Smashing Security

162: Robocalls, health hacks, and facial recognition fears

January 23rd, 2020  |  52 mins 17 secs

data breach, facial recognition, harvey weinstein, medical, nhs, robocall

A hospital gets hacked because of an ex-employee's grudge, robocalls are on the rise, and we share a scary story about the future of facial recognition.

161: Love, lucky dips, and 23andMe

January 16th, 2020  |  42 mins 21 secs

23andme, credential stuffing, data breach, dna, genetics, hacking, love hotel, messiah, national lottery

The man who hacked the UK National Lottery didn't end up a winner, Japanese Love hotel booking tool suffers a data breach, and just what is 23andMe planning to do with your DNA?

160: SNAFUs! MS Word, Amazon Ring, and TikTok

January 9th, 2020  |  53 mins 5 secs

amazon, amazon ring, dracula, fraud, microsoft word, ricky gervais, the witcher, tiktok

We discuss how Microsoft Word helped trap a multi-million dollar fraudster, how Amazon Ring may be recording more than you're comfortable with, and how teens are flocking to TikTok (and why that might be a problem).

159: Rap, robbery, and IoT holiday hell

December 19th, 2019  |  55 mins 3 secs

banking, car, christmas, die hard, facebook, fraud, instagram, iot, odometer, rap

A rapping bank worker is accused of stealing from the vault, the devices that can hide your car's true mileage, and why it may be a case of "No No No" rather than "Ho Ho Ho" when it comes to IoT toys this Christmas.

And as Carole sups the mulled wine, Graham has problems with his internet connection...

158: The man behind The Missing Cryptoqueen

December 12th, 2019  |  1 hr 12 mins

alexa, amazon, dr ruja ignotova, dridex, evil corp, hacking, malware, nhs, onecoin, russia, the missing cryptoqueen

We're joined by special guest Jamie Bartlett, of the chart-topping "The Missing Cryptoqueen" podcast, in this bumper episode where we discuss his investigation into the OneCoin cryptocurrency scam, the Russian cybercriminals behind Evil Corp, and the mysterious leaks about the NHS that have turned oh-so-political...

157: A biometric knuckle duster

December 5th, 2019  |  1 hr 5 mins

biometrics, disney+, fingerprint, hacking, kaspersky, nordvpn, vpn

What is Kaspersky's ugly ring for? Is there something suspicious about how NordVPN lets you stream Disney+? And why did a hacker impersonate a music producer?

Plus we have a bonus feature interview with Rachael Stockton from Logmein, the folks behind LastPass, all about behavioral biometrics!

156: Better safe than Sony

November 27th, 2019  |  22 mins 31 secs

data breach, hacking, north korea, sony, the interview

In this clip from a special bonus episode produced for our Patreon supporters, Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault discuss the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures - reportedly carried out by North Korea for the very oddest of reasons...

155: Juice jacking, YouTube hacking, password slacking

November 21st, 2019  |  50 mins 38 secs

aberfan, banking, dolly parton, juice jacking, malware, password, privacy, the crown, usb, youtube

A bank has some of the worst password advice ever, travellers are told to be wary when USB charging their smartphones and laptops, and a gamer has his YouTube account hacked.

154: A buttock of biometrics

November 14th, 2019  |  50 mins 2 secs

apple, credit card, ddos, fitness, google, health data, labour, monopoly

The UK's Labour Party kicks off its election campaign with claims that it has suffered a sophisticated cyber-attack, Apple's credit card is accused of being sexist, and what is Google up to with Project Nightingale?

153: Cybercrime doesn’t pay (but Uber does)

November 7th, 2019  |  49 mins 50 secs

blackmail, cctv, data breach, insider trading, iot, ransomware, uber, washington dc

The cybercrime lovebirds who hijacked Washington DC's CCTV cameras in the run-up to Donald Trump's inauguration, the truffle-snuffling bankers at the centre of an insider-trading scandal, and the hackers that Uber paid hush money to hide a security breach.

152: Cats, hoodies, and rent

October 31st, 2019  |  54 mins 22 secs

art, cats, dogs, edward snowden, hoodies, iot, pet feeders, rent, vulnerability

What's the problem with IoT-enabled pet feeders? Can hacking ever be illustrated without a hoodie? And just how are landlords using smart home technology to snoop upon their residents?

151: Frankly, sometimes paying the ransom is a good idea

October 24th, 2019  |  55 mins 49 secs

alexa, amazon, backups, baltimore, digital assistants, google, google home, passwords, phishing, privacy, ransomware, smart speakers

Remember how the City of Baltimore was badly hit by ransomware earlier this year? Turns out that wasn't the end of their problems. Also, Carole takes a look at how smart speakers can be hacked to trick you into giving criminals your passwords or even credit card details. And we discuss the findings of the LastPass global password security report.

150: Liverpool WAGs, Facebook politics, and a selfie stalker

October 17th, 2019  |  51 mins 22 secs

elizabeth warren, facebook, football, instagram, liverpool, privacy, selfie, stalker

Footballers' wives go to war over Instagram leaks, it turns out fake news is fine on Facebook (just so long as it's in a political ad), and things take a horrific turn in Japan, as a stalker uses a scary technique to find out where his pop idol lives.

149: Falling in love with fraudsters

October 10th, 2019  |  46 mins 24 secs

dating, gps, hacking, insider threat, mafia, tracking, yahoo

We take a trip to Staten Island, New York, to hear how a case of cyberstalking resulted in the arrest of 20 alleged mobsters, learn about the nude photo-loving insider threat at Yahoo, and discover how fraudsters might be boosting Match.com's profits.

148: Billboard boobs, face forensics, and Alexa gets way too personal

October 3rd, 2019  |  50 mins 23 secs

alexa, amazon, billboard, deepfake, hacking, porn, privacy

Drivers are distracted by a hacked billboard, Maria takes a deeper look at how the deepfake problem has... uh... deepened, and Carole is less than happy about Amazon's announcement about new Alexa integrations.

147: Don't Snapchat and drive

September 26th, 2019  |  49 mins 59 secs

data breach, driving, milton keynes, mobile, privacy, recruitment, skills gap

How is private medical data leaking onto the streets of Milton Keynes, what is widening the cybersecurity skills gap, and how is Australia controversially tackling the problem of drivers using their mobile phones?