Hacking Humans

Thanks for joining us again for another episode of fun project brought to you by the team of Hacking Humans, the CyberWire's social engineering podcast. Hacking Humans co-host Dave Bittner is joined by Rick Howard in this series where they view clips from their favorite movies and television shows with examples of the social engineering scams and schemes you hear Dave and co-host Joe Carrigan talk about on Hacking Humans. In this episode, Dave and Rick watch each of the selected scenes, describe the on-screen action for you, and then they deconstruct what they saw. Grab your bowl of popcorn and join us for some fantastic scams and frauds.Links to this episode's clips if you'd like to watch along: Dave's clip from the movie: HEARTBREAKERS Rick's clip from the movie: Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan Dave's Second clip: Russian Restaurant Dave's Third clip: Funny scene 3

Raj Ananthanpillai from Trua joins Dave to discuss privacy concerns and what you shouldn't share with ChatGPT. Dave and Joe share some listener follow up from Clayton who shares some comments on a previous episode where Dave discusses bomb threats to retail stores for ransom. Dave's story follows Google rapidly trying to correct bogus airline phone numbers that were discovered this week. Joe's story is on an Android app called "Spyhide" which is a phone surveillance app, that has been collecting private phone data from tens of thousands of Android devices around the world. Our catch of the day is from listener Isak who writes in to share a comedic spam email he received.Links to stories: Called a bogus airline customer support number? Google is hustling to fix that Spyhide stalkerware is spying on tens of thousands of phones 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.

A cloud based sensitive information management system that allows users access across multiple devices.CyberWire Glossary link: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/icloud-keychainAudio reference link: Ellen’s Tips For iOS, 2022. How To Master iCloud Keychain to Keep Your Passwords Safe and Secure [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl3E29iUvgE 

Perry Carpenter joins Dave to discuss his book "The Security Culture Playbook: An Executive Guide To Reducing Risk and Developing Your Human Defense Layer." Joe and Dave share some listener follow up on messing with scammers, and how dangerous that actually can be. Joe's story follows hackers trying to steal your secrets using infected USB drives. Dave's story is on a tech executive and how they fell victim to a dating site scam, where the perpetrator was able to gain $450,000 from someone who just thought they found their soulmate. Our catch of the day this week comes from listener Ryan, who writes in sharing a renew license scam from New Zealand, with a carefully crafted email, made to look like the real thing.Links to stories: Tech Executive Falls Victim to $450K Scam on Dating Site: The Cruel 'Pig-Butchering' Scheme Going Around The Spies Who Loved You: Infected USB Drives to Steal Secrets 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.

A subset of the internet where communications between two parties or client-server transactions are obscured from search engines and surveillance systems by layers of encryption. The U.S. Navy designed the original Darknet by developing The Onion Router network, or TOR, back in the 1990s. Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson deployed the first alpha implementation in 2002 with some initial funding by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.) The TOR Project became a non-profit in 2006 and is funded by the U.S, Sweden, different NGOs, and individual sponsors.

Mallory Sofastaii, consumer investigative reporter from WMAR TV, is discussing animal rescue organizations on Facebook pages being taken over by hackers. Listener George writes in to share how his bank is not doing enough to protect against fraud going on. Dave's story follows scammers using new tricks, across the nation, to receive bitcoin and gift cards after threatening stores with bomb scares. Joe has the story on Chinese hackers that have targeted the Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and other State and Commerce Department officials. Our catch of the day comes from listener Steve who shares a fishy looking email stating that he is going to be the beneficiary to "Thirty Nine Nine million, eight hundred thousand dollars."Links to stories: Scammers Target Stores With Bomb Threats, Seeking Bitcoin and Gift Cards Chinese Hackers Targeted Commerce Secretary and Other U.S. Officials 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.

1. A wireless access point installed by employees in an office or data center environment as a convenience to connectivity without the consent or the knowledge of the network manager. 2. A wireless access point, sometimes called an Evil Twin, installed by a cyber adversary in or near an office or data center environment designed to bypass security controls, gain access, and/or surveil the network traffic of the victim’s network. Both kinds, the employee installed and the adversary installed rogue access points, increase the attack surface of the organization. The employee installed device, because of its electronic footprint range, might make it easier for hackers and mischief makers outside of the organization’s network to bypass the corporate security controls and gain access without permission. The adversary installed device is designed specifically to bypass the security controls of the target network.

Guest Jane Lee, Trust and Safety Architect from Sift joins Dave to discuss the rise of fraudulent online content and fake crypto platforms. Dave and Joe share some listener follow up regarding the debate over "mum" versus "mom" and who speaks which pronunciation more. Dave has two stories this week, one story follows a Twitter thread about a man who shared his story about selling a desk on Facebook and the dangers that come with that. His second story is about how hackers are using a clever new phishing technique to create email threads with multiple responses to trick potential victims into thinking bogus messages are legitimate. Joe shares the story of hackers new way to get information positioning themselves in the middle of your browser between the server and your computer. Our catch of the day has a little bit of everything from Peter who writes in about an email he received pulling out all the stops to get him to give over his information.Links to stories: Twitter thread https://www.cyberscoop.com/phishing-scheme-targeting-mideast-researchers/ Serious Security: Browser-in-the-browser attacks – watch out for windows that aren’t! 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.

A network mapping tool that pings IP addresses looking for a response and can discover host names, open communications ports, operating system names and versions. Written and maintained by Gordon Lyon, a.k.a. Fyodor, it is a free and open source software application used by both system admins and hackers alike and has been a staple in the security community for well over two decades.CyberWire Glossary link: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/nmap

Our UK correspondent Carole Theriault is talking with London insurance market CISO Thom Langford about insider threats. Joe and Dave share some listener follow up from Waldo who writes in to share a video explaining how bad guys are able to hack users. Joe shares a report from Verizon, one of the industries leading phone companies, about social engineering. Dave's story follows a gentleman who was able to steal one million dollars from at least 700 DoorDash drivers, and now police are warning against this sophisticated phishing scam. Our catch of the day comes from listener Ami who writes in to share her victory in catching a scammer after receiving a weird voicemail from a so called police officer.Links to stories: 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report A Stamford man allegedly stole $1M from 700 DoorDash drivers. Police say his victims are hard to ID. 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.