The Ransomware War
Easy Prey
Ransomware isn’t a lone hacker in a hoodie. It’s an entire criminal industry complete with developers, brokers, and money launderers working together like a dark tech startup. And while these groups constantly evolve, so do the tools and partnerships aimed at stopping them before they strike. My guest today is Cynthia Kaiser, former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI’s Cyber Division and now the Head of the Ransomware Research Center at Halcyon. After two decades investigating global cyber threats and briefing top government leaders, she’s now focused on prevention and building...
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Opportunistic Crimes
Easy Prey
Criminals are always adapting. Whether it’s copper wiring stripped from job sites or porch pirates grabbing deliveries in broad daylight, they keep finding new ways to take what isn’t theirs. But maybe prevention isn’t about harsher punishment or more cameras. Maybe it’s about smarter design and understanding what drives people to steal in the first place. My guest today is Dr. Ben Stickle, a professor of criminal justice at Middle Tennessee State University and one of the country’s top researchers on property crime. Before entering academia, he worked in law enforcement, which gives...
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Post Scam Guidebook
Easy Prey
Fraud usually gets talked about in numbers like how much money was stolen, how many people were affected, how many cases got filed. But behind every one of those numbers is a person who’s been blindsided, manipulated, or left trying to rebuild trust in others and in themselves. This episode shifts the focus back to those human stories and the fight to protect them. My guest, Freddie Massimi, has spent more than a decade helping scam victims find both financial and emotional recovery, bringing empathy and understanding to a field that too often feels cold and procedural. As a certified...
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Can You Trust Anything Online
Easy Prey
You think you’d never fall for a scam until you meet someone like Kitboga. He’s a software engineer who’s turned his curiosity about online fraud into a full-time mission to outsmart scammers and protect the people they target. His YouTube channel, The Kitboga Show, has millions of followers and nearly a billion views, thanks to his mix of humor, empathy, and clever ways of exposing how scams really work. In our conversation, Kit opens up about how this all started, what it’s really like to spend hours pretending to be a scam victim, and how organized crime has turned fraud into a...
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Real Time Fraud Detection
Easy Prey
Everywhere you turn, someone’s trying to fake something like an image, a voice, or even an entire identity. With AI tools now in almost anyone’s hands, it takes minutes, not days, to create a convincing fake. That’s changed the game for both sides. The fraudsters have new weapons, and the rest of us are scrambling to keep up. The real question now isn’t just how to stop scams, but how to know who or what to trust online. My guest today, Bala Kumar, spends his days on the front lines of that battle. He’s the Chief Product and Technology Officer at Jumio, a company working to make...
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Child Predator Tactics
Easy Prey
Kids spend more time online than ever, and for the most part it feels normal. They’re gaming, watching videos, and chatting with friends. But hidden in those same spaces are adults who know how to pose as kids, build trust, and push conversations into dangerous territory. Parents might think it couldn’t happen to their child, yet detectives see how quickly an “innocent” interaction can turn into grooming or extortion. That’s the world Detective Seth Cockerham works in every day. He’s been in law enforcement in Texas for close to a decade, and the last few years have been dedicated...
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Identity Trafficking
Easy Prey
Some people are willing to hand over their identities for cash, while organized fraudsters are lining up to buy them. What used to be a matter of stolen credit cards has turned into a global marketplace where personal details fuel large-scale fraud. Now with AI, automation, and deepfakes making impersonation easier than ever, it’s becoming much more difficult to protect identities. To understand how we got here and what can be done, I spoke with Ofer Friedman, Chief Business Development Officer at AU10TIX. Ofer has spent more than 15 years in the identity verification and compliance...
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Technology, Trust & Time
Easy Prey
Technology is moving faster than our ability to process its impact, forcing us to question trust, motivation, and the value of our time. Few people have had a closer view of those shifts than Esther Dyson. With a background in economics from Harvard, Esther built a career as a journalist, author, commentator, investor, and philanthropist, with a unique ability to spot patterns across industries and challenge assumptions before they become mainstream. She is the executive founder of Wellville, a ten-year nonprofit project dedicated to improving equitable well-being in communities across the...
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The Global Scam Battle
Easy Prey
Cybercrime continues to evolve in sophistication and scale, with attackers running their operations much like businesses. From ransomware gangs with customer support desks to AI-generated phishing campaigns that erase traditional red flags, scams are becoming harder to detect and stop. In this episode, David Bittner, host of the CyberWire Daily Podcast, shares his perspective on the changing landscape of fraud and cyberattacks. Drawing on his background in media, theater, and podcasting, as well as years of reporting on security issues, he explains how both criminals and defenders are using...
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AI Supercharges Scams
Easy Prey
Cybercriminals are accelerating their attacks in ways that weren’t possible a few years ago. Artificial intelligence is giving them the ability to spin up phishing campaigns, voice clones, and deepfakes in minutes instead of days. As a result, the gap between what’s genuine and what’s fake is closing fast, making it harder for both individuals and organizations to defend themselves. I’m thrilled to welcome Brett Winterford, Vice President of Okta Threat Intelligence. Brett has had a front row seat to these changes. His team analyzes identity-based attacks and delivers insights to help...
info_outlineCurrently we have hard copy passports and driver's licenses, but as our digital identities evolve, we may find ourselves with a worldwide digital standardized way of proving who we are. Today’s guest is Philipp Pointner. Philipp leads Jumio’s digital identity strategy and the initiative to enable multiple digital identity providers in its ecosystem. Prior to Jumio, Philipp was responsible for paysafecard, Europe’s most popular prepaid solution for online purchases.
Show Notes:
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[0:53] - Philipp shares his background and current role at Jumio.
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[2:12] - Our online identity has changed very quickly over the last decade.
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[3:47] - Over time, this evolution has made people a lot more comfortable with technology.
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[5:50] - The changes that Philipp thinks are coming may cause problems with some countries not accepting them.
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[7:30] - The digital identity will likely be more secure than physical copies of important documents like passports and driver’s licenses.
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[10:47] - Chris and Philipp discuss a recent experience in verifying the credibility of physical documents.
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[12:52] - With more sophisticated benefits to a digital identity comes more sophisticated attack attempts.
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[15:40] - Where does one turn if they are a victim of identity theft?
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[17:11] - Philipp believes that it should be the responsibility of an organization to ensure the end user is safe.
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[18:48] - Philipp shares the results of a survey that asked people if they were willing to take more steps to ensure that they were secure online, but the exception was social media.
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[22:02] - Education around scams is improving and increasing, but not about everything.
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[26:20] - The technology exists to keep people more secure, but it isn’t employed as often as is necessary.
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[27:47] - At the end of the day, the inconvenience is always put on the end user.
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[29:07] - Biometrics are strong and have a lot of well governed standards already in place.
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[31:40] - Research shows that the requirement to change passwords every 90 days is ineffective.
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[32:59] - Currently, there isn’t a one-stop shop to receive the education they need to better understand cybersecurity.
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[35:48] - Philipp and Chris talk about the recent issue with concert tickets being purchased by bots for scalping.
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[38:28] - The general public has become an easier target than in years past because of the increase in online activity.
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[40:09] - People vastly overestimate their ability to detect fake images and deep fakes.
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[41:42] - Philipp explains what it means to have a reusable digital identity.
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[43:30] - When digital identity is used to verify in the future, will users have the ability to revoke their provided information?
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[46:58] - Pursue education on this topic and then take action.
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[50:01] - Your data is definitely online and it's important to be aware of what is available for potential scammers to know.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.