With the holiday season come holiday scams – and honestly, just more scammer activity across the board, in general. People are busy and buying lots of stuff, and it’s a time when we’re more vulnerable to schemes to take our money and infect our devices. Today we’ll talk about a few current scams going around and give some solid advice to avoid becoming a victim.

In the news: FCC scraps cybersecurity rules for telcos; WhatsApp flaw exposed 3.5B phone numbers; ClickFix scam update; Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers for ‘suspicious’ travel patterns; a tricky Apple Support scam; USPS and EZ-Pass scams; a cool new tool for monitoring your home network for rogue devices; state and local cyber grant program to be renewed; airlines shut down program that sold your flight records; CA court ends electricity surveillance program; also, a few more holiday gift ideas!

Article Links

1. Despite Chinese hacks, Trump’s FCC votes to scrap cybersecurity rules for phone and internet companies https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/21/despite-chinese-hacks-trumps-fcc-votes-to-scrap-cybersecurity-rules-for-phone-and-internet-companies/
2. A Simple WhatsApp Security Flaw Exposed 3.5 Billion Phone Numbers https://www.wired.com/story/a-simple-whatsapp-security-flaw-exposed-billions-phone-numbers/
3. ClickFix may be the biggest security threat your family has never heard of https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/11/clickfix-may-be-the-biggest-security-threat-your-family-has-never-heard-of/
4. Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with ‘suspicious’ travel patterns https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-patrol-surveillance-drivers-ice-trump-9f5d05469ce8c629d6fecf32d32098cd
5. ‘It made my blood run cold’: scammers are targeting Apple users with this devilishly clever trick – here’s how to stay safe https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/watch-out-apple-fans-this-scary-scam-is-stealing-personal-accounts-with-real-apple-support-tickets
6. Scam USPS and E-Z Pass Texts and Websites – Schneier on Security https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/11/scam-usps-and-e-z-pass-texts-and-websites.html
7. Your IP Address Might Be Someone Else’s Problem (And Here’s How to Find Out) https://www.greynoise.io/blog/your-ip-address-might-be-someone-elses-problem
8. Full renewal of state and local cyber grants program passes in House https://therecord.media/state-local-cyber-grants-program-house-passage
9. Airlines Will Shut Down Program That Sold Your Flights Records to Government https://www.404media.co/airlines-will-shut-down-program-that-sold-your-flights-records-to-government/
10. Victory! Court Ends Dragnet Electricity Surveillance Program in Sacramento https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/11/victory-court-end-dragnet-electricity-surveillance-program-sacramento
11. Best & Worst Gift Guide: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/best-worst-gifts-2025/ 
12. All my gift guides: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/category/best-worst-gifts/ 

Further Info

• EasyOptOuts 25% discount: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/dragon-hacks-opt-out/ 
• Consumer Reports $10 off: https://www.consumerreports.org/fdsd/ 
• eBay AI settings:  https://accountsettings.ebay.com/ai-preferences
• My book: https://fdsd.me/book 
• My newsletter: https://fdsd.me/newsletter 
• Support our mission! https://fdsd.me/support 
• Give the gift of privacy and security: https://fdsd.me/coupons 
• Get your Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons Merch! https://fdsd.me/merch 

Table of Contents

• 0:00:08: Intro
• 0:01:34: Quick tidbits
• 0:05:10: News preview
• 0:07:02: FCC scraps cybersecurity rules for telcos
• 0:11:02: WhatsApp Flaw Exposed 3.5B Phone Numbers
• 0:17:47: ClickFix scam
• 0:24:53: CBP is monitoring US drivers for ‘suspicious’ travel patterns
• 0:32:12: Clever Apple Support scam
• 0:38:05: More scams to watch for
• 0:40:19: Your IP Address Might Be Someone Else’s Problem
• 0:47:15: State and local cyber grant program to be renewed
• 0:49:13: Airlines Shut Down Program That Sold Your Flights Records
• 0:51:40: CA Court Ends Electricity Surveillance Program
• 0:55:27: Tip of the Week
• 1:03:53: Looking ahead
• 1:06:22: Patron podcast previews
• 1:07:42: Looking more ahead