The Passwords Are the Problem with Thierry Gagnon and Philippe Desmarais
Release Date: 10/18/2023
The Counterfeit Economy
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A counterfeit handbag may leave someone disappointed. A counterfeit medication, airbag, or child’s car seat can do far more damage. Fake products now reach into nearly every part of daily life, and many of them arrive through online stores that look completely legitimate. Kari Kammel saw the danger firsthand when a pharmacist overseas offered her several versions of the same medication. Some were authentic, while others were openly described as counterfeit. That experience stayed with her. She now directs the Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection at Michigan State University,...
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The Internet is Playing You
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A convincing lie no longer needs to look suspicious. It can appear in a familiar social media feed, come from someone who seems real, or arrive as a video that looks almost impossible to fake. By the time doubt sets in, the post may already have been shared thousands of times. Few people understand that online environment better than today’s guest. Nina Jankowicz has spent more than a decade studying what she calls the bad things that happen on the internet. She is an internationally recognized expert on disinformation and online harassment. She was also named one of Time magazine’s 100...
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The Psychology of Yes
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It is easy to say you would never fall for a scam when you are looking at the situation from the outside. In the moment, though, things can feel much less obvious. A request may sound reasonable, the person may seem trustworthy, and saying no can feel awkward enough that you go along with something you would normally question. Today’s guest studies exactly why that happens. Vanessa Bohns is the Bronstein Family Professor and Chair of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University’s ILR School. Her work focuses on social influence, compliance, and the pressure people feel to cooperate, even...
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Drink Spiking
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A drink can be out of your sight for only a moment, but that may be all it takes for someone to tamper with it. Spiking can happen in bars, restaurants, festivals, and even among people who already know and trust each other. It also goes far beyond alcohol. Drinks, food, vapes, cigarettes, and other substances can be altered without someone’s knowledge, leaving them vulnerable before they fully understand what is happening. Dawn Dines has spent more than 20 years working to change how people understand and respond to spiking. She is the founder and CEO of Stamp Out Spiking, a UK charity...
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Love, Lies and Locked Up
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What sounds like the plot of a crime thriller was Sharon Armstrong’s real life. An online romance drew her into an elaborate web of lies involving overseas contracts, invented emergencies, and several people playing carefully planned roles. By the time she arrived at an airport in Argentina with five kilograms of cocaine hidden inside her suitcase, she still believed she was carrying business documents for the man she loved. Sharon was arrested and spent more than two years in an Argentinian prison before returning home without a conviction. During that time, she had to confront the truth of...
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The Recruitment Trap
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Everybody is searching for ways to increase income. Unfortunately, MLMs often look like an easy way to start a business without taking on the cost of a traditional company. The pitch sounds simple. Buy the product, follow the plan, and put in the work. The numbers behind those promises often tell a different story. Today’s guest, Stacie Bosley, has spent years studying what really happens inside MLMs. She is a professor at Hamline University in Minnesota and holds a Ph.D. in applied economics. Her research covers multi-level marketing, consumer protection, income claims, and pyramid scheme...
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Convincing Deepfakes
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A familiar voice on the phone or a recognizable face on a video call used to offer some reassurance that you knew who you were dealing with. AI has changed that. Voice cloning, face swaps, and real-time video impersonation now allow scammers to convincingly pose as executives, job candidates, romantic interests, or even family members. Understanding how these attacks work and where they may be headed is a central part of Tom Cross’s work as Head of Threat Research at GetReal Security. Tom has spent more than 30 years studying cybersecurity threats, software vulnerabilities, and the methods...
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When Trust Becomes a Trap
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Most people use technology all day without giving much thought to what is happening behind the screen. We trust routers that may not have been updated in years, depend on internet systems few of us understand, and now turn to artificial intelligence for everything from travel plans to home repairs. That convenience comes with tradeoffs. In this episode, we look at the weaknesses built into our connected world and what happens when our technical knowledge fails to keep pace with the technology surrounding us. Sherrod DeGrippo leads threat intelligence for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, where...
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Scam Compounds
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When most people think about online scams, they picture criminals sitting behind a screen and stealing from victims around the world. But in Southeast Asia, many of the people sending those messages are victims too. Some were promised legitimate jobs, flown across borders, trapped inside guarded compounds, and forced to scam others while trying to survive. In this episode, I talk with Ivan Franceschini, a lecturer in Chinese Studies at the Center for Contemporary Chinese Studies Asia Institute. After years of studying labor rights, civil society, and Chinese investment in Cambodia,...
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Sports Betting
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Sports betting is everywhere now. It is in the commercials, on the apps, wrapped into game broadcasts, and sold as a fun way to make sports more exciting. But behind the easy sign-ups and “risk-free” offers is an industry built on odds most people do not fully understand, fine print that can cost real money, and a business model that depends on customers losing. In this episode, I talk with Danny Funt, an investigative reporter and the author of Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling. His reporting on sports betting, politics, news, and sports media has appeared...
info_outlineWith the use of passwords, we’re hoping to ensure privacy and security, but sometimes it is at the expense of convenience. As technology changes and biometric databases become more utilized, we need to remember that they may also be hacked.
Today’s guests are Philippe Desmarais and Thierry Gagnon. Philippe is a tech entrepreneur who co-founded Kelvin Zero and currently serves as its CEO, overseeing the company’s strategic direction. He is also a member of the Next Generation Advisory Council at Rockefeller Capital Management. Before creating Kelvin Zero, Philippe played a significant role in various start-ups, focusing on data analytics for political campaigns, remote hardware device management, and cybersecurity.
Thierry Gagnon is co-founder and Chief Technology at Kelvin Zero. He is an expert in software development, malware analysis, cryptography, and reverse engineering. He has been actively involved in the cybersecurity community, participating in renowned competitions and projects such as Malware Information Sharing Platform.
Show Notes:
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[1:18] - Philippe and Thierry share their backgrounds and their roles in the company they co-founded together, Kelvin Zero.
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[2:34] - Thierry’s expertise is in cybersecurity but Philippe’s interest was more in crime. They combined their strengths and passions to create Kelvin Zero.
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[6:18] - Passwords have been around for millennia.
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[7:24] - We often confuse being smarter with being faster.
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[9:45] - Passwords are not often attached to an individual. We have so many passwords and can’t actually know them all.
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[11:53] - We can compromise passwords at scale.
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[13:20] - The attackers only need to be right once. The defenders need to be right 100% of the time. How can we flip this?
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[15:47] - The average person is tasked with trying to keep up with cybersecurity and, in most cases, they are not qualified to do this.
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[17:11] - What does it look like to take a password-less approach?
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[19:20] - If cybersecurity is done successfully, the opportunities are massive. But regulation holds us back.
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[21:51] - Once a tech company can serve protection, then companies can focus on their services and products.
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[24:46] - There are differences between the physical world and the logical world.
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[28:41] - How do you convince people to share medical data for research when there are constant breaches?
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[31:33] - Is privacy the same as anonymity?
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[33:52] - Technology should be able to do what we want it to do, but that’s not the case.
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[36:36] - In a password-less environment, how can we validate a user?
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[39:40] - Thierry believes we should get away from the server authenticating because then it is the responsibility of the organization.
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[43:18] - Sci-fi movies sound far-fetched, but a lot of them predict technology.
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[46:35] - Thierry and Philippe share their thoughts on what we should be putting our focus on now.
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[49:40] - Stay away from single-factor authorization.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.