The AfD has confirmed that hackers breached its hosting provider. A leak site now claims to offer 421,179 of the party’s internal emails, and shows AI-written summaries rather than the emails themselves. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.

Imagine buying a brand new hardware wallet for your cryptocurrency with the shrink-wrap still on... what could possibly be hiding inside? We break out a Geiger counter and a cat to find out. Meanwhile, malicious ads are targeting journalists with zero-click attacks. Plus, Origin’s Spencer Thompson reveals what AI agents are really getting up to on your employees’ laptops when nobody’s looking. All this and more in episode 489 of the “Smashing Security” podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Lianne Potter.

The US State Department is offering up to US $10 million for information about the whereabouts of Zhang Yu, a 44-year-old Chinese national who is accused of being a key figure in China's state-sponsored hacking group, Hafnium. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.

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.

You've had your iPhone stolen. A day later, you get a text from Apple saying they've found it, and a very helpful woman called Alice from Apple Support calls to walk you through recovering it. She's polite. She's professional. But she is not from Apple. She's not even human. And she's about to break into your iPhone. Meanwhile, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta have all announced - with varying degrees of drama - that their AI agents have "broken out of the sandbox" and gone hacking. James takes a step back and asks the awkward question: is this really an emergent AI apocalypse, or did they just leave the door open? All this and more in episode 483 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest James Ball.

At Black Hat this month, a group of security researchers took a $9,000 robot dog, plugged Google's AI into its brain, and jailbroke it by telling it - with a completely straight face - that it was a Pokemon. What followed involved a wall, a blue ice chest, and anyone in the room wearing white shoes. Oh, and did we mention you can buy a flamethrower attachment? Meanwhile, in Salzburg, 280 gold statuettes of Mozart have vanished from the streets. This has happened to the same artist before. Organised crime, or a publicity stunt? Jenny has thoughts - and some parallels for the world of cybersecurity. All this and more in episode 481 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Jenny Radcliffe.

Apple has imposed strict new submission limits on its bug bounty portal after finding itself overwhelmed by low-quality, AI generated vulnerability reports - many of which were found to be describing security flaws that simply didn't exist. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.

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.

Gemini, Google's AI assistant, is supposed to make life easier for Android smartphone owners. But right now it may also be making life easier for anyone anyone who happens to pick up your phone. Read more in my article on the Hot for Security blog.

An app has appeared in India that lets anyone with a smartphone stop a passing e-rickshaw dead in its tracks - no login, no passwords, no permissions needed. Meanwhile, Geoff - swimming in money and Lamborghinis, as all published authors are - has been on the receiving end of a slew of AI-generated scam pitches from fake book marketing experts. Rather than ignore them, he's been playing them at their own game... All this and more in this episode of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Geoff White.

Polymarket has built an entire business on predicting the future. So how did it manage to spectacularly fail to predict its own hack? Plus, the Google engineer with a million-dollar secret, and the curious case of the airport hairdryer. Meanwhile, "FortiBleed" sees 75,000 Fortinet firewalls thrown wide open - and the real damage is going to roll on for years. All this and more in episode 474 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Quentyn Taylor.

A polite caller from your bank says there is a problem with your account. Don't worry - they'll send someone round to help. They'll even take your cards away to keep them safe. The scam has run rampant, until Dutch police plastered blurred photos of 100 suspects across billboards, supermarkets, and TikTok, with a two-week ultimatum to turn themselves in... or else. Meanwhile, a security researcher called Bob DaHacker got her hands on the live broadcast controls for every match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. She could have Rickrolled the entire planet, but actually spent days trying to find anyone at FIFA who would pick up the phone. Plus! Don't miss our featured interview with Black Kite's Jeffrey Wheatman exploring ransomware and extortion attacks across Europe. All this and more in episode 473 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Danny Palmer.

What if your AI coding assistant could be tricked into stealing your own company's secrets - by reading a single booby-trapped bug report? No phishing email. No malware. No password ever stolen. Just an AI doing exactly what it was told. Meanwhile, someone themselves Nightmare Eclipse has decided to teach Microsoft a lesson. The result? Three zero-days dropped on the internet, one of which lets a thief with a USB stick walk straight past BitLocker. Microsoft is furious. Plus don't miss our featured interview with Son Nguyen Kim of Proton Pass, who explains why plugging AI agents into your email and calendar without thinking twice is rather like hiring a new employee with the keys to everything - and skipping the background check. All this and more in episode 472 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Paul Ducklin.