Maria Varmazis

121: Hijacked motel rooms, ASUS PCs, and leaky apps

March 28th, 2019  |  47 mins 37 secs

asus, data breach, hotel, malware, motel, privacy, shadowhammer, supply chain

An app leaking private conversations and intimate photographs is ignoring requests to fix the problem, hackers poison a security update sent to ASUS PCs, and how to protect your privacy in motel rooms.

117: SWATs on a plane

February 28th, 2019  |  57 mins 24 secs

facebook, insurance, linkedin, malware, perfect night in, rude words, swatting, tetris, twitter

Why is Tampa's mayor tweeting about blowing up the airport? Are hackers trying to connect with you via LinkedIn? And has Maria succeeded in her attempt to survive February without Facebook?

Plus, after last week's discussion about the legal battle between Mondelez and Zurich Insurance, we have a chat with security veteran Martin Overton to take a deeper look into cyberinsurance.

110: What? You can get paid to leave Facebook?

January 10th, 2019  |  51 mins 8 secs

bear brook, bug bounty, exploit, facebook, hacking, louis theroux, marie kondo, twitter, vulnerability, zerodium

Twitter and the not-so-ethical hacking of celebrity accounts, study discovers how you can pay someone to quit Facebook for a year, and the millions of dollars you can make from uncovering software vulnerabilities.

106: Google Maps, Fed phishing, and Grinch bots

November 29th, 2018  |  1 hr 50 secs

business email compromise, fbi, fedex, google maps, grinch bot, passwords, phishing, scam

How are scammers stealing your money through Google Maps? Why did the FBI create a fake FedEx website? And how are US senators hoping to stop Grinch bots ruining Christmas?

101: Rule 34, Twitter scams, and Facebook fails

October 25th, 2018  |  50 mins 32 secs

bitcoin, cia, data breach, elon musk, facebook, privacy, scam, the good place, twitter

A Facebook friend request leads to arrest, Twitter scams ride again via promoted ads, and adult websites expose their members. Oh, and Graham finds out what Rule 34 is.

098: A Facebook omnishambles

October 4th, 2018  |  51 mins 28 secs

2fa, conference, conservative, facebook, hack, star trek, the one show, vulnerability

Millions of Facebook user accounts put at risk after hack! The UK Conservative party's conference app causes a privacy omnishambles! And Facebook (again) has been doing something naughty with the phone numbers you give it for security reasons! Oh, and Maria gets very excited about something to do with Star Trek.

091: Sextortion, Las Vegas hotels, and Alex Jones

August 16th, 2018  |  48 mins 14 secs

alex jones, chess, def con, infowars, las vegas, octopath traveler, privacy, sextortion, twitter

Just how did sextortionists get (some) of the digits in your phone number? Why are some hackers saying they won't be going to DEF CON in Las Vegas anymore? And should Alex Jones from InfoWars be banned from Twitter?

085: Doctor Who, Facebook patents, and Bob's Burgers

July 5th, 2018  |  37 mins 10 secs

bob's burgers, data leak, dating, doctor who, facebook, jodie whittaker, privacy

Doctor Who's TARDIS has sprung a data leak, Facebook's creepy patents are unmasked, and an app to keep women safe on dates has surprising origins.

079: Mugshots, mobile mania, and backend gurus

May 24th, 2018  |  51 mins 13 secs

a very english scandal, ben whishaw, donald trump, encryption, fbi, hugh grant, jeremy thorpe, moment, mugshots, paddington 2, percentages, sharenting

A website which demands money if you want your police mugshot removed, could "sharenting" lead to a rise in fraud and identity theft, and how could the FBI have overcounted encrypted phones so badly?

075: Quitting Facebook

April 26th, 2018  |  28 mins 8 secs

facebook, privacy

Should you quit Facebook? How do you delete your Facebook account? What do you need to consider before leaving Facebook for good? And what's the easiest way to successfully go cold turkey on Facebook?

073: Rick Astley: Never gonna hack you up...

April 12th, 2018  |  39 mins 13 secs

bertram fiddle, hacking, harriet harman, kemi badenoch, passwords, politicians, sirens, t-mobile, vulnerability

Politician admits to hacking a rival's website, T-Mobile Austria ends up in a Twitter security storm, and siren systems are hit by a Rick Astley attack over the airwaves.

065: Cryptominomania, Poppy, and your Amazon Alexa

February 15th, 2018  |  49 mins 42 secs

amazon, amazon echo, cryptomining, furbies, poppy, youtube for kids

Cryptomining goes nuclear, YouTube for Kids gets scary, and TV ads have been given the green light to mess with your Amazon Alexa.

063: Carole's back!

February 1st, 2018  |  45 mins 26 secs

bob dylan, deepfakes, dexter the peacock, fitness trackers, ransomware, strava, the other favorites, tor

Fitness trackers breaching your privacy, how anyone can create convincing celebrity porn, how ransomware authors are getting ripped off by scammers, and much much more!

051: Robots, romance, passwords, and CrunchyRoll

November 9th, 2017  |  41 mins 33 secs

agony aunt, crunchyroll, doctor who, malware, passwords, privacy, robot, sophia, star trek, stranger things

Passwords are under the microscope again, CrunchyRoll leads anime fans to malware, a sexy robot gains Saudi citizenship, and Carole begins her career as an agony aunt.

043: Backups - a necessary evil?

September 21st, 2017  |  29 mins 18 secs

backups, cloud, ransomware, tina turner

When did you last backup your data? How and what should you backup? And where should you store them?

036: Flash? Clunk flush... and hacking security researchers

August 3rd, 2017  |  44 mins 57 secs

adobe flash, billboard, fireeye, mandiant, reply all, tickled, vulnerability

A security threat researcher is badly hacked in a revenge attack. Some people want to save Adobe Flash, but is that wise? And a poorly-secured electronic billboard starts displaying offensive images...