

Hacking Humans
N2K Networks
Deception, influence, and social engineering in the world of cyber crime.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 8, 2022 • 8min
Domain spoofing (noun) [Word Notes]
A social engineering tactic in which hackers build a malicious domain to mimic a legitimate one.CyberWire Glossary link: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/domain-spoofingAudio reference link: “Mission Impossible Fallout - Hospital Scene.” YouTube, YouTube, 8 Oct. 2018,

Nov 3, 2022 • 52min
Protecting your identity.
Jameeka Green Aaron, CISO, Customer Identity at Okta, sits down with Dave to speak about their State of Secure Identity report. Dave and Joe share some listener follow up from Richard, who writes in to share his thoughts on the discussion of the phishing kit targeting WordPress sites in a previous episode, and also writes in about last episode’s discussion on how companies were turning on employees who are overworked with two remote jobs and shares how Equifax was one of these companies. Dave's story follows typosquatting, which is when a scammer registers a website that is very similar to the real one, but will have a typo in it (ex: amozon, homdepot, gougle) and how a large typosquatting campaign is delivering tech support scams. Joe's story follows a South Bay man who had the misfortune of accepting hundreds of open house offers, but the houses weren't for sale. Our catch of the day comes from listener Chris who writes in that he's never gotten a phishing email on his work email or personal email, but that he received his first phish from PayPal, which seemed to me a notification at first glance rather than a message telling him there is fraudulent activity happening in his account.Links to stories:
Large typosquatting campaign delivers tech support scams
A South Bay man accepted hundreds of offers from open houses. But the homes weren’t for sale
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.

Nov 3, 2022 • 2min
What's Your Problem trailer.
We’re sharing a preview of a podcast we enjoy called “What’s Your Problem?” Every week on What’s Your Problem, entrepreneurs talk about the future they’re trying to build and the problems they have to solve to get there. How do you build cars that can actually drive themselves? How do you use technology to bring down the cost of airfares? And how do you teach a computer to understand sports? Hosted by former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein, What’s Your Problem? helps listeners understand the problems really smart people are trying to solve right now. Listen to What’s Your Problem? at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/wyphumans

Nov 1, 2022 • 9min
Secure Web Gateway (noun) [Word Notes]
A layer seven firewall that sits in line at the boundary between the internet and an organization's network perimeter that allows security policy enforcement and can perform certain prevention and detection tasks.CyberWire Glossary link: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/secure-web-gatewayAudio reference link: Vintage Computer Federation (2015). VCF East 9.1 - Ches’ Computer Security Adventures - Bill Cheswick. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trR1cuBtcPs.

Oct 28, 2022 • 3min
The Malware Mash! [Bonus]
Enjoy this CyberWire classic.They did the Mash...the did the Malware Mash...

Oct 27, 2022 • 43min
Setting tech limits with a new tool.
Kim Allman from NortonLifeLock, and Carrie Neill from the National PTA, sit down with Dave to discuss the Smart Talk 2.0 tool. Joe and Dave share some follow up on an exciting new position Joe has accepted as the Director of Cyber Science at a company called Harbor Labs. This week, Joe's story comes from listener Beau, who writes in about an ATM scam he fell victim to, sharing how the scammers were spamming his phone with texts, emails, and calls before he figured out what was going on. Dave's story follows the growing new trend of overworking, or having two remote jobs at once and working at both. One company's CEO calls it a form of theft and deception. Our catch of the day comes from listener Rodney who writes in, sharing about his son's girlfriend who is looking for work and received an email pointing her in the direction of a new prospect. Sadly, Rodney had to share the news that the email seemed to be a scam.Links to stories:Tech CEO calls overemployment trend a 'new form of theft and deception' after firing 2 engineers secretly working multiple full-time jobs at onceHave a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com or hit us up on Twitter.

Oct 25, 2022 • 7min
Indicators of Compromise (noun) [Word Notes]
Digital evidence that a system or network has been breached.CyberWire Glossary link: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/indicator-of-compromiseAudio reference link: ”Suicide or Murder? | The Blind Banker | Sherlock,” uploaded by Sherlock, 18 October 2015

Oct 20, 2022 • 43min
The difference between shallow fakes vs. deep fakes.
Martin Rehak CEO & Founder from Resistant AI sits down with Dave to discuss how organizations should be worried about shallow fakes vs. deep fakes. Listener Joe writes in with some follow up on Joe's statement about not using legacy OSes, and how it is unfortunately not an option for many. Both Joe and Dave share two stories this week. Dave's first story follows how the Maryland Attorney General, Brian Frosh, is warning residents about purchasing flood-damaged cars. Dave's second story is about how a Japanese woman was fooled by an astronaut imposter who wooed her into buying a "return ticket to earth." Joe's first story is about a potential scam brewing in Springfield, as people are collecting money on the side of the street for a teenagers funeral, police are warning residents stating they have heard of this scam in neighboring cities. Joe's second story follows a new horrifying scam after a woman fell victim to a phone scam where the scammer claimed to have the victims daughter and they would kill her if she did not do what they asked. Our catch of the day comes from listener Richard who writes in sharing his experience with an email that may or may not be a phish.Links to stories:
Consumer Alert: Attorney General Frosh Warns Consumers about Purchasing Flood-Damaged Cars
An Imposter Claiming to Be an Astronaut Wooed a Japanese Woman Into Paying for a 'Return Ticket to Earth'
Springfield police warns drivers of “potential” funeral scam
Greenfield Police warns about "terrifying" kidnapping scam
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.

Oct 18, 2022 • 8min
Intrusion Detection System (noun) [Word Notes]
A system that monitors for malicious or unwanted activity, and either raises alerts when such activity is detected or blocks the traffic from passing to the target.CyberWire Glossary link: https://thecyberwire.com/glossary/intrusion-detection-systemAudio reference link: “Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention - CompTIA Security+ SY0-501 - 2.1,” Professor Messer, uploaded 16 November, 2017

Oct 16, 2022 • 20min
The long con and the flim flam. [Hacking Humans Goes to the Movies]
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:
Rick's clip from Hustle: S1 Ep1 The Con is On
Dave's clip from Cheers: S6 Harry the Hat