
What the Hack
"What the Hack" is the award-winning true cybercrime podcast--the place to hear memorable stories and get good advice.
Latest episodes

Jul 1, 2025 • 45min
Episode 206: Chris Hutchins’s Travel Hacking Gets Hacked
If you have never listened to Chris Hutchins explain how to get free travel, you’ve probably been paying too much for your vacations. Turns out, a threat actor was listening to him and stole his miles. Download this week’s episode to hear how he hacked the situation to score even more points.
(This episode originally airdropped September 26, 2022.)

Jun 24, 2025 • 35min
Episode 205: Cybersecurity Girl Caitlin Sarian Tries to Delete Herself Online
Every part of life that comes in contact with the Internet is tracked, packed and sold to a a seemingly infinite network of data brokers. Caitlin Sarian AKA Cybersecurity Girl joined us this week to discuss why scrubbing your information is trickier than it sounds and what you can do about it.

Jun 17, 2025 • 49min
Episode 204: Nicole Perlroth Says All the Things that Keep Adam Up at Night
Nicole Perlroth’s book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is a masterpiece on the topic of cyberwar and the zero-day hacks that make it deadly. Join us as we explore with Perlroth a cyberscape where mistakes are weaponized, backdoors abound and we all have zero degrees of separation from spies and the people they spy on.

Jun 10, 2025 • 45min
Episode 203: Jack Rhysider Exposes Our Digital Secrets
What if your digital footprint made you a target? Jack Rhysider, host of "Darknet Diaries," shares how a fan turned his online presence into a personal puzzle—revealing just how easily your privacy can be pieced together and exploited.

May 27, 2025 • 42min
Episode 202: Shannon Edwards Reveals the Student Data Free-for-All in New York City Schools
As technology is integrated deeper into classrooms, the lines between education and data privacy have been destroyed by for-profit data miners. This week, privacy advocate Shannon Edwards reveals how educational apps harvest sensitive information from children, commodify their data, and what parents can do to fight it.

May 20, 2025 • 42min
Episode 201: Keren Elazari Decrypts the Ransomeware Nightmare
Ransomware is a type of malware that allows hackers to commandeer data on a device or an entire network. Increasingly, the threat actors behind these crimes set their sites on mission critical targets. We talked about it with renowned cybersecurity expert Keren Elazari this week.

May 13, 2025 • 50min
Episode 200: The Wild West of the Loophole Economy
We’ve all been there. You see something perfect online, you do all the clicks and then think, “Wait, was that legit?” Scam-lite transactions are the way of the web these days, whether it’s direct-from-manufacturer or super-sticky subscriptions, we have your back.

May 6, 2025 • 43min
Episode 199: CISA Director Jen Easterly Stands Watch in the Cyberwars
From elections to ransomware, CISA Director Jen Easterly breaks down the threats to America’s critical infrastructure and what’s being done to stop them, sharing along the way her journey from the real-life battlefield to the frontlines of cybersecurity. This is a rare glimpse into the most pressing threats America faces—and a compelling story about Director Easterly’s own experience being targeted..

Apr 29, 2025 • 42min
Episode 198: Cory Doctorow Makes Us Wonder if Everything’s a Scam
Think you’re too savvy to get scammed? Author and activist Cory Doctorow explains how we’re all one muffaletta and a malfunctioning jet door away from falling prey to the most basic of cons. He joins us this week to talk about that and to fill us in about his new book, “The Bezzle.”

Apr 22, 2025 • 50min
Episode 197: FBI Operative Eric O’Neill: Cybercriminals Are Spies—Not Hackers
What if the biggest threat to your privacy wasn’t some hacker in a hoodie—but a spy trained to infiltrate your life? Former FBI operative Eric O’Neill, the man who took down spy Robert Hanssen, explains how digital spies target us, offering along the way real-world tips to protect ourselves in a world where everyone’s a potential target.