Hacks used to be impressive, utilizing bits and pieces of technology that made us sit up and pay attention. Nowadays, every scam, breach, or sketchy text message gets labelled a "hack" when it's really just basic use of existing technology, or an outright scam. Let's take a closer look at how the meaning of “hack” has changed, from the complex brilliance of NotPetya in 2017, to today's flood of scams powered by stolen data and AI fakery. It’s the end of the Age of the Great Hack, and the rise of...
Jul 06, 2025•26 min•Season 4Ep. 13
In this episode of How Hacks Happen, we delve into the complexities surrounding trash possession and legalities. Besides the legal distinctions between lost, mislaid, and abandoned property, there are the risks posed by scammers who rifle through trash for personal information so they can steal your identity or call you up and pretend to be your bank. No trash is safe in this world we live in, so shred, burn, and sanitize your trash before throwing it out. Resources: Dumpster Diving for Document...
Jun 19, 2025•24 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Can you tell if someone is guilty just by looking at them? Let's delve into the infamous case of Amanda Knox, the American exchange student who was wrongfully accused of murdering her roommate in 2007. We'll talk bad cell phone forensics, media sensationalism, and cultural biases, and how they can lead to dire consequences for those who are judged not by evidence, but by how they act differently than society expects them to. Resources Amanda Knox website Sentence of the Court of Assizes of Perug...
May 31, 2025•28 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Send me a text! No matter who you are or where you are in the world, I'd love to hear from you. This is a call for feedback on what you like about How Hacks Happen, what you don't like, or if you just want to say Hi. Click the "Send us a text" link below, and you'll be sending a text message directly to me, Michele Bousquet. I can't wait to read what you have to say. If I get enough messages, I'll even do an episode just with your feedback. Resources Just my bad self for this one The "Send us a ...
May 31, 2025•3 min•Season 4Ep. 10
In May 2025, Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, got hacked. Or did they? It was more like a near-miss. But while we might wipe our brows in relief over this latest mishap, it doesn't bode well for the future of cryptocurrency, which is currently unregulated, uninsured, and just waiting for the next big catastrophe to leave investors crying in their collective beers over their lost millions. Join us for a tour of some of most disastrous crypto hacks of yesteryear ...
May 22, 2025•27 min•Season 4Ep. 9
In this episode we continue the story of Daniel Rigmaiden, a man arrested for tax fraud in 2008 who reveals the Stingray surveillance device used by the Feds to track his location. Despite being in jail, Rigmaiden tirelessly researches and files numerous motions, arguing that the use of Stingrays violated citizens' Fourth Amendment rights. His determination attracts the attention of the ACLU and the EFF, ultimately influencing government policy on surveillance practices, policies that protect pr...
May 15, 2025•24 min•Season 4Ep. 8
In 2014, the US government chose not to take a massive, rock-solid tax fraud case to trial. But why? This episode kicks off the tale of Daniel Rigmaiden, a hacker who exploited a legal loophole to regain his freedom. Find out how Rigmaiden's method for online connection, his Air Card, was both his downfall and his salvation. Take a deep dive into the data cell providers collect, how they share it with law enforcement, and the Fourth Amendment's role in protecting privacy. And tune in for Part II...
May 07, 2025•25 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Is your identity at risk? And what would you do if someone was using it to take out credit cards, steal your tax refund, or even raid your bank account? Enjoy this replay of interviews with Tiffany, Pete, and Astrid, three victims of identity theft. Even though this episode originally aired in 2022, the same lessons remain. Listen to hear about how each of the three discovered the fraud, what they did to reverse the damage, and what they do now to prevent it from happening again. . Send us a tex...
Apr 30, 2025•50 min•Season 4Ep. 6
When over 100,000 Bitcoin went missing in 2016, no one suspected the culprits: a quiet, mild-mannered developer and his ostentatious entrepreneur/rapper wife with a wacky social media presence. Meet Razzlekhan and Dutch, the most unlikely thieves in the history of crime. Resources: Razzlekhan and husband guilty of $4.5bn Bitcoin launder Bitcoin Plunges After Hacking of Exchange in Hong Kong Bitfinex Hacker Sentenced in Money Laundering Conspiracy Involving Billions in Stolen Cryptocurrency . Sen...
Apr 23, 2025•24 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Why is Andrew Tate so popular with young men? With his sports cars and his obvious wealth, Tate has built a significant following out of his admittedly silly 'alpha male' rants. But behind the flashy lifestyle lies a web of controversy, including serious criminal charges. From promising young men financial independence and all the women they can handle, to the humiliations of a pro-trans hack and getting slapped down by a teenage girl on Twitter, the wild world of Andrew Tate is about as crazy a...
Apr 16, 2025•26 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Instagram star Hushpuppi had over 2 million followers. With his amazing lifestyle filled with Ferraris and Rolls Royces and private jets, dressed head-to-toe in Gucci and Versace and Fendi, Hushpuppi seemed to have it all. But Hushpuppi's lifestyle was built on a massive pile of fraud, $2 billion dollar's worth, that eventually landed him in prison. Resources Video: Dubai Police take down "Hushpuppi" , "Woodberry", ten international cyber criminals Send us a text Digital Disruption with Geoff Ni...
Apr 11, 2025•24 min•Season 4Ep. 3
A Blackberry phone as a hacking tool?! For our April Fool's Day episode, we bring you an exclusive interview with hacking genius Dave the Barber, who leveraged a freak accident with a Blackberry into a hack that can compromise any device until the end of time. Send us a text Support the show Join our Patreon to listen ad-free!...
Apr 01, 2025•10 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Want to hang out with supermodels on the beach? That's the dream that Billy McFarland sold in 2017 when he advertised Fyre Festival, an outdoor music concert in the Bahamas. Attendees were promised beautiful beaches, live music, comfy villas, gourmet meals, and supermodels around every corner. Instead, they got a gravel parking lot, soggy tents, cheese sandwiches, and no music. And no supermodels, either. What went wrong with Fyre Festival? In this episode, we look at Billy McFarland's delusion ...
Mar 27, 2025•29 min•Season 4Ep. 1
When a scam caller knows everything about you--your address, social security number, bank account--how do they know? There isn't some super powerful hacker ring with its own call center. Your data is actually stolen at one end of the internet, goes on a trip through hacker forums and dark web stashes, and reappears in a neat spreadsheet for a call center. The more you know about how your data is breached, sold, and aggregated, the better you'll be prepared for your next well-informed call from a...
Mar 20, 2025•24 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Let's explore the technology behind audio and music AI, and how it makes use of some cool math concepts to bring us convincing and realistic voices and music. Hear some actual AI-generated tunes, and find out how "latent space" changed the way AI generates sounds and music. Resources Ghostwriter, the Mastermind Behind the Viral Drake AI Song, Speaks For the First Time Spotify will not ban AI-made music, says boss Jellybean Benitez Remembers NYC Clubs of Yesteryear Send us a text Digital Disrupti...
Mar 12, 2025•29 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht after he served 12 years of his life sentence. In light of this news, we decided to replay our 2023 episode on the Silk Road website, which sold recreational drugs and other illegal items from 2011 to 2013. Was Trump's pardon the right move? We'll let you form your own opinion. Send us a text Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show Join our Patreon to list...
Mar 05, 2025•25 min•Season 3Ep. 17
AI makes our lives more convenient in so many ways, but it also gives scammers the same conveniences. Host Michele Bousquet explains how scammers use AI audio, video, and text to better fool their victims. Send us a text Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show Join our Patreon to listen ad-free!...
Feb 26, 2025•26 min•Season 3Ep. 16
The AI model Deepseek was all over the news in January 2025. Deepseek's developers claimed its costs to develop and run were a fraction of the costs for large popular AI models, which caused a big disruption in the stock market. But how true are these claims? In the first of a three-part series on AI, host Michele Bousquet dives in and give Deepseek a spin, and debunks some of the hype around this new export from China. Resources: DeepSeek-V3 Technical Report The Extreme Cost Of Training AI Mode...
Feb 20, 2025•27 min•Season 3Ep. 15
With so many social security breaches, we return to the original scene of the crime: the Equifax Breach of 2017. Enjoy this replay of one of our most popular episodes, where you'll learn about common hacking techniques, how routers work and why they're so important, and the most basic of cybersecurity measures like patch plans. Resources for this episode: Website where you can check if your identity was compromised in the Equifax breach Business Insider: Literally everyone should be thinking abo...
Feb 12, 2025•1 hr 14 min•Season 3Ep. 14
They're the kinds of cousins you wish you didn't have, but you don't really have a choice. What's the difference between hacks and scams, and how do they work together to part you from your valuables like personal information and money? In this episode, we look at the similarities and differences between these shady cousins, and how you can keep them from doing their dirty work. Resources: 91% of all cyber attacks begin with a phishing email to an unexpected victim Sony Hackers Used Phishing Ema...
Feb 05, 2025•24 min•Season 3Ep. 13
In the wake of the devastating California wildfires, conspiracy theories abound, some of them with no basis in fact. Just after her Pasadena home was threatened by the fires, author Su Falcon ran into a wall of disinformation in social media. Find out what she did about it, and how you can help keep the internet free of this kind of destructive garbage. Resources Website: California Fire Facts Website: Watch Duty Website: AirNow Book: How I Survived My First Year with Chickens Video: ‘They're Ea...
Jan 23, 2025•25 min•Season 3Ep. 12
2025 promises to be an exciting year for scammers. From ridiculous job offers to the colorful family of Apple ID scams, join us on a whirlwind tour of schemes designed to part you and your money. Send us a text Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show Join our Patreon to listen ad-free!...
Jan 16, 2025•25 min•Season 3Ep. 11
The Honey tool has been exposed as a scam, after dozens of YouTube influencers heavily promoted it. Honey was supposed to save online shoppers money by finding discount codes, but how could it make money doing that? By stealing from its own advertisers, of course! Find out how Honey did it, how they got exposed, and what the future holds for Honey's funny money and the stain upon its parent company PayPal. Resources Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam 'Biggest Influencer Scam of All Time'?: PayPa...
Jan 09, 2025•24 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Romance scams aren't the only goals of a catfish. The catfish needs some way to get all that money delivered into their hands without leaving a trail. To accomplish this, they recruit unwitting victims into laundering their money. Meet Alice, who unknowingly becomes a money mule for Parker the Catfish. Resources What is a money mule? Catfished YouTube Channel Send us a text Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods. Listen on: Apple Podc...
Jan 02, 2025•32 min•Season 3Ep. 9
How do catfish convince victims to send money? In this second of a three-part series on catfishing, we take a tour of the many tricks romance scammers use to separate victims from their hearts, and their cash. Resources Catfished YouTube Channel Scam Haters United website Send us a text Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show Join our Patreon to listen ad-free!...
Dec 26, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Catfishing scams have reached new heights, particularly romance scams. But how do they get away with it? This first of a three-part series on catfishing explores the technology these scammers use to fool their victims. Resources The man who "sold" The Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and Ulysses Grant's tomb All About Ethel Kennedy's 34 Grandchildren Catfished YouTube Channel Send us a text Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods. L...
Dec 19, 2024•29 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Hackers have been releasing password leaks for years. But what exactly is a password leak, and should you be concerned? In this episode of How Hacks Happen, we look at how password security has changed over the years, and how you can keep yourself safe in the ever-changing world of online security. Resources Rockyou2024 analysis: Mega password list or just noise? Have I Been Pwned? Check your password NIST Special Publication: Digital Identity Guidelines Send us a text Digital Disruption with Ge...
Dec 05, 2024•24 min•Season 3Ep. 6
With Netflix shining attention on the victims of the 2015 Ashley Madison breach, we're running a replay of our own coverage from 2021 that gets into the dark underbelly that Netflix skipped: lies Ashley Madison told about their services (and their CEO's fidelity), and blackmail attempts from enterprising hacker types. We also put forth evidence that the hacker, who was never caught, is most likely Canadian and a woman. Resources Impact Team Pastebin notice, July 20, 2015: https://pastebin.com/ZG...
Nov 28, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 5
The medical records of 1/3 of Americans were stolen from Change Healthcare in February 2024, and leaked to the dark web. So who is Change Healthcare, and why did they have your data in the first place? Get the skinny on this week's episode. Resources Change Healthcare Cyberattack Affected 100 Million Individuals The Change Healthcare attack: Explaining how it happened Wyden Hearing Statement on Change Healthcare Cyberattack and UnitedHealth Group’s Response Testimony of Andrew Witty, Chief Execu...
Nov 20, 2024•24 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Credit card fraud is on the rise, but not in the usual way: hackers are cobbling together synthetic accounts from real and fake names, addresses, social security numbers, and credit histories. Children's social security numbers are particularly at risk. Find out how it all works, and what you can do to help prevent synthetic account fraud, and help with inflation in the process. Resources FBI: Combating Threats in the Cyberworld LawPay: Guide to Securely Storing Credit Card Information How Can S...
Nov 13, 2024•31 min•Season 3Ep. 3
