400 episodes and we still have trust issues.

17 hours ago

400 episodes and we still have trust issues.

This week, we’re celebrating a pretty big milestone: 400 episodes of Hacking Humans! Along the way, we’ve shared hundreds of stories, scams, lessons, and plenty of memorable Catch of the Days—and we couldn’t have made it this far without you. To everyone who has listened, written in with a story, sent us a Catch of the Day, or simply learned to be a little more suspicious of that weird text message: thank you for being part of 400 episodes of Hacking Humans. We’re glad you’re here to celebrate with us. And now, after 400 episodes, there’s really only one thing left to do: get back to the scams. This week, hosts of N2K CyberWire ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Maria Varmazis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dave Bittner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ alongside ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joe Carrigan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ are discussing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. Dave covers celebrity podcast impersonation scams, where fraudsters use personal details, convincing AI-generated personas, and fake production teams to build trust with potential guests. Maria looks at a rental scam that cost a San Francisco renter $18,600 after scammers copied a legitimate apartment listing, showed him the property, and convinced him they were the landlord. Joe discusses new research showing that younger people can be just as vulnerable to scams as older victims, particularly when they're navigating things like jobs, apartments, online shopping, and their first financial accounts. Our Catch of the Day comes from a scammer who apparently discovered the hard way that sometimes the scammer can get scammed.

Hacking Humans

400 episodes and we still have trust issues.

17 hours ago

400 episodes and we still have trust issues.

This week, we’re celebrating a pretty big milestone: 400 episodes of Hacking Humans! Along the way, we’ve shared hundreds of stories, scams, lessons, and plenty of memorable Catch of the Days—and we couldn’t have made it this far without you. To everyone who has listened, written in with a story, sent us a Catch of the Day, or simply learned to be a little more suspicious of that weird text message: thank you for being part of 400 episodes of Hacking Humans. We’re glad you’re here to celebrate with us. And now, after 400 episodes, there’s really only one thing left to do: get back to the scams. This week, hosts of N2K CyberWire ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Maria Varmazis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dave Bittner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ alongside ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joe Carrigan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ are discussing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. Dave covers celebrity podcast impersonation scams, where fraudsters use personal details, convincing AI-generated personas, and fake production teams to build trust with potential guests. Maria looks at a rental scam that cost a San Francisco renter $18,600 after scammers copied a legitimate apartment listing, showed him the property, and convinced him they were the landlord. Joe discusses new research showing that younger people can be just as vulnerable to scams as older victims, particularly when they're navigating things like jobs, apartments, online shopping, and their first financial accounts. Our Catch of the Day comes from a scammer who apparently discovered the hard way that sometimes the scammer can get scammed.

Hacking Humans

Cybersecurity News

CyberWire Daily

1 hour ago

Meta gets a Meta-sized bill.

Meta settles. Australian police arrest two alleged TeamPCP members. The White House moves to shore up water utility cybersecurity. ATF reports a major cyber incident. The Navy tells sailors to lock down social media. The FBI warns of a prolific Chinese hacking operation. Bill Gates sounds the alarm on AI. A purported think tank tries to influence chatbot answers. And attackers focus less on individual vulnerabilities and more on the vendors behind them. Our guest is Tim Springston, Principal Product Manager at Semperis, on achieving hybrid identity resilience in the age of agentic AI. Meta pumps the brakes on going AI native.

Story

1 hour ago

Hybrid Identity in the Age of Agentic AI with Tim Springston from Semperis

Tim Springston from Semperis joins Dave Bittner on the CyberWire Daily podcast for a sponsored Industry Voices to discuss why hybrid identity isn't going away and what that means for cyber resilience. Tim explores the growing complexity of identity environments and how agentic AI is creating new opportunities for defenders while simultaneously giving attackers new ways to target identity systems.

Caveat

2 hours ago

UK and Ukraine sign landmark AI deal.

Taiwan cracks down on illegal AI server smuggling.

Daily Briefing

6 hours ago

Australian police arrest two suspected TeamPCP members.

CISA says more than 100 water and wastewater systems were targeted in cyberattacks in July. UK airports disclose breach.

AI Security Brief

17 hours ago

What does hospital downtime teach us about building AI-native organizations?

Is your organization truly AI native, or did you just bolt AI onto existing infrastructure? Your answer could be an indicator to how much risk you’re carrying without realizing it. Zach Evans, Chief Technology Officer at Xsolis, has a simple test for telling the difference: strip out the AI and see if your process still works. If it does, you may be exposing your organization to security blind spots and workflows that quietly erode organizational knowledge and skills. Zach joins Johnny Hand and Dustin Childs to unpack what it actually takes to build an AI-native organization, and why the stakes of getting agentic AI wrong can be unforgiving for every organization, not just those in healthcare.

Caveat

17 hours ago

Breaking big tech's hold.

This week, Dave and Ben look at California's latest effort to restrict social media companies further by banning design features that are considered harmful to minors. Additionally, the two discuss recent calls on the Maryland government to investigate data brokers which could be violating state privacy laws.

CyberWire Daily

Aug 26, 2026

The feds flip the script.

The U.S. disrupts a Chinese hacking operation blamed for intrusions at several sensitive government agencies. CISA says more than 100 water systems were targeted in July. Attackers exploit a critical Gitea flaw, while malicious pages masquerade as Cloudflare verification screens. Cyber insurance claims get costlier, and AI agents break out of their sandboxes. Boston Scientific battles a cyber incident. Plus, a new standard tracks AI agent activity, criminals target stolen iPhones, and an alleged money mule is charged in a $7.5 million scam. Our guest is Stephen Hilt, Sr. Threat Researcher at TrendAI, on the risks facing data centers. Some breach data doesn’t quite measure up.

Story

Aug 26, 2026

The Hidden Attack Surface Inside Data Centers

Stephen Hilt, Senior Threat Researcher at TrendAI, joins Dave Bittner on the CyberWire Daily podcast for a sponsored Industry Voices recorded at Black Hat USA 2026. Drawing on research presented at DEF CON, he discusses thousands of internet-exposed industrial control systems associated with U.S. data centers, how attackers could target building and energy infrastructure to bypass traditional IT defenses, and why the growing importance of data centers makes these overlooked systems an increasingly important part of the security conversation.

Business

Aug 26, 2026

AI safety and security company Alice raises $140 million.

Munich Re Group has agreed to acquire San Francisco-based At-Bay for $575 million

Daily Briefing

Aug 26, 2026

US disrupts Chinese hacking campaign that breached NASA, the DOJ, the DOE, the Senate, and others.

Meta settles children's safety lawsuits for $16.68 billion. Business news: AI security firm Alice raises $140 million.

Microsoft Threat Intelligence

Aug 26, 2026

JADEPUFFER: An End-to-End Agentic-Led Ransomware Attack

In this episode of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast, we are joined by Sysdig’s Michael Clark and Crystal Morin to discuss ⁠JADEPUFFER⁠, one of the first documented cases of an LLM conducting an end-to-end ransomware operation. They break down how the agent, and the direction of a threat actor was identified, how AI is lowering the barrier to entry for ransomware, and why speed and adaptability are changing the threat landscape. Plus, they explore what organizations can do to defend against AI-powered attacks, from basic security hygiene and exposure management to better understanding their growing AI infrastructure.

Marketing

Aug 26, 2026

How Check Point Built a Cybersecurity Arcade Game in Under a Month with Gemma Goldstein

Gemma Goldstein had a quiet Thursday in the office, a domain someone spotted for sale, and an idea. A few short weeks later, Check Point's Exposure Management team had a browser-based arcade game live at exposuremanagement.ai with 11,000 players and a leaderboard. The game launched as part of a broader campaign, and MQLs went up 100% that month. Gemma is careful not to credit the game alone. She and Gianna cover how the campaign came together across multiple channels, what she would do differently now, and how vibe coding an ROI calculator in an hour replaced a project quoted as taking weeks. About Gemma: Gemma Goldstein is Head of Growth for Exposure Management at Check Point, a role she carried over from Cyberint after they were acquired in 2024. Before Cyberint, she spent three years at Envy, a B2B digital marketing agency focused on cybersecurity. Her background spans SEO, paid media, content, and creative strategy.

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