What the Hack?

You’ve heard how the compounds work. This week we go inside one—through the eyes of Small Q, an Ugandan musician who was trafficked in and got out—also: Erin West of Operation Shamrock on the bigger picture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christopher Anderson has spent thirty years in high-stakes situations—war zones, sinking boats, the current White House. What he’s learned about the information people don’t know they’re giving away is the privacy lesson you need to hear.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of Time Magazine’s Women of the Year and a vocal advocate for diversity in tech, Tracy Chou built Block Party after discovering firsthand that the platforms have no real incentive to protect you from the people who want to harm you.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jim Clemente built a career reading criminals. FBI special agent, behavioral profiler, Unabomber case, the hit series Criminal Minds. Then someone bought his debit card number on the dark web, linked it to a peer-to-peer finance app, and cleaned him out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flock Safety says their cameras have never been hacked. Benn Jordan and Jason Koebler watched themselves on one from their homes. This week: a deep dive into the vulnerabilities, the no-opt-out tracking, and a simple question: Does any of it makes us safer? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No deep fake here. This week, Al Franken does his own impersonations of Bernie Sanders, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Sherrod Brown and Susan Collins in this mock Senate Hearing featuring Siri (played by the actual voice-over talent Susan Bennett) and Al’s fellow SNL alum Laraine Newman playing the part of Alexa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benn Jordan—musician, acoustic scientist, and one of the sharpest minds on surveillance technology—joins 404 Media’s Jason Koebler and the ACLU’s Jay Stanley to trace how surveillance went ambient— and what it means when everyone’s being watched. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feeling watched? Join us as Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark breaks down the new reality of digital surveillance. From school apps to AI scams, we dive into how companies collect your data and how to take control of your online privacy. The war for privacy is real—and it's a fight you can't afford to lose. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Online fraud isn’t just annoying. It’s a national crisis, one that may have drained $158 billion from the U.S. economy last year alone. In this episode, AARP’s Kathy Stokes joins us to explain how fraud has evolved into a sophisticated, global operation and why we’re still blaming the victims instead of stopping the crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

MGM lost $100 million in 2023. Then Caesars paid $15 million ransom. A few phone calls shut down Vegas, highlighting the destruction that one fast talker can unleash in a zero trust environment. This week we explore what that means in the here and now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we're going to the movies. Virginia Heffernan joins us to talk about Groundhog Day (the movie), surveillance, and why online systems reward repetition over reflection and connection with a special cameo by marketing maestro Seth Godin. Magic + Loss: https://virginiaheffernan.substack.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After exposing the scam compounds and human trafficking behind today’s fraud economy, we follow the money, the power, and the few pressure points—from crypto seizures to sanctions—that might actually help spell the end of Southeast Asian scam compounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You’ve seen the scam texts. This week we go inside a global scam economy to expose human trafficking networks, lawless economic zones, and fortified compounds where victims are forced to target victims in a world of crime bosses and corrupt politicians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Lord (Yahoo, DNC, CISA) and Lauren Zabierek (Harvard’s Belfer Center, CISA) don't think cybersecuirty (or lack of it) should be the customer’s problem. Drawing parallels to Ralph Nader’s fight against unsafe cars, they explain how to fix the root of the problem. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former cybercrime kingpin Brett Johnson didn’t just break the law; he built the tools still used by criminals today. He's back for another episode to check in and unpack why cybercrime works, how defenses fail, and the way life itself is often the ultimate "in" for an attacker. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From AI regulation fights and North Korean laptop farms to Nigerian campus cults, the human toll of online crime, and the death of online anonymity it's time to review the year in cyber stories—the good, the bad, the unimaginable, and what to do when "they" come for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A deadbolt clicks. This email, that voice--they sound all right. Then things go sideways. This week, 911 Cyber CEO Marc Raphael joins the pod to explore how AI makes scams faster, smoother, and harder to spot, and what you can do to stay hard to hit in the new threatscape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you stay safe online? (Wrong answers only.) Avoid public Wi-Fi, QR codes, charging stations. Cyber OG Bob Lord (Yahoo, DNC, CISA) wrote an open letter tackling the real harm caused by bad advice, and offering a better path with proven practices to stay safe online.Check out https://www.hacklore.org/letter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sextortion scams targeting teenage boys doubled this year—and Paul Raffile says the platforms knew it was happening. Learn how Instagram's default settings let criminals to weaponize friends lists for blackmail, and how social media continues to fail the children it claims to protect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The giant glittering scam and fraud trap of the holidays is here. Beau reunites with former co-hosts Adam Levin and Travis Taylor to talk about about fake websites, why gift cards are still a huge vector for fraud, and how to avoid the many pitfalls of the season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices