Smashing Security

172: UncleF***Face

April 2nd, 2020  |  51 mins 7 secs

coronavirus, facebook portal, hoax, houseparty, privacy, spyware, surveillance, zoom

Carole details how companies are sneakily spying on their stay-at-home workers, Mikko Hyppönen discusses the trustworthiness of video chat apps, and Graham gets embarrassed when he admits he's bought a Facebook Portal for his in-laws.

171: WhatsApp hoaxes, Zoombombs, and 8-bit love

March 26th, 2020  |  45 mins 30 secs

coronavirus, dr negrin, hoax, pornhub, retro, scam, sextortion, whatsapp, zoom, zoombombing

Blackmailers are threatening to infect your family with Coronavirus, trolls are making Zoom an unsafe place for those of a sensitive disposition, and what is the mysterious Dr Negrin audio message spreading on WhatsApp?

170: PornHub, Coronavirus apps, and remote working

March 19th, 2020  |  47 mins 21 secs

coronavirus, malware, pornhub, ransomware, remote working, tracking

It's a self-isolated Coronavirus special as we discuss with our quarantined special guest how COVID-19 is making itself felt in the world of cybersecurity, and we offer tips on how to better protect yourself if you're unexpectedly working from home.

169: Burglaries, breaches, and bidets

March 12th, 2020  |  51 mins 5 secs

burglary, coronavirus, data breach, google, location data, microsoft, ultimate chicken horse, virgin media

How one guy's exercise routine made him a burglary suspect, how multi-factor authentication can cause headaches as well as stop hacks, and how Virgin Media got itself in a pickle over its sloppy data security.

168: The Bitcoin fraud factory

March 5th, 2020  |  52 mins 10 secs

bitcoin, clearview, cryptocurrency, facial recognition, scam, twitter, ukraine

Fraudsters steal millions from those hoping to jump on the Bitcoin bandwagon, Twitter verifies a fake US politician, and it's another face palm for facial recognition.

167: Coronavirus scams and an exaggerated lion

February 27th, 2020  |  56 mins 21 secs

bitcoin, business email compromise, coronavirus, exaggerated lion, romance scams, scams

Scammers from Africa are preying on US businesses, a drug dealer makes a mistake when hiding his Bitcoin fortune, and the Coronavirus pandemic is causing scams to soar and raising questions about facial recognition.

166: What the Dickens! Ad ban thank you scam

February 20th, 2020  |  42 mins 1 sec

charles dickens, david copperfield, dick pics, google, google ads, twitter

How to stop dick pics on Twitter, and a new way bad guys are extorting money from websites earning cash from Google ads.

165: Cheapfakes, deepfakes, and Ashley Madison

February 13th, 2020  |  48 mins 29 secs

ashley madison, cheapfakes, deepfakes, emotet, extortion, malware, wi-fi

Wi-Fi hopping malware, the return of Ashley Madison extortion scams, and should social media be doing anything about cheapfakes?

164: A bitter pill to swallow

February 6th, 2020  |  34 mins 14 secs

art, google maps, hacking, healthcare, john constable, medical, opioid, painting, scam, traffic jam

A gallery is tricked into giving millions to a fraudster, software tells doctors to push opioids onto patients, and an artist finds a novel way to trick Google Maps into thinking there's a traffic jam.

163: Russian heists and Ring wrongs

January 30th, 2020  |  58 mins 7 secs

amazon, cryptocurrency, jeff bezos, just a minute, malware, marina hyde, maryland, nicholas parsons, ring, russia

Should possessing malware be illegal in itself? How did a Russian cryptocurrency exchange millionaire lose his fortune? And what on earth are Amazon Ring doorbell cams up to now?

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 6 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!