A short history of hacked billboards and road signs

So they were shaking hands, is what I'm understanding. Very vigorously agreeing with each other.

Hello, hello and welcome to Smashing Security episode 148. My name is Graham Cluley.

And I'm Carole Theriault.

And this week, Carole, we are joined by a terribly popular returning guest. It's Maria Varmazis.

Yes, I know. Yay.

Yeah. Hello, Maria.

Hey, Maria. It's been a while.

It has. Hello.

It's very early in the morning for you. Tell me you have a cup of chaw in front of you or something.

I do, and it's in my Swear Trek mug.

Swear Trek mug?

Yeah. One of my very first picks of the week. But I ended up buying a mug from them because I love them so much. It felt apropos.

Apropos. Apropos. Totes apropos.

Oh.

Yeah, it's cool. But it can't take the heat.

All right. Interesting.

Yeah, well, can't take the dishwasher.

Thanks to this week's sponsors, LastPass and Immersive Lab. Their support helps us give you this show for free. Now, on today's show, Graham gives us an SFW look at a porn incident along an American highway. Maria muses on the latest in the deepfake, cheapfake space. And I'll investigate whether Amazon really is finally taking our privacy concerns seriously. All this and loads more coming up on this episode of Smashing Security.

Now, fellows, fellows, do you remember what you were doing? I'm not allowed to say chaps.

No, no, no.

Do you remember what you were doing in 1994?

Yeah, having a great time.

I'll remind you of a few things which were happening back then. Nancy Kerrigan got walloped on the knee. The ice skater got walloped on the knee.

Huge, huge in my world.

That was huge in my world as well. It was massive. Nancy Kerrigan was from where I'm from around here. So it was big local news. That was all I heard about.

Yep.

Of course, her arch rival Tonya Harding, her ex-husband, was the one who did it. There's a great movie about it.

That movie was good.

Yeah.

Yeah. Great movie.

Netscape Navigator was released.

Oh, bless it. That's the best way to be online R.I.P.

Some superb movies came out like The Shawshank Redemption, The Flintstones with John Goodman, and of course Maria, Star Trek Generations.

Oh yeah. Was that the movie? It's the one where Picard and Kirk meet up.

I remember seeing that one. Malcolm McDowell is a bad guy isn't he?

Yeah it was weird. It's not a great movie.

It's not a good movie.

It's not. It's not. Most of the Star Trek movies, it's kind of terrible.

Is that the one where Kirk dies?

Spoilers. Yeah, it is. 1994, dudes.

And O.J. Simpson, he fled the police in his white Ford Bronco.

Yeah, another huge thing. Was that one of the first live tracking? There was helicopters following it. It was a big deal when that happened.

Yes. It was bonkers. The miniseries they just did about O.J., American Crime Story or something, fantastic. Really good. That's my pick of the week.

There you go.

Now it all seems so innocent, doesn't it, all those years ago. But it was also the year when a dangerous and pernicious ad campaign appeared on roadside billboards, putting drivers in peril. Yes. It was a serious road traffic incident. Well, here in the UK, at least, there was a campaign which featured Czech supermodel Eva Herzigová. And it was very controversial, much to the delight of the PR people working for Wonderbra, which is what she was advertising. There was a famous advert of Eva Herzigová looking down at her, and it was accompanied by the words.

Sorry, looking down at her what?

I'm sorry. You can't say boobs.

You know, what's the embarrassing bit there, Graham? Boobs.

Anyway, it was accompanied by the words, hello, boys. Now, I never quite understood whether she was saying hello, boys to her boobs. I don't think any woman that I've ever met would do that. So I don't think there was a pun in there.

No, they're always ladies. They're never men. That's kind of rule number one.

Okay, all right. But they do look kind of a couple of bald-headed men, don't they? It could almost be a couple of Picards there, maybe.

Yes, I suppose so.

This is getting really perverted. Now, Eva Herzigová, she is not the only person stripped down to their undies for a roadside ad. You may remember, of course, David Beckham advertising Armani underwear. There he was reclining as though he was having a sandwich. I don't know where he kept his cheese and pickle, but there he was enjoying himself.

You had fun pulling the story together, didn't you?

Oh, yes. Google image search. Right, because they're hot. Degrading and sexist. They're sexy pictures. And so people were ogling them.

Eva Herzigová, yes.

Oh, yeah. David Beckham. I'm sure no one looked at that and had a bit of a drool. People were averting their eyes of anything. Concentrating more on the road.

Now, it may not surprise you to know there are public safety rules about roadside adverts. I have been looking these up in the UK and elsewhere, which means I looked it up in the UK and assumed elsewhere as well.

Always going the extra mile, eh, Clue?

Your advert can be banned for being distracting or confusing if it puts vehicles or pedestrians in jeopardy. And this was the allegation about the Hello Boys advert.

You can get them on the side of buses. Really?

Yeah.

What is the why would you it just seems crazy I mean how distracting would that be a moving image while you're trying to drive a car.

Oh yeah I'm used to this now they're they're kind of everywhere here. Well last Saturday night the police department at Auburn Hills, Michigan began to receive phone calls.

Yes, how do you say it? Michigan. Michigan? No. Michigan.

Yes, exactly like that. Perfect. Well done. Yes. I had this argument at home the other day about, you know those lizardy reptile things? I-G-U-A-N-A with the funny eyes.

Iguanas?

You say iguana, do you? How on earth do you say it?

Oh, I've obviously been getting it wrong then. I've been saying iguana. Do you say guitar?

English is such a fucked up language, honestly. Nobody can get this right.

So you mean unreligious?

No, no, no. Not Greek Orthodox.

Okay.

That's the one I'm talking about. The video was of a couple of young ladies with at least part of a gentleman as well and what was it? There wasn't much talking going on perhaps.

Well I don't know I haven't seen the video. Are you talking are you talking P-O-R-N here?

Possibly, yes.

Oh God.

So they were they were shaking hands is what I'm understanding. Very vigorously agreeing with each other. Shaking something else I think, vigorously welcoming each other. So the newspapers and the internet sites, they got hold of these videos of the footage that had been played for about 20 minutes. And as Motherboard reports, the porn aficionados on Reddit. Do people call themselves that? I'm sure they do.

What's your story for us this week? So from porn to deepfakes, which is also porn related, I suppose.

We should create a deepfake of her so she can come on the show regularly. Aww.

What's your story for us this week? So I wanted to look into a recent Amazon event.

Can I point out that at the beginning of the show, I had a lovely, heartwarming, life affirming story about a porn video.

What's the difference between the red lights and the blue lights on an ambulance? When was Rubik's Cube invented? What is 3,000 kilometres in Mars? Who Is playing in Wimbledon's Men's Final 2018?

My pick of the week is something I just discovered a few days ago. And the premise is this. It's a lovely day in the village and you are a horrible goose.

Oh, well Graham, have you played this? Did you help consult on the game? Are you a goose? I was playing this with my son this weekend, actually.

Oh, were you?

On the Nintendo Switch. So this is hot. This is hot to trot right now. This is a huge game right now. It's a fun game.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah. Maybe they'll come over and play. It's one of the most downloaded games. It's beating out some of the hugest titles right now on Switch. Yeah, I said beating out. Sorry.

But it's also available for Steam on the PC and Mac, so you don't have to be a Switch player. So basically, it's super fun. It's very easy. Very young children can play it and you can honk and steal things.

Yeah, you basically can just go around honking at people, which is just super fun. But you can go around and steal things and just wreak goose havoc everywhere, and it's super funny.

Cool!

Yeah, you steal things from behind people's backs and you dress up statues in bras and spectacles and just cause a nuisance generally like geese do, I suppose.

Yes, it's super funny. And I think they should come out with a patch where it's not just a regular white goose, but it's a Canada goose, and then you shit everywhere. That would be my recommendation.

Listen! What?

Well, she speaks the truth. It's not Canadian racism. It's just a fact about Canada goose.

Well, it kind of feels like goose-ism, Canada goose-ism.

It does, actually. Well, it is. I am very anti-Canada goose-ist.

Oh, you heard it here, folks.

Listen, I am. I'll go on record about that. They shit everywhere.

Yeah, so do babies. Should they go back to their own country?

Babies eventually stop shitting everywhere. Canada geese don't.

Well, I'm respectfully disagreeing with you. So your pick of the week is the Untitled Goose Game. Yes, it's at goose.game is the website, actually. So you can check it out. You can get a little video of it.

I it too, it's the game we need right now for these couple times. This is what's going to heal us and unite us, isn't it?

It's true, it is. We're all going to come together over our untitled goose game, peace on earth.

Oh shit Carole, what's your pick of the week?

So my pick of the week this week is a website. More specifically, a website that's a dictionary for Cockney rhyming slang.

Blimey, governor.

I know. And I thought we'd play a bit of a game, right? I thought I would give you some Cockney rhyming slang examples and you could tell me what you think it might be.

Oh, I'm going to fail this so hard.

No, no, no, no. So first, let me just give you a quick, a quick, so people can play at home as well. Let me just give you a little explanation about Cockney rhyming slang and how it works, right?

No, because that becomes the key word, right? So because what you would do is get rid of hook. You'd say, oh, take a butcher's at that. Yes, exactly. And butchers would mean butcher's hook. Hook rhymes with look. And that means take a look at this. Yeah. Does that kind of make sense?

Okay. Come on, let's have a go. Let's have a go. Maybe Maria has a first go, right? And then Graham can jump in and go wrong.

I'm going to get wronged today.

Yes, it's true. Yeah, you're going to get wronged.

Oh, for fuck's sake. There's no way. No, I have no idea what any of that means.

Okay. I'll give you the full rhyming cockney slang for each one to help you give a rhyming.

I think I know most of that one. I think I understand that.

Can you do it with all the full rhyming slangs before you translate it?

There's one of them I'm not sure about, but I can definitely do two. On your loaf of... Loaf of bread. You have a barnet... Yeah, I know what that... Fair. Barnet fair. Or maybe a syrup of... Syrup of figs, yeah.

What?

So, Graham, can you translate that?

So, what it means is on your head, you either have hair or a wig. So, on your head rhymes with bread. Fair rhymes with hair. So you say on your loaf, you've got a barnet or you've got your syrup.

Okay. You took me there. It's still completely incomprehensible to me, but okay. Mary Poppins. No, no, no. It's better. Now you know.

Now you know that loaf is head, right? So your loaf sits on your Gregory Peck, which sits on your naughty holders. So neck and shoulders. Gotcha.

Not face constipation in your life yet?

Yes.

Okay, last one, last one, last one. Male or female, we've all got a bottle and glass at the back with which we can have a Thom Tit.

Oh, that's smutty. Can we please raise the tone on this podcast?

I think I can guess what that one is.

I didn't say anything about Ethan Hunt.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I think let's just let's just stop right there. Let's stop right there. Carole, shush. Carole, shush.

Fair enough, fair enough. We're talking to Maria now. You can put your rhyming slang away.

Yes, it's in the show notes, but it's called cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk.

Okay, all right. So, Maria, mostly... Hello, Maria.

Hi, hi.

Now, let's be civilised. I'm sure lots of our listeners would love to follow you online. What's the best way for folks to do that?

I'm still on Twitter for some incomprehensible reasons. So my handle is M-V-A-R-M-A-Z-I-S.

X-Y-Z.

No, no, no. No X-Y-Z. No X-Y-Z. It sounds it, but no. And I'm also on Infosec.exchange if you are a Mastodon user. And my handle is simply at Maria. So I'm spot on that one.

And you can follow us on Twitter at Smash Security. No G. Twitter wouldn't allow us to have a G. And you can also join us to discuss the show on Reddit. We're at smashingsecurity.com/Reddit, or just search on Reddit for Smashing Security and you'll find us. Once again, thanks to this week's Smashing Security sponsors, Immersive Labs and LastPass. Their amazing support helps us give you the show for free. And thank you to all the people that listen to us, review us or support us on Patreon. We love you. Everything you do is magic. And of course, check us out on smashingsecurity.com for past episodes, sponsorship details and info and how to get in touch with us. Until next time. Cheerio.

Bye bye.

Ta-ta.

See ya.

Quite smutty this week.

Oh yeah.

Just see who's smutty. Mr. Cluley.

Yeah.

Not me this time. Not me. Thank you.