What the Hack?
"What the Hack?" is the award-winning true cybercrime podcast--the place to hear memorable stories and get good advice.
Episodes
3 Ways Not to Lose Everything
Former federal prosecutor Tom O’Malley takes us inside the strange, high-stakes world of modern fraud—where victims are presumed guilty, families lose fortunes, and the fight against global crime rings starts at home. Three lessons that cou…
The Data Grift Everyone Missed
Every click, swipe, and post fuels the data economy. Credit cards, apps, even maps—our lives are scraped, stitched, and sold. It feels like a heist, and sometimes it is. Identity Theft Resource Center CEO Eva Casey-Velasquez insists the pic…
The Wrong Dan Sturman
It started with a slow roll of weird emails and phone calls. And then award-winning filmmaker Dan Sturman found himself in the crosshairs of serious hackers. With parallels to another case of mistaken identity and an assist from security ex…
Who’s Watching the Watchers?
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 privac…
They Targeted His Mom, He Went Full CIA
A fake Microsoft pop-up cost Ken Westbrook’s mom her life savings. But they scammed the wrong family. Westbrook is former CIA. These days he’s sounding the alarm on how foreign crime rings steal billions from Americans with smishing campaig…
DEF CON Redux with Rachel Tobac!
In this second installment of our DEF CON two-parter, we talked to SocialProof Security CEO Rachel Tobac about how and why people are often the weakest link in so many cybersecurity protocols and how making yourself a harder target will cau…
Inside DEFCON’s Social Engineering Village
At DEF CON’s Social Engineering Village, contestants have 22 minutes to charm real employees at real companies into revealing real details that could lead to a breach. We step inside the booth to see how persuasion, improv, and psychology f…
How to Talk to a Cybercriminal
Kurtis Minder knows the dark web better than most—and he’s not just watching from the sidelines. As a ransomware negotiator, he’s helped victims talk their way out of seemingly impossible situations. This week, we explore how cybercriminals…
The Coldplay Couple and the End of Anonymity
A not-entirely innocent moment at a concert set the internet on fire. But what if that was just a symptom of a bigger problem? New York Times journalist Kashmir Hill, author of Your Face Belongs to Us, helps us explore the chilling reality …
Is AARP Doing More than the FBI to Stop Scams?
Online fraud isn't just annoying; it's a national crisis. Last year alone, it may have siphoned $158 billion from the U.S. economy. This episode features AARP's Kathy Stokes, who reveals how fraud has morphed into a sophisticated, global op…
Unmasking the North Korean IT Scam
Fortune Magazine's Amanda Gerut offers a deep dive into the secret army of remote IT workers funding North Korea's nuclear ambitions. Explore the hidden world of laptop farms, the criminal identity theft targeting freelancers, and the shock…
Will AI Write Its Own Laws?
Join Ben Winters, director of AI and Privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, for a front-row seat to the chaotic world of AI regulation where dirty data, aggressive lobbying, and public confusion drive a "winner takes all" vibe. From…
Kristen and the Phantom Puppy
Kristin got scammed because she didn't want to give a puppy mill her business. This classic digital scam has it all: fake breeders, phony shipping agents, and a non-existent air-conditioned crate. Kristen reveals how her scammers used trust…
Chris Hutchins’s Travel Hacking Gets Hacked
If you have never listened to Chris Hutchins explain how to get free travel, you’ve probably been paying too much for your vacations. Turns out, a threat actor was listening to him and stole his miles. Download this week’s episode to hear h…
Cybersecurity Girl Caitlin Sarian Tries to Delete Herself Online
Every part of life that comes in contact with the Internet is tracked, packed and sold to a a seemingly infinite network of data brokers. Caitlin Sarian AKA Cybersecurity Girl joined us this week to discuss why scrubbing your information is…
Nicole Perlroth Says All the Things that Keep Adam Up at Night
Nicole Perlroth’s book This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends is a masterpiece on the topic of cyberwar and the zero-day hacks that make it deadly. Join us as we explore with Perlroth a cyberscape where mistakes are weaponized, backdoors a…
Jack Rhysider Exposes Our Digital Secrets
What if your digital footprint made you a target? Jack Rhysider, host of "Darknet Diaries," shares how a fan turned his online presence into a personal puzzle—revealing just how easily your privacy can be pieced together and exploited. Lear…
Shannon Edwards Reveals the Student Data Free-for-All in New York City Schools
As technology is integrated deeper into classrooms, the lines between education and data privacy have been destroyed by for-profit data miners. This week, privacy advocate Shannon Edwards reveals how educational apps harvest sensitive infor…
Keren Elazari Decrypts the Ransomeware Nightmare
Ransomware is a type of malware that allows hackers to commandeer data on a device or an entire network. Increasingly, the threat actors behind these crimes set their sites on mission critical targets. We talked about it with renowned cyber…
The Wild West of the Loophole Economy
We’ve all been there. You see something perfect online, you do all the clicks and then think, “Wait, was that legit?” Scam-lite transactions are the way of the web these days, whether it’s direct-from-manufacturer or super-sticky subscripti…
CISA Director Jen Easterly Stands Watch in the Cyberwars
From elections to ransomware, CISA Director Jen Easterly breaks down the threats to America’s critical infrastructure and what’s being done to stop them, sharing along the way her journey from the real-life battlefield to the frontlines of …
Cory Doctorow Makes Us Wonder if Everything’s a Scam
Think you’re too savvy to get scammed? Author and activist Cory Doctorow explains how we’re all one muffaletta and a malfunctioning jet door away from falling prey to the most basic of cons. He joins us this week to talk about that and to f…
FBI Operative Eric O’Neill: Cybercriminals Are Spies—Not Hackers
What if the biggest threat to your privacy wasn’t some hacker in a hoodie—but a spy trained to infiltrate your life? Former FBI operative Eric O’Neill, the man who took down spy Robert Hanssen, explains how digital spies target us, offering…
Max Lebow Battles a Cyber PsyOps Nightmare
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Can AI Commit the Perfect Crime?
AI is everywhere – in the news, on our devices, assisting us, making life easier for us, and for criminals, too, harnessing AI to swindle people more efficiently. What’s next? We dive into the dark side of AI and ask two experts: Could AI c…
Karen Johnson’s Scam Project Is a Teachable Moment for AI
Karen Johnson is a catfisher-turned-scam avoidance coach turned–you guessed it–catfishing victim. The scam that got her is a classic, opening the door to a Pandora’s Box of the usual advice about avoiding the most common scams out there. Bu…
Roy Wood, Jr. Exposes the Loch Ness Monster Gun Lobby Conspiracy
As a Daily Show correspondent, comedian Roy Wood, Jr. knows a thing or two about fake news and truthiness as well as the truth-and-a-half that is comedy. By skewering the media and the people in the news, he has special insight into how mis…
Max McCoy Investigates $47 Million That Isn’t in Kansas Anymore
Max McCoy stumbled on a $47 million swindle that starts just north of the Oklahoma panhandle and bounces to Australia before things get really confusing in a haze of small town corruption, secretive law enforcement and competing theories. L…
Erin West Puts the Bad Guys to Shame
Erin West is the Deputy District Attorney in Santa Clara County, California, and the founder of Project Shamrock. Whether she’s prosecuting eye-popping SIM-swap money grabs or putting large-scale pig butchering operations out of business, h…
Dick Gephardt Wants a Safer Internet
Former House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt is on a mission to kill Section 230, the legal shield that lets social media giants profit from chaos. If engagement-driven algorithms are fueling harmful content for the sake of profit, is it ti…
Kara Swisher Calls Out the Man Babies of Big Tech
Kara Swisher has been covering Silicon Valley since the early days, and she’s made a ton of enemies the old fashioned way (by telling the truth about the new robber barons of our digital lives). In a new memoir called Burn Book, she pulls t…
Jen Caltrider Unwraps Hidden Privacy Nightmares
Privacy expert Jen Caltrider reveals how those shiny new AI gadgets with their mind-bending tech—not to mention the social media apps capturing every moment—are a privacy nightmare. Is going analog the only safe option? Learn how to protect…
Al Franken Holds a Mock Senate Hearing on Privacy with Siri and Alexa
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 Susa…
Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark Hates Scammers More than We Do
Ever wonder why facial recognition is so accurate? Well, one reason is the shocking amount of personal data it needs (think: all the world’s snapshots), and that’s why Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark is taking aim at the industry beh…
Senators Blackburn and Blumenthal Join Us to Discuss the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA)
From cyberbullying to harmful algorithms, the risks are real. This week, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal join us to discuss their bipartisan bill—the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). Together, they’re taking on Big Tech to en…
Kristin Bride Lost Her Son and Now She’s on a Mission
Kristen Bride’s 16-year-old son died by suicide after being cyberbullied on Snapchat. Setting her sites on anonymous messaging apps that intentionally traumatize children, Bride heads to Washington DC to fight for change. Learn more about y…
Ava Smithing Battles Big Tech and the Algorithm Trap
Ava Smithing was eleven when she saw a swimsuit on Pinterest that she liked. That innocent click turned into an eating disorder. How? This episode explores the most dangerous thing children face today: Algorithms. On a mission to hold Big T…
The Most Scary, Interesting, and Important Stories of 2024
We look back at the internet’s scariest moments, the boldest defenders, and the most surprising tech twists of 2024—groundbreaking legislation, international scam-rings, and the growing fight to make the internet a safer place for everyone.…
Bob Sullivan Discovers a Scam That Strikes Twice
Chester Frilich lost everything to scammers, and he didn’t just lose his money—he lost hope, too. Bob Sullivan joins us to recount this devastating case, revealing the IRS’s unintentional role in punishing victims, and how advocacy and legi…
Amy Neville Fights Snapchat’s Drug Dealer Problem
What happens when social media platforms prioritize engagement over safety? How do drug dealers exploit apps like Snapchat to target teens? Amy Neville lost her son Alex to counterfeit Oxycodone pills that were laced with Fentanyl. He bough…