Hacking Humans N2K Networks

This week we are joined by Maria Varmazis, host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus. Maria shares an interesting story about how ransomware infections are beginning to change to form a more psychological attack against victims' organizations, as criminals are using personal and aggressive tactics to force them to pay. Dave and Joe share some listener follow up, from Bob, who writes in to share how he shares stories with his family members, and mentions one specifically on a Best Buy Geek Squad scam. Dave share's a story on bank scams, and how scammers are using genuine push notifications to trick their victims. Joe shares a story regarding email security loopholes, and how these loopholes are the latest path for North Korean social engineering attacks. Our catch of the day is from our follow up listener Bob, as he shares the story of trying to figure out the difference between a real email from the U.S social security department and a fake one.
Please take a moment to fill out an audience survey! Let us know how we are doing!
Links to the stories:

Ransomware crooks now SIM swap executives' kids to pressure their parents

Bank scammers using genuine push notifications to trick their victims

Email security loopholes are latest path for North Korean social engineering attacks


You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.
Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com.

An extension of the traditional Basic Input/Output System or BIOS that, during the boot process, facilitates the communication between the computer’s firmware and the computer’s operating system.

Bogdan Botezatu from Bitdefender is discussing research on "Audio deepfakes: Celebrity-endorsed giveaway scams and fraudulent investment opportunities flood social media platforms." Dave and Joe shares some follow up from listener Lara, who writes in to discuss a few topics regarding a previous episode. Joe's story is sharing a game changer in the social engineering world. Dave shares the story of a listener's grandmother who had fallen victim to a pig butchering scam. Our catch of the day comes from listener Kenneth who shares an email he received from a "Cardiologist" on some puppies.
Please take a moment to fill out an audience survey! Let us know how we are doing!
Links to the stories:

Audio deepfakes: Celebrity-endorsed giveaway scams and fraudulent investment opportunities flood social media platforms

PCI DSS v4.0 a game-changer in social engineering awareness, prevention


Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com.

An operating system program running in the background designed to perform a specific task when certain conditions or events occur.

This week we are joined by Maria Varmazis, host of the N2K daily space show, T-Minus. Maria shares an interesting story from Canada on a gentleman who thought he was calling Best Buy's Geek Squad, but instead ended up getting scammed out of $25,000. Dave and Joe share quite a bit of listener follow up, the first one is from Raul who shares how they saw an infamous Facebook scam. The second one is from listener Alec who shares some thoughts on episode 286's catch of the day. Lastly, Paula shares some thoughts on a recent discussion on why people are on the phone when a flight gets cancelled. Joe brings back answers to an old scam featured on an episode back in January on toll scams, as well as sharing about how the OpenSSF and OpenJS Foundations have issued an alert for social engineering takeovers of open source projects. Dave shares updates from the ex-athletic director accused of framing principal with AI and how he was arrested at the airport with a gun. Our catch of the day comes from listener Kenneth who shares an email from a "doctor" who has puppies for sale.
Please take a moment to fill out an audience survey! Let us know how we are doing!
Links to the stories:

An Ontario senior thought he called Geek Squad for help with his printer. Instead, he got scammed out of $25,000

Smishing Scam Regarding Debt for Road Toll Services

Open Source Security (OpenSSF) and OpenJS Foundations Issue Alert for Social Engineering Takeovers of Open Source Projects

Ex-athletic director accused of framing principal with AI arrested at airport with gun


You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.
Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at hackinghumans@thecyberwire.com.

Also known as spyware and adware, it is a software category where developers design the application neither to cause explicit harm nor to accomplish some conventional legitimate purpose, but when run, usually annoys the user and often performs actions that the developer did not disclose, and that the user regards as undesirable.