Smashing Security
by Graham Cluley
Latest episode
How hackers turned Russian cars into pumpkins
How hackers turned Russian cars into pumpkins
About this podcast
Stories from the world of hacking, cybersecurity, and rogue AI.
Smashing Security isn’t your typical tech podcast. Hosted by cybersecurity keynote speaker and industry veteran Graham Cluley, it serves up weekly tales of cybercrime, hacking horror stories, privacy blunders, and tech mishaps - all with sharp insight, a sense of humour, and zero tolerance for tech waffle.
Winner of the best and most entertaining cybersecurity podcast awards in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024, Smashing Security has had over ten million downloads. Past guests include Garry Kasparov, Mikko Hyppönen, and Jack Rhysider.
Follow the podcast on Bluesky at @smashingsecurity.com ( https://bsky.app/profile/smashingsecurity.com ) , and subscribe for free in your favourite podcast app.
New episodes released at 7pm EST every Wednesday (midnight UK).
Episodes
The newest 50 of 494 episodes
- How hackers turned Russian cars into pumpkins · 43 min · Episode 492You're driving your new Chinese SUV when the dashboard goes dark. Ten minutes later, your phone rings. A stranger says they've got the digital key to your car, and would you like…
- How AI agents are spooking the banks · 1 h 5 min · Episode 491Bank of America has a message for its customers: please, for the love of God, stop handing your banking passwords to your AI assistant. And if your robot does something daft with…
- How Jared Kushner's iPhone was allegedly hacked twice · 1 h 2 min · Episode 490Dutch spies, Russian hackers and Jared Kushner’s iPhone. It sounds like the ingredients for a thriller, but according to claims in a new book the US President's son-in-law may…
- How a brand new crypto wallet came with a spy inside · 1 h 2 min · Episode 489Imagine buying a brand new hardware wallet for your cryptocurrency with the shrink-wrap still on... what could possibly be hiding inside? We break out a Geiger counter and a cat…
- How a ransomware negotiator ended up arrested at his own conference · 52 min · Episode 488A ransomware negotiator attended a cybersecurity conference, only to be arrested by the FBI in connection with its investigation into the ShinyHunters gang. Meanwhile, hackers…
- Clippy's crypto comeback · 58 min · Episode 487Microsoft's Twitter account, with its 13 million followers, was hijacked by a paperclip. There was no ransomware or data theft, just Clippy, a dodgy crypto coin, and a corporate…
- Vibe-coded shops, and hackable Flock cameras · 41 min · Episode 486A store in Auckland vibe-coded itself a new website. Within hours, its inventory had somehow expanded to include a pair of crusty socks, an $850 banana, and all of New Zealand's…
- These researchers got drunk to hack an LG TV · 1 h 2 min · Episode 485Researchers wanted to test if LG's smart TVs come with any security risks - but their lawyers noticed a snag: the terms and conditions would forbid it. So they came up with a…
- How websites are tracking you with silence · 46 min · Episode 484When a chap called Matt noticed his Bluetooth headphones wouldn't switch to his phone, he was surprised to realise the reason was a single AliExpress webpage sitting open in his…
- This AI helps thieves steal your iPhone · 44 min · Episode 483You've had your iPhone stolen. A day later, you get a text from Apple saying they've found it, and a very helpful woman called Alice from Apple Support calls to walk you through…
- This hacker leaked GTA 6 - and launched their own cryptocurrency · 50 min · Episode 482A hacker calling themselves "CYBERLEEK" has been leaking gameplay footage from GTA 6 ahead of its official reveal this week - but they're not asking Rockstar Games for a ransom…
- Never say this to a robot dog · 46 min · Episode 481At Black Hat this month, a group of security researchers took a $9,000 robot dog, plugged Google's AI into its brain, and jailbroke it by telling it - with a completely straight…
- This is the AI service you should never sign up to · 46 min · Episode 480Would you like access to Anthropic's Claude at 90% off the normal price? All you have to do is redirect your traffic to a mysterious service called "Poison Claude". Only problem…
- How a fake police officer nearly stole Graham's cryptocurrency · 60 min · Episode 479Graham gets a phone call from the police. Well, someone who sounds convincingly like the police. There's just one small problem: what they really want is the 24-word seed key to…
- This job interview could destroy your company · 59 min · Episode 478You've been headhunted for a great job in cryptocurrency. All you have to do is complete a short online assessment - with your webcam on, of course, so they can verify who you…
- How 14 orders of chicken McNuggets helped nail a suspected Russian hacker · 51 min · Episode 477A Russian intelligence-linked hacker is arrested in Thailand while enjoying a beach holiday - and the trail of evidence that nailed him to the Russian government includes 14…
- Remote-control rickshaws and rogue book marketers · 38 min · Episode 476An app has appeared in India that lets anyone with a smartphone stop a passing e-rickshaw dead in its tracks - no login, no passwords, no permissions needed. Meanwhile, Geoff…
- JadePuffer - the AI that ran a ransomware attack all by itself · 46 min · Episode 475A 15-year-old boy asked a chatbot for help - and cancelled nearly 47,000 anime streaming subscriptions in under four hours. Meanwhile, researchers have documented the first fully…
- Polymarket can predict the future. So how did it miss this hack? · 43 min · Episode 474Polymarket has built an entire business on predicting the future. So how did it manage to spectacularly fail to predict its own hack? Plus, the Google engineer with a…
- How a hacker could have Rickrolled the entire World Cup · 1 h 0 min · Episode 473A polite caller from your bank says there is a problem with your account. Don't worry - they'll send someone round to help. They'll even take your cards away to keep them safe…
- AI gets hacked, and BitLocker gets bypassed · 1 h 12 min · Episode 472What if your AI coding assistant could be tricked into stealing your own company's secrets - by reading a single booby-trapped bug report? No phishing email. No malware. No…
- This AI worm just rewrote its own rules · 46 min · Episode 471Researchers at the University of Toronto have built a worm that thinks for itself. Using free off-the-shelf AI models it works out how to break into each new computer it…
- This AI security flaw might be impossible to fix · 58 min · Episode 470A website called "UK visa portal" has been quietly collecting passport scans, selfies, and personal data from thousands of travellers who thought they were applying through…
- What your Oura ring won't tell you · 53 min · Episode 469CISA, the US government agency whose entire job is keeping America's critical infrastructure safe from hackers, has had a contractor publish dozens of plain-text credentials to a…
- High-speed train hacks and homicidal lawnmowers · 56 min · Episode 468A 23-year-old radio enthusiast spent £300 on a piece of kit from the internet, and used it to bring four packed high-speed trains to a screeching halt. His defence in court?…
- How ShinyHunters hacked the world's biggest universities · 1 h 4 min · Episode 467Welcome to the largest educational data breach in history - affecting nearly 9,000 institutions, every Ivy League university, and 30 million students mid-finals. When Canvas's…
- Meta sees everything, Copy Fail, and a deepfake gets hired · 1 h 2 min · Episode 466Meta's smart glasses promise privacy "designed for you" - but everything they record was being beamed off to workers in Nairobi to label by hand. When those workers blew the…
- This developer wanted to cheat at Roblox. It cost millions · 1 h 4 min · Episode 465A developer at an AI startup wanted to cheat at Roblox. They downloaded a dodgy script on their work laptop. That one decision triggered a cascade of failures that ended with a…
- Rockstar got hacked. The data was junk. The secrets it revealed were not · 51 min · Episode 464A company that ran anonymous tip lines for 35,000 American schools - handling reports of bullying, weapons, and self-harm - boasted on its website that it had suffered zero…
- This AI company leaked its own code. It's also built something terrifying · 51 min · Episode 463A hacking group claims to have broken into the flood defence system protecting Venice's Piazza San Marco - and is offering to sell access to whoever wants it. The asking price? A…
- LinkedIn is spying on you, and you agreed to nothing · 42 min · Episode 462LinkedIn has been secretly scanning your browser for over 6,000 installed extensions — on every single click you make. It can tell if you're job hunting, what religion you are…
- This man hid $400 million in a fishing rod. Then it vanished · 46 min · Episode 461A cannabis-growing, beekeeping, gyrocopter-flying Irishman invested his drug money in Bitcoin back in 2011 - and now sits on a fortune worth $400 million. There's just one small…
- Never knock on the door of a nuclear submarine base and ask for a selfie · 41 min · Episode 460A disgruntled data analyst decides that the best response to losing his contract is to steal the entire company payroll database and demand $2.5 million in Bitcoin - signing his…
- This clever scam nearly hijacked a tech CEO's Apple ID · 55 min · Episode 459In episode 459 of Smashing Security, we dive into a chillingly clever account takeover attempt targeting WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg - involving MFA fatigue, real Apple…
- How not to steal $46 million from the US government · 41 min · Episode 458A Wikipedia security engineer accidentally wakes a dormant JavaScript worm that hadn't stirred since 2024 - and within minutes, giant woodpecker images are plastered across the…
- How a cybersecurity boss framed his own employee · 50 min · Episode 457When a top cybersecurity firm discovered it had a leak, you would expect the FBI to be called. Instead, the person put in charge of the investigation was the actual leaker... who…
- How to lose friends and DDoS people · 49 min · Episode 456When the mysterious operator of an internet archiving-service decided to silence a curious Finnish blogger, they didn’t just send a stroppy email - they allegedly weaponised…
- Face off: Meta’s Glasses and America’s internet kill switch · 45 min · Episode 455Could America turn off Europe's internet? That’s one of the questions that Graham and special guest James Ball will be exploring as they discuss tech sovereignty. Could Gmail…
- AI was not plotting humanity’s demise. Humans were · 40 min · Episode 454AI bots are having existential crises, inventing religions, and allegedly plotting against humanity... or so the internet would have you believe. We dig into Moltbook, the…
- The Epstein Files didn’t hide this hacker very well · 37 min · Episode 453Supposedly redacted Jeffrey Epstein files can still reveal exactly who they’re talking about - especially when AI, LinkedIn, and a few biographical breadcrumbs do the heavy…
- The dark web's worst assassins, and Pegasus in the dock · 46 min · Episode 452In episode 452, a London-based YouTuber wins a landmark court case against Saudi Arabia after his phone was hacked with Pegasus spyware — exposing how a single, seemingly…
- I hacked the government, and your headphones are next · 45 min · Episode 451In episode 451 of "Smashing Security," we meet the cybercriminal who hacked the US Supreme Court, Veterans Affairs, and more - and then helpfully posted screenshots (and even…
- From Instagram panic to Grok gone wild · 37 min · Episode 450Confusion reigns after claims that data linked to 17.5 million Instagram accounts is up for sale - sparked by a vague post, contradictory statements, and a flood of password…
- How to scam someone in seven days · 1 h 1 min · Episode 449Romance scammers have apparently discovered astrology... and Taurus is their secret weapon. In episode 449 of "Smashing Security", we take a look inside an actual romance-fraud…
- The Kindle that got pwned · 37 min · Episode 448Think your Kindle is harmless? Think again! In this episode, Graham and special guest Danny Palmer unpack a Black Hat Europe talk revealing how a boobytrapped audiobook could…
- Grok the stalker, the Louvre heist, and Microsoft 365 mayhem · 56 min · Episode 447On this week's show we learn that AI really can be a stalker’s best friend, as we explore a strange tale that starts with a manatee-shaped mailbox on a millionaire's lawn and…
- A hacker doxxes himself, and social engineering-as-a-service · 45 min · Episode 446A teenage cybercriminal posts a smug screenshot to mock a sextortion scammer... and accidentally hands over the keys to his real-world identity. Meanwhile, we look into the…
- The hack that brought back the zombie apocalypse · 41 min · Episode 445America's airwaves are haunted by zombies again, as we dig into a decade of broadcasters leaving their hardware open to attack, giving hackers the chance to hijack TV shows…
- We’re sorry. Wait, did a company actually say that? · 55 min · Episode 444Stop the press - a company has actually said "sorry" after a data breach, and hotels are helping hackers phish their own guests. In episode 444 of "Smashing Security" we examine…
- Tinder’s camera roll and the Buffett deepfake · 38 min · Episode 443Tinder has got a plan to rummage through your camera roll, and Warren Buffett keeps popping up in convincing deepfakes dishing "number one investment tips." Meanwhile, will…
