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Hacking Humans

N2K Networksthecyberwire.com
Deception, influence, and social engineering in the world of cyber crime.
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Episodes

cybersecurity maturity model certification (CMMC) (noun) [Word Notes]

Please enjoy this encore episode of Word Notes. A supply chain cybersecurity accreditation standard designed for the protection of controlled unclassified information that the U.S. Department of Defense, or DoD, will require for all contract bids by October, 2025.

Dec 24, 20247 minSeason 1Ep. 63

Gold bars and bold lies.

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. First we start off with some follow up, our hosts share some more information on VIN swapping, and a clarification on bank participation in FinCEN. Maria shares a telling tale about a Bethesda coupl...

Dec 19, 202446 minSeason 7Ep. 318

incident response (noun) [Word Notes]

Please enjoy this encore episode of Word Notes. A collection of people, process, and technology that provides an organization the ability to detect and respond to cyber attacks.

Dec 17, 20248 minSeason 1Ep. 62

Silent push, loud consequences.

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week, Maria shares two stories this week, the first is from "PayPal" saying they are owed over $200. The second comes from LinkedIn where a gentleman shares the terrifying story of losing every...

Dec 12, 202445 minSeason 7Ep. 317

script kiddies (noun) [Word Notes]

Please enjoy this encore episode of Word Notes. Cybercriminals who lack the expertise to write their own programs use existing scripts, code, or tools authored by other more skilled hackers.

Dec 10, 20246 minSeason 1Ep. 61

Fraud's festive frenzy.

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week, our hosts dive into some follow up from listener Will. who writes in about the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. They also share after an anonymous listener writes in with a suggestio...

Dec 05, 202448 minSeason 7Ep. 316

A cyber carol. [Only Malware in the Building]

Welcome in! You’ve entered, Only Malware in the Building. Grab your eggnog and don your coziest holiday sweater as we sleuth our way through cyber mysteries with a festive twist! 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 i...

Dec 03, 202451 minSeason 1Ep. 7

sandbox (noun) [Word Notes]

Please enjoy this encore episode of Word Notes. An isolated and controlled set of resources that mimics real world environments and used to safely execute suspicious code without infecting or causing damage to the host machine, operating system, or network.

Dec 03, 20246 minSeason 1Ep. 60

Scamming just isn't what it used to be.

Please enjoy this encore of Hacking Humans: This week, we are joined by host of N2K's T-Minus Space Daily podcast, Maria Varmazis, she sits down with Joe and Dave to discuss sextorion materials that were found on popular social media apps such as, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Joe and Dave share quite a bit of follow up, Joe starts with an anonymous listener writing in sharing their story on gift card scams. Dave shares another anonymous listeners comments, sharing about what they thi...

Nov 28, 202448 minSeason 6Ep. 276

security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) (noun) [Word Notes]

Please enjoy this encore episode of Word Notes. A stack of security software solutions and tools that allow organizations to orchestrate disparate internal and external tools which feed pre-built automation playbooks that respond to events or alert analysts if an event meets a certain threshold.

Nov 26, 20246 minSeason 1Ep. 59

Granny’s got a new trick.

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week, Joe shares a note from listener Michael before getting into stories, and Michael writes in to share that there are VIN cloning scams. Joe brings back the Iota discussion from last week. J...

Nov 21, 202436 minSeason 7Ep. 315

Final approach to scammer advent.

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week, the team shares follow up about FEMA and Hurricane Helene relief. Dave's story is about romance scams involving an impersonator of a WWE star scamming a grandfather out of their retiremen...

Nov 14, 202443 minSeason 7Ep. 314

secure access service edge (SASE) (noun) [Word Notes]

Enjoy this encore episode. A security architecture that incorporates the cloud shared responsibility model, a vendor provided security stack, an SD-WAN abstraction layer, and network peering with one or more of the big content providers and their associated fiber networks.

Nov 12, 20248 minSeason 1Ep. 57

Happy hour hacking.

Maria Varmazis, host of N2K's daily space show T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share the story of the five types of social engineers Deanne Lewis encountered while tending bar, revealing how each barroom personality reflects a common cybersecurity threat. Our hosts share some follow-up from a friend of the show, JJ, who reports a rise in tech support scams targeting non-tech-savvy users by locking their screens and persuading them to call scammers, often leading to credit card fraud and unauthori...

Nov 07, 202448 minSeason 7Ep. 313

Whispers in the wires: A closer look at the new age of intrusion. [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:...

Nov 05, 202440 minSeason 1Ep. 6

red teaming (noun) [Word Notes]

Enjoy this encore episode. The practice of emulating known adversary behavior against an organization's actual defensive posture.

Nov 05, 20246 minSeason 1Ep. 56

The Malware Mash

Happy Halloween from the team at N2K Networks! We hope you share in our Halloween tradition of listening to the Malware Mash. You can check out our video here. Lyrics I was coding in the lab late one night when my eyes beheld an eerie sight for my malware threat score began to rise and suddenly to my surprise... It did the Mash It did the Malware Mash The Malware Mash It was a botnet smash It did the Mash It caught on 'cause of Flash The Malware Mash It did the Malware Mash From the Stuxnet worm...

Oct 31, 20244 min

How political donations can be deceiving.

Maria Varmazis, host of N2K's daily space show T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share the story of a relentless wave of political donation texts that go well beyond simple annoyance, revealing an unsettling impact on vulnerable populations. CNN's investigation exposes how these texts, with their urgent and personal tone, have led seniors, including those with dementia, to make thousands of donations—sometimes unknowingly amassing hundreds of thousands of dollars for campaigns. Joe's story highligh...

Oct 31, 202450 minSeason 7Ep. 312

next generation firewall (noun) [Word Notes]

Please enjoy this encore episode of Word Notes. A layer seven security orchestration platform deployed at the boundary between internal workloads slash data storage and untrusted sources that blocks incoming and outgoing network traffic with rules that tie applications to the authenticated user and provides most of the traditional security stack functions in one device or software application.

Oct 29, 20247 min

Spiritual healers or master con artists?

Maria Varmazis, host of N2K's daily space show T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share the story of how ESET Research revealed that Telekopye, a scam toolkit used by cybercriminals, has expanded its operations from online marketplaces to accommodation booking platforms like Booking.com and Airbnb. Joe’s story is on the elaborate "blessing scam" targeting older Chinese women, where scammers pose as spiritual healers to swindle victims out of their valuables by convincing them their loved ones are in...

Oct 24, 202436 minSeason 7Ep. 311

fast flux (noun) [Word Notes]

Please enjoy this encore of Word Notes. 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.

Oct 22, 20247 minSeason 1Ep. 54

Cybercriminals thrive in vulnerable moments.

Maria Varmazis, host of N2K's daily space show T-Minus, joins Dave and Joe to share the story of how cybercriminals are exploiting the chaos following Hurricane Helene in Florida by launching scams and phishing attacks. Veriti’s research highlights three key threats: FEMA claim scams, phishing using hurricane-related domains, and malicious files disguised as FEMA documents, all targeting vulnerable individuals. This week, Joe's got three hard-hitting stories lined up! First, U.S. authorities hav...

Oct 17, 202445 minSeason 7Ep. 310

Election Propaganda: Part 3: Efforts to reduce the impact of future elections. [CSO Perspectives]

Thinking past the US 2024 Presidential Election, In part three of the series, Rick Howard, N2K CyberWire’s Chief Analyst and Senior Fellow, discusses reducing the impact of propaganda in the future elections with Perry Carpenter, Chief Human Risk Management Strategist at KnowBe4 and host of the 8th Layer Insights Podcast, Nina Jankowicz, Co-Founder and CEO of the The American Sunlight Project, and Scott Small, Director of Cyber Threat Intelligence at Tidal Cyber. Check out Part 1 & 2! Part 1...

Oct 16, 202446 minSeason 11Ep. 5575

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, 20247 minSeason 1Ep. 53

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, 202446 minSeason 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, 202451 minSeason 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, 20246 minSeason 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]. ...

Oct 03, 202434 minSeason 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, 202433 minSeason 1Ep. 4
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