Smashing Security

News and views from the world of cybersecurity, hacking, and internet threats

About the show

A helpful and hilarious take on the week's tech SNAFUs. Computer security industry veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault chat with guests about cybercrime, hacking, and online privacy. It's not your typical cybersecurity podcast...

Winner of the "Best Security Podcast 2018" and "Best Security Podcast 2019", Smashing Security has had over four million downloads. Past guests include Garry Kasparov, Mikko Hyppönen, and Rory Cellan-Jones.

Follow the podcast on Twitter at @SmashinSecurity, and subscribe for free in your favourite podcast app. New episodes released at 7pm EST every Wednesday (midnight UK).

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Episodes

  • 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!

  • 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.