gang are using a sneaky trick of stealing your cryptocurrency via an innocent-appearing Zoom call, and Carole goes under the covers to explore the extraordinary lengths bio-hacking millionaire Bryan Johnson is attempting to extend his life. All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast by cybersecuri...

A cybersecurity firm is buying access to underground crime forums to gather intelligence. Does that seem daft to you? And over in Nigeria, even if romance scammers would like to update their LinkedIn profiles, just how easy is it to turn a new leaf after a sweet-talking career in cybercrime? All this and much much more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast b...

QR codes are being weaponised by scammers — so maybe think twice before scanning that parking meter. And in a blunder so dumb it makes autocorrect look smart, the White House explains how it leaked war plans on Signal because an iPhone mistook a journalist for a government insider. Plus! Don't miss our featured interview with Josh Donelson of Material and Tony Albano from Google, about detecti...