Hacking Humans

Hacking Humans

Join Dave Bittner and Joe Carrigan each week as they look behind the social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines and taking a heavy toll on organizations around the world.
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Recent Episodes

Ep 266 | 11.16.23

Unmasking the deceptive.

John Wilson, Senior Fellow, Threat Research at Fortra, joins to discuss email impersonation attacks which found that nearly 99% of these threats can be classified as business email compromise. Dave and Joe share some listener follow up from Terry, who writes in with some comments on episode 262 regarding cybersecurity jargon used. Joe's story comes from a listener this week, this individual writes in sharing the horror story he had to deal with when him and his wife ended up on a target list for scammers. Dave's story follows Elon Musk and Joanna Gaines, co-host of the HGTV show "Fixer Upper," and how they are selling a scam device that claims to lower your electricity bills. Our catch of the day comes from listener William, who writes in sharing an email he received from the"Tampa International Airport Police Department Florida," saying they want to release his fund with the service of DHL Courier Company.

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Ep 265 | 11.9.23

Leaving a trail of digital breadcrumbs.

This week we are joined by Harry Maugans from Privacy Bee who sits down to discuss how our digital breadcrumbs, old and new, are coming back to haunt us. Joe and Dave discuss some follow up from listener Phil, who writes in with a question about the safety of IoT and consumer devices. Dave's story follows the ever so popular YouTube, and its implemented measures to prevent users with ad blockers from watching videos. Joe shares a personal story from a friend regarding a scam he had fallen for, where the scammer got personal information and threatened him, asking for $500. Our catch of the day comes from listener John who found a hilarious text conversation on reddit that he just had to share.

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Ep 264 | 11.2.23

Weaponizing your out-of-office replies.

James Dyer and Jack Chapman of Egress join to discuss "Cybercriminals don’t take holidays: How bad actors use this two-step phishing campaign to weaponize out-of-office replies." Dave and Joe share some listener follow up from Ron, who has a suggestion about registration specific email accounts. Joe has two stories this week, one where he shares some good news on a scammer who received some justice after taking part in a $66K romance scam. His second story is on social media and how it is a breeding ground for scammers. Dave's story this week follows how Google-hosted malvertising leads to a fake keepass site that looks genuine. Our catch of the day comes from our very own editorial staff who share an interesting email they received from the infamous National Security Department.

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Ep 263 | 10.26.23

Scams, scams, and more scams.

Mallory Sofastaii, a consumer investigative reporter from WMAR TV, is joining Dave and Joe to discuss some recent scams she's seen in her reporting. Dave and Joe share some listener follow up from Kenneth who writes in with a suggestion on creating separate email addresses. Dave's story this week follows fake browser scams and how one has gotten a face lift, and what it looks like now. Joe's story is on a new term WIRED is calling "obituary pirates," people who create YouTube videos themselves casually reciting information about loved ones deaths. Our catch of the day comes from Joe this week, he shares an email he received from one of his old email addresses.

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Ep 262 | 10.19.23

Scoring cybersecurity in the NFL.

Joe Oregon, Chief of Cybersecurity at CISA, sits down to discuss the tabletop exercise that CISA, the NFL, and local partners conducted in preparation for Super Bowl LVIII. Joe and Dave share some listener follow up from Rory who wirtes in to talk tin foil hats. Joe's story shares the interesting finds after conducting a cybersecurity survey at ISI. Dave's story follows the 77 year old woman, Marjorie Bloom, who ended up losing over $600,000, her whole lifes savings by falling for a common tech scam. Our catch of the day comes from listener Damien who writes in with an email from the "federal reserve bank of USA" to inform him that he has received a car with $16.7million attached to it and he needs to claim it.

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Hacking Humans
Host(s)
Dave Bittner
Joe Carrigan
Dave Bittner is a security podcast host and one of the founders at CyberWire. He's a creator, producer, videographer, actor, experimenter, and entrepreneur. He's had a long career in the worlds of television, journalism and media production, and is one of the pioneers of non-linear editing and digital storytelling.
Joe Carrigan, is a Senior Security Engineer with the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute. He has been a Software Engineer for over twenty years and has been working in the security field for more than ten years focusing on usable security and security awareness. He has experience in a broad range of fields including authentication systems, embedded systems, data migration, and network communication.
Schedule: Thursdays
Creator: CyberWire, Inc.
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