Dutch 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 have been hacked twice. Is any of it true, and what does it tell us about the phones in our pockets? Meanwhile, James Ball explains that of the internet’s most trusted security keys were protected by numbers so small that one of them was... four. Yes, "4". And then, of course, to make the week worse we suffered a PHPocalpyse... Plus, Chuck Randolph of 360 Privacy explains how the internet has made it scarily easy to put company executives and public officials in danger. All this and more in episode 490 of the “Smashing Security” podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest James Ball.

A 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 national parks. What could possibly have gone wrong? Meanwhile, a hacker collective backed a truck into one of the license-plate-reading Flock safety cameras popping up on American street corners, and took a very close look inside. All this and more in episode 486 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Dave Bittner.

Researchers 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 solution. They got plastered before setting up the TV, on the reasoning that you can't be legally bound to a contract you agreed to while drunk. What they discovered will make you look at your TV rather differently... Meanwhile, awful Android malware with the audacious name "Awesome" (in Indonesian) is doing the rounds, stealing your data, demanding a ransom, and then giving you a "jump scare"... Plus, in our featured interview, Andy Hornegold of Intruder explains why the mid-market is where cybercriminals are having the most fun right now - and how AI is helping attackers get from "first foot in the door" to "full ransomware disaster" in less than a working day. All this and more in episode 485 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Lianne Potter.

When 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 browser - playing nothing at all, at zero volume. And yet somehow his hardware could hear it. Audio fingerprinting is one of the sneakiest tracking tricks on the web. Meanwhile, the intelligence agencies of the "Five Eyes" (not Five Guys) have got together and published advice on how companies should communicate after a cyber attack. The summary? For the love of God, stop calling every breach "sophisticated." All this and more in episode 484 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Danny Palmer.

Location data sold by the ad industry has reportedly helped adversaries target US troops. The Pentagon has responded by switching off ad tracking on its devices - and you can do the same on yours. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.

The US Navy has told its entire workforce of 340,000 active-duty personnel, 58,000 reservists, and 210,000 civilian employees to clean up their social media profiles, because adversaries might be using them to determine who they are, where they live, and when they may not be at home. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.

A cybersecurity expert has demonstrated how computer-generated patterns can successfully prevent surveillance cameras from detecting vehicles - such as the controversial AI-powered Flock licence plate readers that are becoming increasingly common on American streets. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.

A growing number of UK venues have decided to act against privacy-busting smart glasses. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.

Would 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 is that it's run by fraudsters... Meanwhile, a phishing-as-a-service platform called "Greatness" has come up with something rather nasty: a phishing attack that doesn't need a fake website, a suspicious URL, or your password. Just a real Microsoft login page and a moment of misplaced trust - and the attackers walk off with full access to your emails, your files, and your entire organisation. All this and more in episode 480 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Lianne Potter.

f someone offered you 90% off the official price to access Claude, the powerful AI model from Anthropic, would you be tempted? It turns out that around 900 people were, and they may be regretting their decision. Read more in my article on the Fortra blog.

Graham 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 Graham's cryptocurrency wallet. Meanwhile, if you've stayed in a hotel recently, the free Wi-Fi you connected to might have come with an unexpected extra: an all-you-can-eat buffet of "Captive Crunch" for a Russian intelligence-linked hacking group. And a group calling itself the "ExFilSquad" has walked off with 600,000 records of the UK's teachers and head teachers from the Department for Education — sending an unusually polite ransom demand. All this and more in episode 479 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Danny Palmer.

You'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 really are. Which is ironic, because the person recruiting you doesn't exist. And North Korean hackers using this trick have already made off with $643 million in crypto this year alone. Meanwhile, researchers at UC San Diego have discovered that 2.2 million cars across the United States can be unlocked or immobilised by anyone with a bit of Bluetooth kit - thanks to one aftermarket car alarm that made a truly spectacular cryptographic blunder. The bug has been sitting there since 2017. Nobody noticed. All this and more in episode 478 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Paul Ducklin.

A 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 autonomous, agentic AI-driven ransomware attack, "JadePuffer". What does this tell us about the future of cybersecurity? Also, Apple's "Hide My Email" feature turns out to hide rather less than it promises - despite Apple knowing it has a problem for over a year. All this and more in this episode of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Zoë Rose.

Apple has long marketed itself as the privacy-first tech giant. So why is it making a change to Hide My Email that will make it easier for websites to block anonymous sign-ups - and harder for you to stay private online? Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.