encryption (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this Word Notes encore. The process of converting plain text into an unrecognizable form or secret code to hide its true meaning.
Oct 15, 2024•7 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Hacking Humans
Deception, influence, and social engineering in the world of cyber crime.
Episodes
The e-commerce scam you didn’t see coming!
Maria Varmazis, host of N2K's daily space show T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share the story of a South Carolina couple, and how they were devastated to discover their vacant land in Concord, Massachusetts was fraudulently sold by thieves who posed as them, with the new owners already building a home on the property, prompting a lawsuit and an FBI investigation. Our hosts share some follow-up on two intriguing listener contributions. John blocks Google ads using NextDNS, which catches ad wrappe...
Oct 10, 2024•46 min•Season 7Ep. 309
Election Propaganda: Part 2: Modern propaganda efforts. [CSO Perspectives]
In preparation for the US 2024 Presidential Election, Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses recent international propaganda efforts in the form of nation state interference and influence operations as well as domestic campaigns designed to split the target country into opposing camps. Guests include Nina Jankowicz, Co-Founder and CEO of the The American Sunlight Project and Scott Small, Director of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Tidal Cyber. References: Scott Smal...
Oct 09, 2024•51 min•Season 11Ep. 5574
keylogger (noun) [Word Notes]
Please enjoy this encore episode of Word Notes. Software or hardware that records the computer keys pressed by a user.
Oct 08, 2024•6 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Election Propaganda Part 1: How does election propaganda work? [CSO Perspectives]
Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses personal defensive measures that an average citizen, regardless of political philosophy, can take in order to not succumb to propaganda. References: David Ehl, 2024. Why Meta is now banning Russian propaganda [News]. Deutsche Welle. Jeff Berman, Renée DiResta, 2023. Disinformation & How To Combat It [Interview]. Youtube. Niha Masih, 2024. Meta bans Russian state media outlet RT for acts of ‘foreign interference’ [News]. The ...
Oct 03, 2024•34 min•Season 10Ep. 5573
The Dark Arts of cyber. [Only Malware in the Building]
Welcome, witches, wizards, and cybersecurity sleuths! You’ve entered, Only Malware in the Building. Join us each month to brew potions of knowledge and crack the curses of today’s most intriguing cyber mysteries. Your host is Selena Larson, Proofpoint intelligence analyst and host of their podcast DISCARDED. Inspired by the residents of a building in New York’s exclusive upper west side, Selena is joined by N2K Networks Dave Bittner and Rick Howard to uncover the stories behind notable cyberatta...
Oct 01, 2024•33 min•Season 1Ep. 4
non-fungible tokens (NFT) (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this encore of Word Notes. Digital assets that are cryptographically protected on a blockchain and contain unique identification codes and metadata that makes them one of a kind.
Oct 01, 2024•6 min•Season 1Ep. 54
The devil IS in the details.
It's all in the details, folks. Pay attention to those and you can avoid unnecessary stress. Dave Bittner, Maria Varmazis, and Joe Carrigan swap stories on email password-stealing attacks, Google ads scams, and fake banks this week. The team shares follow up from listener Steven from the UK about the hazards of shoulder surfing when they received their new debit card with all PII on the same side of the card. A friend of the show JJ shared a story and a warning about fake checks. Never accept a ...
Sep 26, 2024•47 min•Season 7Ep. 308
multi-factor authentication (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this special encore episode. The use of two or more verification methods to gain access to an account.
Sep 24, 2024•6 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Scammers beware, the world is watching!
This week, Dave and Joe share some listener follow-up from Clayton about credit card fraud and the potential issues with automatic update services that some cards provide. Dave's story is on sextortion scams targeting spouses, where scammers claim a partner is cheating and provide links to fake "proof." Joe has two stories this week, the first one is on how Police in Lebanon County arrested an alleged grandparent scammer after a sting operation. Joe's second story is on scam victims being compen...
Sep 19, 2024•31 min•Season 7Ep. 307
machine learning (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this special encore episode. A programming technique where the developer doesn't specify each step of the algorithm in code, but instead teaches the algorithm to learn from the experience.
Sep 17, 2024•6 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Baked goods and bad actors.
Maria Varmazis, host of N2K's daily space show T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share the story on the "Hello pervert" sextortion scam, where scammers now use threats of Pegasus spyware and photos of victims' homes to intensify their demands. We have quite a bit of follow-up today. Scott from Australia shared how self-service checkouts now display scam warnings when purchasing gift cards to prevent fraud. Jim highlighted a vulnerability in YubiKey encryption libraries that allows key cloning with ...
Sep 12, 2024•43 min•Season 7Ep. 306
intelligence (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this special encore episode. The process of turning raw information into intelligence products that leaders use to make decisions with.
Sep 10, 2024•6 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Illusions & ill-intent.
Maria Varmazis, host of N2K's daily space show T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share the story of how the ease of registering an LLC in Colorado has led to a surge in fraudulent businesses. She discusses how residents receiving suspicious mail addressed to fake LLCs registered at their homes are overwhelming the state's Secretary of State with thousands of complaints. Joe's story is on how scammers used a seaside hotel and former bank offices on the Isle of Man to defraud victims in China out of ...
Sep 05, 2024•39 min•Season 7Ep. 305
RATs in the tunnel: Uncovering the cyber underworld. [OMITB]
Welcome in! You’ve entered, Only Malware in the Building. Join us each month to sip tea and solve mysteries about today’s most interesting threats. Your host is Selena Larson, Proofpoint intelligence analyst and host of their podcast DISCARDED. Inspired by the residents of a building in New York’s exclusive upper west side, Selena is joined by N2K Networks Dave Bittner and Rick Howard to uncover the stories behind notable cyberattacks. Being a security researcher is a bit like being a detective:...
Sep 03, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 4
SaaS (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this special edition of Word Notes: A cloud-based software distribution method where app infrastructure, performance, and security are maintained by a service provider and accessible to users, typically via subscription, from any device connected to the internet.
Sep 03, 2024•6 min•Season 1Ep. 47
Beware of the deceivers.
This week Joe and Dave share some listener follow up from Tim, who writes in to give some more information on a payment apps story in episode 302. Joe's story is on Suzy Enos, whose sister died, only for scammers to impersonate a family member and take over her phone number, leading to fraudulent charges on her accounts. Enos fought back to secure her late sister's assets and raise awareness about protecting accounts after a loved one's death. Dave's story follows how scammers exploit the "Autom...
Aug 29, 2024•45 min•Season 7Ep. 306
brute-force attack (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this special encore episode. A cryptographic hack that relies on guessing all possible letter combinations of a targeted password until the correct codeword is discovered.
Aug 27, 2024•7 min•Season 1Ep. 46
How scammers weave deception into everyday life.
Maria Varmazis host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share her story on how AI-generated scams have infiltrated the world of crochet and other crafts, selling fake patterns that often result in impossible or frustrating projects. Dave's story is on the rise of "digital arrest" scams in India, where criminals posing as law enforcement officers coerce victims into making payments to avoid fake charges against their loved ones. Joe's story come's from a listener this week...
Aug 22, 2024•47 min•Season 7Ep. 303
decryption (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this special encore of Word Notes. A process of converting encrypted data into something that a human or computer can understand.
Aug 20, 2024•7 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Navigating dark waters and deceptive currents.
Maria Varmazis host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share her story from listener Chloe, who shared a post she found on a social media platformed called "Bluesky," where a company is asking for photos and videos of your children to help AI smarter. Our hosts share some listener follow up on how a scammer impersonated a government official to deceive a woman into converting her assets into gold bars, resulting in the theft of over $789,000. They also share some follow ...
Aug 15, 2024•41 min•Season 7Ep. 302
denial-of-service attack (noun) [Word Notes]
Enjoy this encore episode: A cyber attack designed to impair or eliminate access to online services or data.
Aug 13, 2024•7 min•Season 1Ep. 44
Phishing for votes.
Maria Varmazis host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus, joins Dave to share her story on how recent research by security firm Veriti reveals a phishing campaign targeting Trump’s 2024 supporters, soliciting cryptocurrency donations through fake WinRed-branded domains, with limited transactions and some activity traced to China. Dave and Maria share some follow-up from a listener, including suggestions for protecting Dave's father's computer from phishing scams by using LibreWolf browser, UBloc...
Aug 08, 2024•32 min•Season 7Ep. 301
AI: The new partner in cybercrime? [OMITB]
Welcome in! You’ve entered, Only Malware in the Building. Join us each month to sip tea and solve mysteries about today’s most interesting threats. Your host is Selena Larson, Proofpoint intelligence analyst and host of their podcast DISCARDED. Inspired by the residents of a building in New York’s exclusive upper west side, Selena is joined by N2K Networks Dave Bittner and Rick Howard to uncover the stories behind notable cyberattacks. Being a security researcher is a bit like being a detective:...
Aug 06, 2024•39 min•Season 1Ep. 3
cold boot attack (noun) [Word Notes]
Please enjoy this special encore episode of Word Notes. A type of side channel attack in which an attacker with physical access to a computer performs a memory dump of a computer’s Random Access Memory or RAM during the reboot process in order to steal sensitive data.
Aug 06, 2024•7 min•Season 1Ep. 43
This is 300!
This week we celebrate 300 episodes! Maria Varmazis host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe and shares a PSA on the CrowdStrike outage. Her story focuses on the Olympics, as this was the first week the Olympics started, and she shares about a recent fraud campaign that is targeting iPhone users in India, posing as India Post through smishing attacks. Our hosts discuss some follow up, from listener Brie, who writes in to share how one police force is helping folks stay safe ...
Aug 01, 2024•48 min•Season 7Ep. 300
Encore: cloud computing (noun) [Word Notes]
On-demand pay-as-you-go Internet delivered compute, storage, infrastructure, and security services that are partially managed by the cloud provider and partially managed by the customer.
Jul 30, 2024•6 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Healthcare hassles and hefty heists.
This week, Maria Varmazis host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe, as they celebrate Maria joining the Hacking Humans podcast every week! Maria's story is from a listener this week who writes in with a story on an IT company that is a third party for a healthcare company, and the dangers that can come from that. Dave and Joe share some listener follow up from Michael, who shares some thoughts on AI. Dave's story follows how a recent study found that 40% of elderly adults in...
Jul 25, 2024•49 min•Season 7Ep. 299
Encore: APT (noun) [Word Notes]
An acronym for Advanced Persistent Threat to describe hacker groups or campaigns normally, but not always, associated with nation state cyber espionage and continuous low-level cyber conflict operations.
Jul 23, 2024•7 min•Season 1Ep. 41
Welcome to a new age in digital deception.
This week, Maria Varmazis host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe, as they celebrate Maria joining the Hacking Humans podcast every week! Maria's story is on supplement scams, as there has been a significant surge in health-related supplement scams on social media platforms, utilizing advanced technologies like AI-generated images and deepfake videos to promote fake products endorsed by celebrities and medical professionals. Joe's story follows Airplane WiFi, now essential ...
Jul 18, 2024•38 min•Season 7Ep. 298