Easy Prey
In a world where we’re told to carry our entire lives in our pockets, we’ve reached a strange tipping point where the very devices meant to connect us have become windows into our private lives for those who wish us harm. It’s no longer a matter of looking for the "shady" corners of the internet; today, the threats come from nation-state actors, advanced AI, and even the people we think we’re hiring. We are living in an era where the most sophisticated hackers aren't just trying to break into your phone, they’re trying to move into your business by pretending to be your best...
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The intersection of AI and cybersecurity is changing faster than anyone expected, and that pace is creating both incredible innovation and brand-new risks we’re only beginning to understand. From deepfake ads that fool even seasoned security professionals to autonomous agents capable of acting on our behalf, the threat landscape looks very different than it did even a year ago. To explore what this evolution means for everyday people and for enterprises trying to keep up, I’m joined by Chris Kirschke, Field CISO at Tuskira and a security leader with more than two decades of experience...
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Publicly available data can paint a much clearer picture of our lives than most of us realize, and this episode takes a deeper look at how those tiny digital breadcrumbs like photos, records, searches, even the background of a Zoom call can be pieced together to reveal far more than we ever intended. To help break this down, I’m joined by Cynthia Hetherington, Founder and CEO of The Hetherington Group, a longtime leader in open-source intelligence. She also founded Osmosis, the global association and conference for OSINT professionals, and she oversees OSINT Academy, where her team trains...
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Sometimes we forget how much trust we place in the little things around us like a lock on a door or a badge on someone’s shirt. We see those symbols and assume everything behind them is safe, but it doesn’t always work that way. A person with enough confidence, or the right story, can slip through places we think are locked down tight, and most of us never notice it’s happening. My guest today is Deviant Ollam, and he’s one of the rare people who gets invited to break into buildings on purpose. He talks about how he fell into this unusual line of work, the odd moments that shaped his...
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Fraud today doesn’t feel anything like it used to. It’s not just about somebody skimming a credit card at a gas pump or stealing a check out of the mail. It has gotten personal, messy, emotional. Scammers are building relationships, earning trust, and studying the little details of our lives so they can strike when we’re tired, distracted, or dealing with something big. And honestly, most people have no idea how far it’s gone. My guest, Ian Mitchell, has spent more than 25 years fighting fraud around the world and leading teams in the financial sector. He’s the founder of The Knoble,...
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AI has brought incredible new capabilities into everyday technology, but it’s also creating security challenges that most people haven’t fully wrapped their heads around yet. As these systems become more capable and more deeply connected to the tools and data we rely on, the risks become harder to predict and much more complicated to manage. My guest today is Rich Smith, who leads offensive research at MindGard and has spent more than twenty years working on the front lines of cybersecurity. Rich has held leadership roles at organizations like Crash Override, Gemini, Duo Security, Cisco,...
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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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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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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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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...
info_outlineRed models associated with AI technologies highlight real-world vulnerabilities and the importance of proactive security measures. It is vital to educate users about how to explore the challenges and keep AI systems secure. Today’s guest is Dr. Aditya Sood.
Dr. Sood is the VP of Security Engineering and AI Strategy at Aryaka and is a security practitioner, researcher, and consultant with more than 16 years of experience. He obtained his PhD in computer science from Michigan State University and has authored several papers for various magazines and journals.
In this conversation, he will shed light on AI-driven threats, supply chain risks, and practical ways organizations can stay protected in an ever-changing environment. Get ready to learn how the latest innovations and evolving attack surfaces affect everyone from large companies to everyday users, and why a proactive mindset is key to staying ahead.
Show Notes:
- [01:02] Dr. Sood has been working in the security industry for the last 17 years. He has a PhD from Michigan State University. Prior to Aryaka, he was a Senior Director of Threat Research and Security Strategy for the Office of the CTO at F5.
- [02:57] We discuss how security issues with AI are on the rise because of the recent popularity and increased use of AI.
- [04:18] The large amounts of data are convoluting how things are understood, the complexity is rising, and the threat model is changing.
- [05:14] We talk about the different AI attacks that are being encountered and how AI can be used to defend against these attacks.
- [06:00] Pre-trained models can contain vulnerabilities.
- [07:01] AI drift or model or concept drift is when data in the training sets is not updated. The data can be used in a different way. AI hallucinations also can create false output.
- [08:46] Dr. Sood explains several types of attacks that malicious actors are using.
- [10:07] Prompt injections are also a risk.
- [12:13] We learn about the injection mapping strategy.
- [13:54] We discuss the possibilities of using AI as a tool to bypass its own guardrails.
- [15:18] It's an arms race using AI to attack Ai and using AI to secure AI.
- [16:01] We discuss AI workload analysis. This helps to understand the way AI processes. This helps see the authorization boundary and the security controls that need to be enforced.
- [17:48] Being aware of the shadow AI running in the background.
- [19:38] Challenges around corporations having the right security people in place to understand and fight vulnerabilities.
- [20:55] There is risk with the data going to the cloud through the LLM interface.
- [21:47] Dr. Sood breaks down the concept of shadow AI.
- [23:50] There are also risks for consumers using AI.
- [29:39] The concept of Black Box AI models and bias being built into the particular AI.
- [33:45] The issue of the ground set of truth and how the models are trained.
- [37:09] It's a balancing act when thinking about the ground set of truth for data.
- [39:08] Dr. Sood shares an example from when he was researching for his book.
- [39:51] Using the push and pretend technique to trick AI into bypassing guardrails.
- [42:51] We talk about the dangers of using APIs that aren't secure.
- [43:58] The importance of understanding the entire AI ecosystem.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.
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- Aditya K Sood
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- Aryaka
- COMBATING CYBERATTACKS TARGETING THE AI ECOSYSTEM: Assessing Threats, Risks, and Vulnerabilities
- Empirical Cloud Security: Practical Intelligence to Evaluate Risks and Attacks
- Empirical Cloud Security: Practical Intelligence to Evaluate Risks and Attacks