I first came across Hacked through their episode The Red Teamer, which was fantastic. The guest, a red teamer turned entrepreneur, shared insightful experiences from the industry and discussed the shift toward identity-based security. As a security professional, I found it fascinating to hear about real-world vulnerabilities and how attacks have evolved over time. This episode had depth, a great guest, and valuable takeaways—exactly what I was looking for.
Encouraged by that episode, I started exploring more of the podcast. Unfortunately, I found a disappointing pattern. While the show excels at drawing listeners in with strong hooks and compelling intros, the rest of the episode often turns into surface-level discussion rather than deep analysis. It feels like two guys casually chatting about cybersecurity news rather than breaking down attacks in a meaningful way.
A great example of this was the Ticketmaster breach episode. The intro set high expectations, making it seem like we’d get a well-researched breakdown of how two different groups exploited Ticketmaster—one stealing millions of barcodes, the other reverse-engineering the SafeTix algorithm. But instead of diving into the technical details, the episode quickly veered into a broad discussion about Ticketmaster’s reputation, its secondary market monopoly, and general opinions on the company. There was little to no real analysis of the breach itself—no insight into attack methods, security takeaways, or how the industry might respond to such threats.
Overall, Hacked has potential, but it needs more substance. If the hosts focused on deeper research—examining the technical aspects of attacks, lessons learned, and industry implications—this could be an excellent podcast. Right now, it too often feels like commentary on security headlines rather than an informative deep dive. I’m giving it 2 out of 5 stars because, while I really enjoyed The Red Teamer, the lack of meaningful analysis in other episodes left me frustrated. I hope the hosts consider adding more depth to their discussions in the future.
