Smashing Security podcast #023: Covfefe

Hackers are blackmailing cosmetic surgery patients, and threatening to release their naked photos. A British Airways IT snafu causes travel chaos for thousands. And Germany is threatening to throw hefty fines at Facebook if it can’t police its content properly.

All this and “Covfefe” is discussed in the latest edition of the “Smashing Security” podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault, joined this week by special guest John Hawes.

Hosts:

Graham Cluley – @gcluley
Carole Theriault – @caroletheriault

Guest:

John Hawes of AMTSO

Show notes:

• Cosmetic surgery hacked. Nude photos and data exposed on the dark web, as hackers blackmail patients – Bitdefender.
• Lithuanian cosmetic surgery firm’s website – Grožio Chirurgija.
• British Airways: Chaos continues at Heathrow – BBC News.
• What went wrong at BA? – BBC News.
• Delta finally explained how one power outage grounded an entire airline – BGR.
• Facebook said Germany’s plan to tackle fake news would make social media companies delete legal content – Business Insider.
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles.
• Spanish art restorer, 82, who turned Jesus into a ‘hairy monkey’ in clumsy restoration of famous work signs merchandising deal as image gets imprinted on T-shirts – Daily Mail.
• Clash of Clans – Supercell.
• This is what Candy Crush does to your brain – The Guardian.
• Sweet Sweet – Reverb Nation.
• Help Sweet Sweet – Bonnaroo Bound! – GoFundMe.
• Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff)

Thanks to our sponsor:

This episode of Smashing Security is made possible by the generous support of iovation.

iovation is offering Smashing Security listeners a free demonstration of its mobile multifactor solution product, LaunchKey, which can be built into your mobile apps, websites and online services to provide a simple, streamlined remote login function.

Visit demos.launchkey.com, and thanks to iovation for their support.

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Follow the show on Twitter at @SmashinSecurity, or visit our website for more episodes.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "Smashing Security" podcast. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.