Transatlantic Cable Podcast

On this week’s edition of the Kaspersky Podcast, Dave and I stay Stateside for the majority of the stories this week.

The first story on episode 110 has us looking at YouTube for the second week in a row. This week, we look at a tale from the BBC where major advertisers are seeing their ads landing next to fake cancer cure videos.

 

Following that story, we take a look at the latest hoops that Equifax is making the victims of the breach jump through to gain their $125. After that, we look into an alleged ransomware attack that has hit terrestrial radio giant Entercom. The third story focuses in on a new proposed cyber insurance for consumers and what potential ills that this may be offering. The final story looks at a unique crime – instead of the cyber world, we focus on the loo.

Direct download: 110_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 6:35am EDT

Welcome to the 109th edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable Podcast, on this week’s edition, Dave and I take a look at some of the security stories you may have missed over the past week.  

To kick things off, we take a look at the $107 million fine for YouTube after violated child privacy laws.

After that, we stay in the States and discuss a recent outage at Tesla’s app that left some unable to start their cars – because with apps, who needs keys? In an interesting bucking of trends, New Bedford, Massachusetts doesn’t pay hackers who hit their systems with ransomware, instead, recovering from backups. To wrap up the edition, we look at some public mud-flinging from Apple towards Google.

Direct download: 109_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 6:27am EDT

Our first story lands us in the browser world. Instead of talking on ways you are tracked or bad things, we take a look at the good things in the latest edition of Firefox.

From there, we jump back to the physical world. Our stories take us to Germany and an interesting case of banking customers having chip and pin cards cloned and €1.2 million racked up in charges. The third story takes us across the Atlantic where hundreds of dental offices have been hit with ransomware. To close things out, we head to Jolly Ole England where the TfL is asking customers to write their passwords on a sheet of paper to give to an agent.

Direct download: 108_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 5:23am EDT

For the latest Kaspersky Daily podcast, Dave and I dive into some of the biggest security stories that may have passed your radar this week.  

To kick off episode 107, we head to Kazakhstan. A while back, the government asked its citizens to install a certificate so they could track all traffic. Now Google, Apple and Mozilla have blocked that tracking on their browsers. 

We then head over to the twisting saga of Valve and their bug bounty program and a researcher dropping two zero days. This is an interesting tale and one that seems to encompass some of the issues with current bug bounty programs and what is a bug that is needed to be fixed. After that, we head to the all-to-messy tale of a T-Mobile customer who had her information given over to a bill collector creep. This person, in turn harassed her in a serious manner. If you read one story this week, this one is the one to read. The next story takes a look at how Xbox contractors had been listening into some customers voice commands – joining the long list of other companies guilty of this. We end out the podcast with a pair of PSA’s from Facebook. One is a new data deletion feature, or should we say disconnection feature. The other is simply a Please STOP for those posting copyright texts to Facebook and Instagram – they do nothing.

Direct download: 107_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 8:36am EDT

For the 106th edition of the Kaspersky podcast, Dave and I dive into some of the hottest cybersecurity news of the week.

To start things off, we take a look at the new ransomware targeting players of Fortnite. If you have kids playing the game or play it yourself, be on the lookout for some sketchy cheats.

 Following that story, we examine a story from the UK that discusses how Mercedes is using sensors in leased vehicles to help repo men take back cars from those who have went arears with their lease. After that, Dave talks with Brian Bartholomew of our GReAT team on the state of healthcare in North America. The fourth story heads to the great state of Texas where 22 municipalities have been hot with a coordinated ransomware attack. Keep an eye on this story as it is still developing. To close out the podcast, we look at the hot story of “smart” toaster ovens turning on by themselves. Depending on who you ask, this is either user error or a bug with the ovens. Seriously, do you really need a connected oven?

Direct download: tcp_106_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 11:06am EDT

Welcome to the 105th instalment of the Kaspersky podcast, Dave and I take a look at some important stories that you may have missed this week.

To kick things off, we look at recent news on robocall-blocking apps. While they may look to curb the volume of these phantom calls, there is more than meets the eye. Some of these apps are actually sharing data with third-parties.

After that story, we head to the latest big business to be caught listening in on “private” recordings. This time it is Microsoft and contractors with Skype. From there, we look at the new security cameras that are using facial recognition in King’s Cross. For those of you looking to go to Hogwarts, you may want to use a spell or two to keep your privacy. After that, we look at a “whoops we’re sorry” from Twitter with personal data and advertisements. To close out the week, we look at intrusion by warshipping.

Direct download: 105_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 8:21am EDT

 

To start things off, we head to a meeting of the Five Eyes nations. While there, the government representatives pushed for more backdoors in encryption – because criminals. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? 

Following that story, we head to the US where a law is being proposed to congress to ban addictive properties of social networks. We keep on the law topic and look at the challenges from privacy groups about Amazon’s Ring doorbell and its role in surveillance by law enforcement.  We close out the week’s podcast looking at the latest in the Equifax breach.

Direct download: tcp_104_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 6:43am EDT

For the 103rd instalment of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Dave and I take a look at the some stories that you may have missed during the big stories of the week, but are ones that you should be aware of.

To start things off, we go to the state of Louisiana where a handful of schools have been hit with a malware attack. From there, we jump across the Atlantic to Africa. An electrical company has been hit with ransomware. The next story heads North to England where the Mozilla has pointed out that a tool meant to show transparency in political ads is not working as it should. We then discuss this week’s PSA of updating your iPhone or iPad ASAP. To close things out, we look at a new vulnerability in contactless payments. 

Direct download: tcp_103_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 8:04am EDT

Welcome to the 102nd instalment of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast. For this week’s episode, Dave and I stay mostly in the consumer sphere with some highlights for parents.

The first story of the week takes a look at the fine levied on Equifax following their 2017 databreach. The 700 million dollar fine levied doesn’t sit well with me, but you can hear the full takes in the podcast. From there, we jump over to privacy from a banking institution who points out that posting pets on Instagram may be putting millennials at risk for fraud. Our third story is the one that NO ONE asked for – smart diapers (nappies for those in the UK). We wrap up with a story of stolen data tied to a malicious phishing attack at Lancaster University. Seriously, is there ever a non-malicious phishing attack?

Direct download: tcp_102_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 4:47am EDT

For episode 101 of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Dave and  stay primarily in the UK for a number of security related stories before ending with a complete story completely out of the security space.

Our first story looks at a new service in the UK where users can report Facebook scams after a man wins a lawsuit for using his image in fake ads. From there, we stay on the topic of Facebook and their whopping five billion dollar fine levied from the FTC. The third story of the week takes a look at how people are now discovering that Google is listening to the recordings from Google Home. Following that story, we discuss how smart meters in the UK are switching to Welsh. We close out the podcast with a non-security story, but was too weird to not bring up.

Direct download: tcp_101_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 10:16am EDT

We have hit the century mark for the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast. For this week, Dave and I look back on some of our favorite stories and also at some of the big impacts of GDPR and also some good things on the bullying front.

To kick things off, we look back on some interesting stories from our first podcasts. The first is the venture in Russia of Burger King. We follow that up with some NSA security posters before kicking off with this week’s chat. The first news story looks at the heavy hammer of GDPR when it came to dealing with breaches with Marriott and British Airlines. From there, we head deep underground for a proposed Wi-fi monitoring program from the TfL in London to increase operational efficiency, but also raising eyebrows of privacy watchdogs. To wrap up the episode, we look at Instagram’s latest test in the battle against cyberbullying.

Direct download: tcp_100_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 8:32am EDT

The 99th edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast comes to you straight from the Motherland – er Fatherland, Russia, as my colleagues have corrected me. Dave and I take a look at a handful of stories that will pique your interest and may have been missed during your busy week.

To kick things off, we start in the good ole USA where a second Florida City has paid for a ransomware attack and the worrying trend of cities paying the crooks. From there, we head to a different kind of circus and look at the lack of security protocol in their app. The third story follows up on the security breach of the US border. Then, we look at the world of fake Instagram verification before closing out with a tale of how our boss’ smart home was hacked.

Direct download: tcp_99_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 9:38am EDT

For the 98th edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Dave and I jump between the consumer world to a small dip into government ransomware attacks.

To start things off, we jump into the world of music for the second straight week. In this story, Genius says that they have evidence of Google scraping their site for song lyrics. It seems that using Morse Code may be the devil in the details. After that, we look at a story about Instagram testing out new ways for users to recover their accounts following a hack. The third story has us looking at the Internet of Things and Samsung’s message for users to run AV scans of their “Smart TVs.” To wrap up the episode, we head to Florida where a local municipality decided to pay the ransom after falling victim to ransomware.

Direct download: tcp_98_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 4:28am EDT

To start things off, we look at a newly-placed FCC complaint against AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon for selling customer data to 3rd parties. This story is tied to a past podcast topic of the location-based data that can help bounty hunters or those with the money to spend to track a user’s location. From there, we jump into a story on a lawsuit against Amazon for an Alexa recording a child without consent.

After that, we head to the music world where Radiohead was threatened by a hacker to release minidisks from OK Computer. Instead of paying the ransom, they released (for a fee) on the internet for all to see. To close things out, we discuss the deepfake of Mark Zuckerberg that went viral after showing up on Instagram.

Direct download: tcp_97_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 8:31am EDT

For the 96th edition of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast, Dave and I jump all over the place with stories ranging from pizza to hacked US Customs and Border Patrol photos.

We kick things off with an interesting tale from the Brofist Army. Yep, we are talking PewDiePie and a recent advertisement that he did with Nimses. While there is some concern and fake news surrounding the app and ad, we tried to cut to the meat and potatoes of the tale and the app itself. From there, we bid farewell to Facebook’s Open Graph Search. Afterwards, we discuss the latest snafu from US Customs and Border Control when it comes to storing images of license plates and facial photos of those crossing into the States. For the next to last story, we discuss an upcoming paid version of Firefox. To close things out, we discuss a tale of a lone guy who got his pizza account hacked and well, no pizza for him.

Direct download: tcp_96_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 4:12am EDT

Episode 95 of the Kaspersky Transatlantic Cable podcast hits on the power of encryption, burger joints, Google Chrome and more.

To start things off, Dave and Jeff tackle a pair of stories dealing with encryption and how governments are looking at it. The first is with Germany pondering if law enforcement should be able to read, in plain text, encrypted messages. Then they jump to companies like Apple and Google pushing back on the GCHQ for proposing the same thing. Afterwards, they head to a sport story on how a football club may need to re-check where they send their money to. Then discuss a burger joint in the US hit with POS Malware. 

To close, Dave and Jeff discuss how big changes are afoot for Google Chrome.

Direct download: tcp_95_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 9:49am EDT

Welcome to the 94th edition of the Kaspersky Lab Transatlantic Cable podcast. On this edition, we jump around a bit between cybercrime, privacy and a little bit of Terminator 2 action.

To kick things off, we head down to Charm City. As you may have heard, Baltimore is dealing with a pretty serious ransomware attack that is crippling the city and also having fingers pointed on who is to blame. From there, we head to the IoT and privacy front. In a new patent, Amazon is looking to listen to everything you say in an effort to improve the experience for users. We then dive into a databreach of an events company that impacted over 200K users. Afterwards we look at 7 recent wins from law enforcement agencies against To close things out, we look at a new innovation from Chinese inventors that make you think of Terminator 2.

Direct download: tcp_94_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 5:25am EDT

We are now just seven episodes away from the 100th edition of the Kaspersky Lab Transatlantic Cable podcast. For the 93rd edition of our audio program, we hit on some old favorites as well as a new way to get a day off of school.

Our first story looks at the latest allegations of wrongdoing at Facebook. This edition looks at the data shared between telco providers, Facebook and how it can possibly impact credit-based advertising. We stay in the Facebook world for the second story and look at the shockingly high number of people who still have not updated their Whatsapp, especially on corporate phones. The third story dives into the latest feature of Dota2 that allows users to pay to avoid offensive players. From there we head on to the latest hang-up for 5G in the UK and it is not what you expect. To close things out, we head to Ohio and a curious way that kids got a free day off of school – spoiler it involves malware.

Direct download: tcp_93_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 5:31am EDT

For the 92nd edition of the Kaspersky Lab Transatlantic Cable podcast, Dave and I hit on some new topics. Apologies in advance for those of you who are all in on the Facebook flogging.

To kick things off, we start with perhaps the creepiest story we have had in a while. Over in China a “Superhost” on Airbnb was caught taping renters while in the bedroom. Where the camera was hidden will really surprise you. From there, we head to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where a couple who was purchasing their dream home had the surprise of their life – the money didn’t go to the seller, instead it went to a scammer. The third story stays in the world of crime where the NYPD is asking Bitcoin ATM companies for help in cracking down in a new round of phone scams. To close things out, we look at another curious tale of an app changing business model from hosting photos to harvesting photos for facial recognition.

Direct download: tcp_92_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 8:50am EDT

With the success of Endgame, it's not only Hollywood pundits taking notice, but also scammers. If you are looking to try to watch the movie without going to the theater, please beware of this scam.

From there, we look at how little folks in the UK trust news when it comes to news from social media and their want (need?) for more regulation.

From there, we jump across to Google where the search giant is now offering to delete your search history every three months.

Direct download: tcp_91_final.mp3
Category:technology -- posted at: 4:49am EDT