Ep 368 | 1.8.26

It's just too good to be true.

Show Notes

This week, our hosts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dave Bittner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joe Carrigan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Maria Varmazis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (also host of the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠T-Minus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Space Daily show) are sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start with some follow up on a big honor for Dave, recognized by SANS as a Difference Maker in Media—plus a quick chicken update, a newly named rooster, and construction officially getting underway on the new run. Maria has the story on a congressional warning about a surge in winter holiday travel scams, as fake booking sites and airline impersonators drive millions in losses during peak travel season. Dave has two stories this week, one on a friend who received a suspicious email appearing to come from the chair of a nonprofit, and the other on a BBC investigation uncovering how fraudulent crowdfunding campaigns exploited children with cancer and their families, siphoning off millions meant for life-saving treatment. Joe’s story covers a warning from the IRS on how to spot and avoid tax scams, highlighting red flags like too-good-to-be-true refunds, urgent threats, fake websites, and impersonators pressuring victims for money or personal information. For our Catch of the Day, it turns out Aquaman isn’t just ruling the seas — he’s apparently sliding into fans’ texts, proving once again that when a celebrity starts sounding a little too approachable, it’s probably not Hollywood calling.

Resources and links to stories:

Hacking Humans

Podcast Info

HOST(S):

Dave Bittner is a security podcast host and one of the founders at CyberWire. He's a creator, producer, videographer, actor, experimenter, and entrepreneur. He's had a long career in the worlds of television, journalism and media production, and is one of the pioneers of non-linear editing and digital storytelling.

Joe Carrigan has been a Software and Security Engineer for 25 years and has been working in the security field for more than 15 years focusing on usable security, security integrations social engineering, and security awareness. He has experience in a broad range of fields including authentication systems, embedded systems, data migration, and network communication.

Maria Varmazis is the host of T-Minus Space Daily at N2K and a frequent guest on numerous technology and cybersecurity podcasts. She is an artist, podcaster, journalist, and content creator with over 15 years experience in telling stories that engage and delight. She is always happy to geek out over space and cybersecurity, both professionally and personally!

Schedule: Thursdays

Creator: N2K Networks, Inc.