How Hacks Happen

Many Worlds Productions•howhackshappen.buzzsprout.com

Hacks, scams, cyber crimes, and other shenanigans explored and explained. Presented by your friendly neighborhood cybersecurity gal Michele Bousquet.

Last refreshed: July 14th, 2025 at 6:38 AM

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Episodes

Quick Tip: Black Friday Shopping

Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving, is traditionally one of the biggest holiday shopping days of the year. But hackers aren't going to take a holiday--they'll use Black Friday as an opportunity to try and scam you. If you get a text about an order or a gift card, don't tap the link! Instead, go to the retailer's site and see if there's a message for you. Let's all have a holly jolly holiday season with no scams! Send us a text Support the show Join our Patreon to listen ad-free!...

Nov 24, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 8

Blockchain and Bitcoin

You've heard of Bitcoin, but how does it work, and why are so many people talking about it? Let's talk about blockchain--the tech behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency--in plain English, including hashing, a key part of blockchain technology. We'll also talk about why people invest in cryptocurrency. Resources for this episode Development of blockchain: "A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" by Satoshi Nakamoto: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf Rising Bitcoin value: https://www.businessinsider...

Nov 15, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 7

Quick Tip: Don't Scratch! Gift Card Scams

If anyone--the IRS, the electric company, the police--calls you and asks you to buy a prepaid Visa card or a gift card to pay your bill over the phone, it's not who you think it is. They'll tell you to scratch the numbers off the back and read them the numbers. This is a ploy by scammers to get money from you. Don't fall for it! This tip was inspired by a recent real-life story of a phone scam that terrified a woman in the San Francisco area: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/phone-sca...

Nov 01, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 6

Quick Tip: Alarming Phone Calls

Hackers operate off of fear. They'll call you with an urgent problem: Your bill is overdue! Pay now! But if they don't know your name, social security number, or anything else about you, it's a scam. Hang up and be satisfied that you thwarted yet another hack. Send us a text Support the show Join our Patreon to listen ad-free!...

Oct 15, 2021•59 sec•Season 1Ep. 5

Ashley Madison Breach

In July 2015, a very polite group of hackers called The Impact Team stole the data of over 30 million users from Ashley Madison, a website for cheating spouses, and threatened to dump it all over the dark web if the site wasn't shut down. The site stayed up, and the data went out. Learn about how hackers worldwide have used the data to blackmail users, the denials (and eventual resignations) of Ashley Madison executives, and the many clues, including the hackers' unusual level of politeness, tha...

Oct 01, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Credit Card Fraud

Let's look at the impact of credit card fraud, and talk about how they're stolen, and what you can do to keep your credit safe. Jiggle that cover, man! Resources for this episode: Credit card safety: 8 tips to help keep you safe Verizon 2020 Payment Security Report History of credit cards Send us a text Digital Disruption with Geoff Nielson Discover how technology is reshaping our lives and livelihoods. Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Inspiring Tech Leaders - The Technology Podcast Interviews ...

Aug 15, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 3

Crypto Wars

Say No to the NSA! Until the mid-1970s, the National Security Agency held an iron grip on all research into computer-based cryptography in the USA. In this episode, we talk about how the NSA squashed all public research into cryptography in the 1950s and 1960s, but loosened its grip to work to develop the Digital Encryption Standard (DES) with IBM. Then, in the 1970s, mathematicians Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, and others went head-to-head with the NSA to make cryptography available to us a...

Jul 01, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Equifax Breach

When consumer reporting agency Equifax was breached in 2017, the records of over 140 million people (more than half the adults in the USA!) were stolen. Years later, we take a closer look at the mistakes Equifax's security team made, how hackers leveraged a compromised Equifax web page to gain access to logins, passwords, and dozens of additional databases, and how they got the stolen data out of Equifax's network through a flawed router setup. We wrap up what you can do to keep yourself safe fr...

May 15, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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