Hacking Humans

Have you ever noticed how fundamental deception is to the human condition? Deception and forms of social engineering have been with us since the beginning of recorded history. And yet, it seems like we are just as vulnerable to it as ever. But now the stakes are higher because technology allows social engineers to deceive at scale.This episode explores the psychology of deception, provides a foundation for understanding social engineering, offers a few mental models for exploration and exploitation, and discusses how we can prepare our mental defenses.Guests: Rachael Tobac: (LinkedIn), CEO of SocialProof Security Chris Hadnagy: (LinkedIn); CEO of Social Engineer, LLC; Founder of Innocent Lives Foundation; Founder of Social-Engineer.org Lisa Forte: (LinkedIn); Partner at Red Goat Cyber Security; Co-Founder Cyber Volunteers 19 George Finney: (LinkedIn); Chief Security Officer at Southern Methodist University; Founder of Well Aware Security Notes & Resources: CSO Online article on Social Engineering OODA Loop Understanding Framing Effects More examples of Framing Effects Harvard Business Review article on the Principles of Persuasion A blog series I did on Deception (Part 1), (Part 2). PsychologyToday article on Social Engineering Recommended Books (Amazon affiliate links): The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security by Kevin Mitnick Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin Mitnick Human Hacking: Win Friends, Influence People, and Leave Them Better Off for Having Met You by Chris Hadnagy Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini Practical Social Engineering: A Primer for the Ethical Hacker by Joe Gray Social Engineering: The Science of Human Hacking by Chris Hadnagy Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. Transformational Security Awareness: What Neuroscientists, Storytellers, and Marketers Can Teach Us About Driving Secure Behaviors by Perry Carpenter Well Aware: Master the Nine Cybersecurity Habits to Protect Your Future by George Finney Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions & Storyblocks.Artwork by Chris Machowski.

Guest Joe Payne of Code 42 joins Dave to discuss insider risks Joe has a story about Frank Abagnale who's conned everyone one way or another, Dave's story is about a real estate scam conning a single mother of her life savings, and our Catch of the Day is from listener Michael with an "Extremely Urgent Attention Required" email.Links to stories: Confessions of a Famous Fraudster: How and Why Social Engineering Scams Work Real estate scam robs Florida mom of $63K in life savings 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 designed to obfuscate the location of a cyber adversary's command and control server by manipulating the domain name system, or DNS, in a way that rotates the associated IP address among large numbers of compromised hosts in a botnet.

The CyberWire's UK correspondent Carole Theriault returns to share an interview with Geoff White, reporter from the BBC and co-host of the Lazarus Heist podcast, Joe has some listener follow-up from Mike looking for advice on certifications for getting into cybersecurity, Dave's story is from Brian Krebs about catching an ATM shimmer gang, Joe's got a piece from MalwareBytes Labs about phishing for Bitcoin recovery codes, and our Catch of the Day is from listener Rohit with a pretty genuine-looking snail mail scam.Links to stories: How Cyber Sleuths Cracked an ATM Shimmer Gang Bitcoin scammers phish for wallet recovery codes on Twitter 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.

The process of converting plain text into an unrecognizable form or secret code to hide its true meaning.

Guest Matthew Gracey-McMinn joins us from Netacea to speak with Dave about security issues with streaming services, Joe shares some follow-up from listener Jason about a bracelet sale mentioned a few episodes ago, Joe's story is from UMBC about AI-generated fake news reports, Dave's got a story about a replacement scam for a hardware wallet used for storing cryptocurrency, and our Catch of the Day comes from a listener called R about a vishing scam for DirectTV.Links to stories: Study shows AI-generated fake reports fool experts Criminals are mailing altered Ledger devices to steal cryptocurrency 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.

Software or hardware that records the computer keys pressed by a user. 

Guest Mantas Sasnauskas from CyberNews joins Dave to talk about how he and his colleagues applied for a job with a ransomware gang, Joe and Dave reply to a listener named Christopher about certifications, Dave's story is about credential stuffing with payroll companies for $800,000,Joe shares a story about lewd phishing lures sent to people's email accounts, and our Catch of the Day is from from a listener named Stof who says, he “received this call just now, never heard one this convincing, nearly got me too!"Links to stories: How to hack into 5500 accounts… just using “credential stuffing” Lewd Phishing Lures Aimed at Business Explode Million-dollar deposits and friends in high places: how we applied for a job with a ransomware gang 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.

Digital assets that are cryptographically protected on a blockchain and contain unique identification codes and metadata that makes them one of a kind.

Guest Robert Capps of NuData Security joins Dave to discuss what businesses can do to bolster their protection against tax fraud, Joe and Dave have some follow-up from 2 episodes ago when they discussed a BazarLoader scam: Wired has a recent article with a twist about a totally fake streaming site called BravoMovies, Joe shares a story from a listener Jason about a friend of his who was targeted by a scammer on Facebook Marketplace, Dave's story is about scammers demanding ransom from families who report missing persons on social media, and our Catch of the Day is from Reddit on a Tron cryptocurrency scam.Links to stories: The Bizarro Streaming Site That Hackers Built From Scratch  Scammers Target Families Who Post Missing Persons on Social Media COTD post on Reddit: Crypto scammer doesn't understand compound interest and gives me a rate that would give me all of the crypto after 9 hours. 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.