The Awareness Angle: Cyber Security Awareness and Human Risk

Risky Creative - Cyber Security for Humans
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The Awareness Angle is a weekly cybersecurity podcast that makes cyber security make sense for everyday people. Every week, Ant and Luke break down the biggest cyber security news, including data breaches, phishing scams, AI fraud, and the sneaky ways people get hacked, in plain English with no jargon. But this isn’t just another tech podcast. We focus on the human side of cyber security. How scams actually work, why people fall for them, and what you can do to stay safer online. Whether you’re worried about identity theft, online fraud, or just want to understand what’s going on in the world of cyber security, you’ll get practical tips, real-world examples, and relatable stories every week. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one.

  1. 6d ago

    Mac Malware Is Out of Control | 23andMe's $18M DNA Settlement | The TFL Hackers Are Going to Prison

    This week the internet came for your fridge, your laptop and your DNA, and it wasn't subtle about any of it. Hackers hit Coca-Cola's dairy brand fairlife with ransomware and shut down US milk production. Mac users are under fire from two new malware strains — one that holds your computer hostage until you type your password in, and another disguising itself as Apple's own crash reporter. And 23andMe is paying $18 million over the breach that exposed millions of people's genetic data. That's the one you genuinely cannot fix by resetting a password. Also this week: Lidl customers caught in a supplier breach they knew nothing about, the two young men behind the Transport for London hack jailed for five and a half years each, scammers hiding remote access tools inside fake greeting cards, Microsoft's biggest ever Patch Tuesday followed within hours by a researcher dropping a brand new unpatched bug, and a BitLocker flaw that quietly undermined encrypted laptop security. In Security Socials: a ChatGPT hallucination that sent someone on a wasted road trip, a ClickFix awareness video with half a million likes and the comment section that explains exactly why we keep talking about this stuff, the AI facial recognition case that put an innocent grandmother in jail for five months, and a law firm that used one shared master password for everything. New episodes every week. Cybersecurity news for humans. Chapters:00:00 Intro01:37 This week on The Awareness Angle03:17 Breach Watch: Lidl supplier breach08:24 23andMe pays $18m DNA settlement13:59 Mac malware ClickLock holds your computer hostage19:45 Mac malware disguised as Apple crash reporter29:26 TFL hackers jailed for five and a half years32:33 Fake e-cards hiding remote access malware37:44 Microsoft's record Patch Tuesday and a fresh zero-day46:44 Coca-Cola fairlife ransomware halts milk production49:27 Security Socials: ChatGPT bike shop fail51:46 ClickFix video with half a million likes54:44 AI facial recognition jails innocent grandmother57:21 GM removes authenticator app MFA1:00:51 Luke's story: the law firm with one password for everything1:04:31 Outro TikTok / Instagram: @antdaviscyberLinkedIn: antdaviscyberWebsite: riskycreative.com

  2. Jul 13

    7 Million Driver's Licenses Leaked, Sainsbury's Facial Recognition Fail, Google Sues Gemini Scammers

    Episode 96 of The Awareness Angle This week an insurance company leaked driver's license numbers for nearly 7 million people because one employee clicked a phishing email. Sainsbury's facial recognition system was 99.98% accurate and 100% wrong about the shopper it publicly kicked out. A 15 year old took down a national anime streaming service with malware ChatGPT helped him write. A Scattered Spider suspect hopped three countries on a VPN and still got caught by a number hidden in every Windows PC. And Google's own AI helped scammers steal $1.9 billion, so now Google is suing people for using Google properly. Ant and Luke break it all down in plain English, no jargon, for anyone who wants to understand what's actually happening in cybersecurity without needing a technical background. Plus this week's Phish of the Week from Hoxhunt and a look at what's trending across security socials. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 01:17 Housekeeping and the heatwave chat 03:25 Breach Watch: AssuranceAmerica driver's license breach 09:47 Accenture source code breach 13:22 Sainsbury's facial recognition wrongly flags shopper 20:07 15 year old uses ChatGPT to hack Bandai Namco 26:18 OnlyFans creators accidentally clean up hacked gov sites 32:04 Scattered Spider hacker caught by Windows device ID 41:35 Google sues scammers who abused its own Gemini AI 47:30 Quick hit stories 57:17 Security Socials 1:07:42 Luke's story: AI deepfake YouTube channel 1:14:20 Wrap up Newsletter: riskycreative.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/newsletters/the-awareness-angle-newsletter-7274932363787132928 Instagram/TikTok: @antdaviscyber YouTube: @riskycreative Music: "16" by Falling Forever, https://fallingforever.bandcamp.com/track/16, licensed under Creative Commons, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

  3. Jul 6

    iPhone 18 Leaked, Aflac Hacked (Again) and a Bank Robber Who Just Asked Nicely

    iPhone 18 Pro design files leaked, Aflac gets hit for the third time in a few years, and a bank robber in London gets away with £117,000 just by wearing the right uniform. This week's episode has a bit of everything. Hackers stole 630GB of unreleased iPhone 18 Pro design files from Apple's manufacturing partner Tata Electronics, proving that even Apple's secrets aren't safe once you outsource the manufacturing. Medtronic tells millions of customers their health data and Social Security numbers were stolen, though the actual medical devices are safe to use. Aflac's Japan business gets breached for the third time in a few years, exposing bank details for 4.4 million people. Scammers register earthquake donation scam sites in Venezuela before rescue teams even finish pulling people from the rubble. Japanese hotel staff get targeted with fake guest complaint emails hiding malware that sits quiet until it's needed. UK hospital cyberattacks jump tenfold this year, a lot of them still exploiting a vulnerability from 2021. Opera launches a browser feature built to stop you hacking yourself, which might be the most 2026 sentence Ant's said all week. Plus PewDiePie tells his followers to ditch ChatGPT for a self hosted AI tool, a Commodore flip phone with no social media, the bank robbery solved by an Uber booked in the thief's own name, a tamper evident jar for storing sensitive items, why blurring your face doesn't actually hide your identity, and what WhatsApp usernames really mean for your privacy. *** Please note - All views and opinions expressed in this episode are our own and do not reflect those of our employers. *** Chapters:0:00 Intro3:16 Medtronic data breach exposes health records6:07 Aflac hack exposes 4.4 million bank details9:37 iPhone 18 Pro design leak from Tata Electronics13:52 Venezuela earthquake donation scams18:21 Japanese hotels hit with malware phishing23:19 UK hospital cyberattacks up tenfold27:13 Opera's Paste Protect stops ClickFix attacks33:50 PewDiePie's Odysseus AI tool40:27 Degoogling and the Commodore flip phone43:09 The bank robber who just asked for the money48:16 A tamper evident jar for sensitive items51:58 Why blurring your face doesn't work54:05 WhatsApp usernames explained Follow The Awareness Angle:TikTok and Instagram: @antdaviscyberLinkedIn: antdaviscyberWebsite: riskycreative.com Music: "16" by Falling Forever, used under CC BY 4.0Track: https://fallingforever.bandcamp.com/track/16Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

  4. Jun 29

    GTA 6 Scams, Scattered Spider & The AI Plugin That Fooled Every Scanner

    GTA 6 scams launched within hours of pre-orders going live. Scattered Spider's teenage hackers pleaded guilty for the TfL attack, and one of them was hacking US hospitals while on bail. And a fake AI plugin passed every security scanner because the malware only switched on after the check was done. This week on The Awareness Angle: why attackers are borrowing your trust instead of breaking it, what the TfL case tells us about where the real hacking talent is, and why a clean security scan no longer means what it used to. Also this week: 630GB of Apple and Tesla manufacturing secrets stolen from their supplier, three million Texans had driving licence numbers taken from a hunting licence database, fake receipts appearing in the Shop app for purchases you never made, ClickFix malware hitting Gizmodo readers through a compromised account, the White House app federal workers can't delete from their phones, and the cybersecurity firms including Huntress and HackerOne who got hacked through a marketing tool. 00:00 Intro01:35 This week on The Awareness Angle02:52 Breach of the Week: Apple and Tesla supplier hacked, 630GB leaked07:43 Breach of the Week: 3 million Texans' driving licences stolen11:01 Fake receipts in the Shop app18:29 Scattered Spider guilty plea: TfL hack and US hospital attacks23:00 GTA 6 scams29:06 The AI plugin that passed every security scan36:46 Gizmodo ClickFix attack43:25 White House app on government phones48:57 Cybersecurity firms hacked through Klue54:09 Topic: Hosting malware on ChatGPT's own domain57:37 Topic: The TikTok inheritance scam DM1:02:13 Topic: Your address on the floor of a corner shop1:05:28 Topic: Google AI gets it wrong1:08:14 Topic: Luke's email from the US Defence Counterintelligence Agency Subscribe for weekly cybersecurity news made for humans, not just IT teams. The Awareness Angle is an independent podcast by Risky Creative, hosted by Ant Davis and Luke Pettigrew. Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-awareness-angle-newsletter-7274932363787132928/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7rwzcRsKrXbASFBfiXoCZ6Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-awareness-angle-cyber-news-weekly/id1784126196TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@antdaviscyberInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/antdaviscyberLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antdaviscyberWebsite: riskycreative.com Our Intro and Outro Song © 16 by Falling Foreverhttps://fallingforever.bandcamp.com/track/16Licence: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

  5. Jun 22

    The FBI Built a Fake Town, $3.5 Billion Lost to Scammers & a School Breach Hitting 11 Million Kids

    This week the threats are getting bigger and the defences are getting stranger. A criminal gang hit a school system that holds records for eleven million kids, Americans lost a record three and a half billion dollars to imposter scams, and the FBI built an entire fake town just to train agents to fight cybercrime. Plus earbuds that could be listening in, malware hiding in Steam wallpapers, a nasty new Android banking trojan, your cheap streaming box secretly working for criminals, and Google quietly deciding to use your IP address for ads. Chapters00:00 Intro03:01 Breach of the Week — Infinite Campus / ShinyHunters07:56 Imposter Scams — $3.5 Billion Record13:45 The FBI's Fake Town — Kinetic Cyber Range18:50 Bluetooth Flaw — Beats Studio Buds24:20 Steam Wallpaper Malware28:17 Android Banking Trojan — Rokarolla35:14 Popa Botnet — Cheap Streaming Boxes39:11 Google — IP Address Ad Targeting42:24 Security Socials — Fake iOS Virus Pop-up46:10 Security Socials — Claude Age Verification56:05 And Finally — Whale Song Captcha, Cloudflare Lava Lamps & SETI@home The Awareness Angle is an independent podcast by Risky Creative. Subscribe for weekly cybersecurity news made for humans, not just IT teams. Find usNewsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-awareness-angle-newsletter-7274932363787132928/Website: riskycreative.comTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@antdaviscyberInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/antdaviscyberLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antdaviscyber Our Intro and Outro Song © 16 by Falling Foreverhttps://fallingforever.bandcamp.com/track/16Licence: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

  6. Jun 15

    University of Nottingham Data Breach, Whitehall Spy Camera & Fake Discord Breach Exposed

    ShinyHunters breached the University of Nottingham using a critical Oracle PeopleSoft zero-day, leaking passport numbers, National Insurance numbers, disability data and financial records for 455,000 students. If you studied at Nottingham, check haveibeenpwned.com now. A hidden camera was found in a ceiling tile at 2 Marsham Street, London, the Home Office building that approved China's controversial new mega-embassy. Nobody knows who put it there or how long it was recording. Someone filed fake data breach notices on Maine's official breach portal, which publishes filings instantly with no verification. The Register reported one as fact before readers flagged it. Also this week: ServiceNow admits a security incident months after allegedly being warned. 10,000 malicious domains registered ahead of the FIFA World Cup. A disgruntled researcher bypasses BitLocker because Microsoft made him homeless. Google Chrome permanently kills uBlock Origin. The Met Police gives Apple and Samsung an ultimatum over stolen phones. Phish of the Week: Temu callback phishing using a real password reset email. CHAPTERS0:01 Intro3:45 Breach of the Week: University of Nottingham data breach and Oracle PeopleSoft zero-day8:41 Hidden camera found in Whitehall building that approved China's mega-embassy13:54 ServiceNow security incident: customer data accessed16:36 FIFA World Cup 2026: 10,000 malicious domains21:33 Nightmare Eclipse drops eighth Windows zero-day, bypasses BitLocker27:39 Fake data breach notices posted to Maine's official portal33:19 Google Chrome permanently kills uBlock Origin37:51 Met Police urges Apple and Samsung to make stolen phones unusable39:40 Apple Passwords auto-change feature42:07 Phish of the Week: Temu password reset misuse46:19 Security Socials: Police use AI to enhance CCTV image Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-awareness-angle-newsletter-7274932363787132928/Music: "16" by Falling Forever. https://fallingforever.bandcamp.com/track/16. CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

  7. Jun 8

    NHS Blood Tests Leaked Two Years Later, Dashlane 2FA Brute-Forced & FIFA Scam Sites Already Live

    NHS patients are only now being notified about a breach that happened two years ago. Hackers brute-forced Dashlane's two-factor authentication. The FBI has already spotted over 30 fake FIFA websites and yes, fifa.beer is one of them. This week Ant and Luke cover why the two-year gap between the Synnovis ransomware attack and this week's notification letters is not unusual, and what it means for the people affected. Plus why the Dashlane breach is giving everyone LastPass flashbacks, and why your master password matters more than you might think. Also this week: UK banks locked out of Anthropic's Claude Mythos while OpenAI steps in with GPT-5.5 Cyber, Mac malware that passed Apple's own notarization checks, a new MFA bypass platform sold on Telegram, and the NCSC's warning that AI is about to surface decades of hidden software vulnerabilities all at once. Chapters:00:00 Intro02:53 Breach of the Week — NHS Blood Test Results06:03 AI Banking — Claude Mythos vs GPT-5.5 Cyber10:38 Dashlane Password Manager Breach16:49 Apple Mac Malware — Operation FlutterBridge21:59 Fake FIFA Websites — The FBI List26:37 NCSC — Patch Flood Warning31:43 Kali365 — MFA Bypass via Microsoft 36535:46 Phish of the Week — Claude Ads Impersonation39:38 Security Socials — Same Ingredient Different Delivery42:38 Security Socials — Call of Duty Vulnerabilities The Awareness Angle is an independent weekly cybersecurity podcast for security awareness professionals, CISOs, and anyone who wants to understand the human side of security. Newsletter | YouTube | Apple Podcasts | TikTok | Instagram | LinkedIn Our Intro and Outro Song © 16 by Falling Foreverhttps://fallingforever.bandcamp.com/track/16Licence: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0

  8. Jun 1

    They Walked Into the Law Firm, 23andMe Covered It Up & Your AI Can Be Hacked Through a Podcast

    Solo episode this week. A fake UK visa website left 100,000 passports in an open folder online. iPhone thieves in London are now threatening victims' families to get them to remove Activation Lock. California has sued the company formerly known as 23andMe, alleging they paid the hacker in secret while telling customers everything was fine. A ChatGPT vulnerability lets attackers hide phishing links inside AI responses. A criminal group called Silent Ransom Group has been physically walking into US law firm offices dressed as IT support and plugging in USB drives. And researchers demonstrate AudioHijack - inaudible commands hidden inside podcasts, Zoom calls and music that AI assistants process as real instructions while you hear nothing. Plus: a real Amber Alert that looked exactly like a phishing scam because the URL got clipped by a character limit, and how a TikToker's phone home screen told scammers exactly which bank to impersonate when they called him. Chapters00:00 Intro01:04 SANS Security Awareness Summit - Official Media Partner Announcement02:15 Flying Solo This Week02:45 Breach of the Week - UK Visa Portal Leaks 100,000 Passports04:34 London iPhone Theft - Thieves Are Now Threatening Your Family09:42 23andMe - California Sues Over the Cover-Up, Not Just the Breach15:47 ChatGPhish - Attackers Hiding Phishing Links Inside ChatGPT21:31 Silent Ransom Group - Criminals Walking Into Law Firm Offices27:36 AudioHijack - The AI Commands Hidden in Sounds You Can't Hear34:50 Amber Alert Accidental Phishing (Ant's Topic)39:41 Tom the Tech Chap - Your Phone Screen Tells Scammers Which Bank to Impersonate (Luke's Topic) The Awareness Angle is a weekly cybersecurity podcast and newsletter that explains the biggest cyber threats, data breaches, and online scams in plain English. No jargon. No technical background needed. New episode every week. 📧 Newsletter🌐 riskycreative.com🎙️ Spotify🎙️ Apple Podcasts▶️ YouTube: @riskycreative📱 TikTok: @antdaviscyber📱 Instagram: @antdaviscyber💼 LinkedIn: antdaviscyber Our Intro and Outro Song © 16 by Falling Foreverhttps://fallingforever.bandcamp.com/track/16Licence: CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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The Awareness Angle is a weekly cybersecurity podcast that makes cyber security make sense for everyday people. Every week, Ant and Luke break down the biggest cyber security news, including data breaches, phishing scams, AI fraud, and the sneaky ways people get hacked, in plain English with no jargon. But this isn’t just another tech podcast. We focus on the human side of cyber security. How scams actually work, why people fall for them, and what you can do to stay safer online. Whether you’re worried about identity theft, online fraud, or just want to understand what’s going on in the world of cyber security, you’ll get practical tips, real-world examples, and relatable stories every week. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one.

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