Smashing Security

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?

146: Password secrets and baking brownies

September 19th, 2019  |  38 mins 56 secs

password

In the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast, hosted by computer security veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault, Carole has suffered an injury, we journey back in time to one of our earliest episodes to discuss the perils of passwords, and Rachael Stockton from LastPass drops by for a chat.

145: Apple and Google willy wave while home assistants spy - DoH!

September 12th, 2019  |  44 mins 21 secs

alexa, android, apple, dns, doh, google, home assistant, https, ios, malware, nintendo wii, siri

Apple is furious with Google over iPhone hacking attacks against Uyghur Muslims in China, DNS-over-HTTPS is good for privacy but makes ISPs angry, and concern over digital assistants listening to our private moments continues to rise.

144: Google helps the FBI, Twitter Jack’s hijack, and car data woes

September 5th, 2019  |  51 mins 34 secs

android, car, doctor who, fbi, google, jack dorsey, location services, privacy, terrance dicks, twitter

Should Google really be helping the FBI with a bank robbery? What's the story behind the Twitter CEO claiming there's a bomb in their offices? And how much does your car really know about you?

And we mourn the loss of Doctor Who legend Terrance Dicks...

143: Hacking from outer space, Ukrainian cryptomining, and deepfaked Canadians

August 29th, 2019  |  43 mins 34 secs

astronaut, cryptomining, deepfake, jordan peterson, nasa, online banking, power plant, space, ukraine

Was a cybercrime committed on the International Space Station? What on earth were Ukrainian scientists thinking when they plugged a nuclear power station into the internet? And someone has cloned Canadian clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson's voice...

142: Mercedes secret sensors, smart cities, and ransomware runs riot

August 22nd, 2019  |  49 mins 30 secs

car, facebook, malware, mercedes, privacy, ransomware, smart cities, tracking

Darknet Diaries host Jack Rhysider joins us to discuss how cities in Texas are being hit by a wave of ransomware, how Mercedes Benz has installed a tracker in your car (but not for the reason you think), the security threats impacting smart cities, and a new feature coming to your Facebook app.

141: Black Hat and Bridezillas

August 15th, 2019  |  51 mins 30 secs

black hat, cable, camera, crown sterling, dslr, encryption, iphone, lightning, malware, ransomware, time ai, vulnerability

Say cheese to ransomware on your camera! A sponsored speech at Black Hat causes uproar, and should you trust that Lightning cable you're about to plug into your MacBook?

140: Love, PINs, and 8chan

August 8th, 2019  |  54 mins 51 secs

8chan, banking, cloudflare, dating, monzo, passcode, pin, romance scam, the boys

Is the PIN you use for your bank card secure? How did one woman get duped into giving a romance scammer $200,000? And Cloudflare and other online services take aim at a vile corner of the internet...

139: Capital One hacked, iMessage flaws, and anonymity my ass!

August 1st, 2019  |  47 mins 59 secs

amazon, capital one, data anonymization, data breach, gdpr, imessage, ios, iphone, legend of zelda, steve jobs, vulnerability, walter isaacson

Capital One gets hacked, critical vulnerabilities are found in iMessage, and data anonymization may not be as good as we hope. But listen up, we also discuss the Legend of Zelda, a biography of tech giants, offer advice for escaping an angry moose, and are introduced to... Penelope?

138: Logic bombs, brain data exploitation, and Digga D tweets

July 25th, 2019  |  49 mins 52 secs

brain, digga d, drill rap, garfield, hacking, hoverboard, knots, logic bomb, metropolitan police, neuralink, siemens, spreadsheet, twitter

Logic bombs in Excel spreadsheets, how should we protect our brain data from big companies, and how did bizarre messages about Drill rap end up on the Metropolitan Police's Twitter account and website?

137: Porn trolling lawyers, Insta hacking, and Ctrl-Alt-LED

July 18th, 2019  |  44 mins 8 secs

hacking, instagram, keyboard, lawyers, porn, vulnerability

Erection your honour! Lawyers find themselves behind bars after they make porn movies in an attempt to scam internet users, boffins in Israel detail a way to steal data from an air-gapped computer, and Instagram coughs up $30,000 after a researcher finds a simple way to hack into anybody's account.

136: Oops, we created Iran's hacking exploit

July 11th, 2019  |  49 mins 59 secs

business email compromise, deepfake, deepnude, iran, malware, outlook, privacy, trevor noah, vulnerability, webcam, zoom

Mac users of the Zoom video conferencing app are warned their webcams could be hijacked, security firms warn of how scammers are deepfaking audio to steal from businesses, and our guest owns up to the role he played in an Iranian cyberattack against US organisations.