Vanishing is a Lie
Easy Prey
Trying to erase yourself from the internet sounds simple until you start counting up old accounts, scattered social media posts, and the hundreds of data brokers quietly collecting and selling your information. The reality is messy, and for most people, the idea of fully disappearing online is more myth than possibility. But there are practical steps you can take to cut down what’s out there and regain some control. My guest, Max Eddy, is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter who covers privacy, security, and software platforms. For one of his projects, he set out to see how much of his own...
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Hackers Are Winning
Easy Prey
Cyberattacks aren’t just about hackers in hoodies anymore. Today, we’re up against professionalized, well-funded organizations that run like businesses. They use AI to crack defenses, run labs that simulate the tools we rely on, and rake in trillions while defenders struggle to keep pace. The scary part? Even the strongest companies and governments can fall behind when the threat landscape moves this fast. My guest, Evan Powell, has spent nearly 30 years in the cybersecurity world. He’s the founder and CEO of Deep Tempo, and a serial entrepreneur who’s helped industries from cloud data...
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Before the Fraud Tsunami Hits with Ritesh Kotak
Easy Prey
Scams aren’t what they used to be. These days, AI can write perfect emails, mimic voices, and even fake a video call so well you’d swear you were talking to the real person. The problem is, the timing of a scam can be just right when you’re distracted, busy, or looking for exactly what they’re offering. That’s when even the most careful person can get caught. My guest, Ritesh Kotak, knows this world inside and out. He’s a cybersecurity analyst, an Ontario lawyer, and a tech innovator who’s worked with Fortune 500 companies and served in policing, where he helped start one of...
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Privacy is Dead
Easy Prey
Privacy in the digital age has grown from a background concern into one of the defining issues of our time. What began with simple questions about online safety has expanded into a complex, global conversation about how artificial intelligence, biometric data, and massive data ecosystems are reshaping daily life. Pam Dixon has been at the center of these discussions for more than two decades. As the founder and executive director of the World Privacy Forum, she’s worked across the U.S., Europe, India, Africa, and beyond, advising governments, international organizations, and policymakers on...
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America’s Scam Crisis
Easy Prey
Most of us think of scams as random or isolated or something that just happens to unlucky people. But what if the truth is far more organized, far more disturbing? Behind many of today’s scams is a global web of criminal enterprises, structured like corporations and fueled by technology, data, and billions of stolen dollars. In this episode, we sit down with Ken Westbrook. Ken spent over three decades in the CIA before retiring, only to return to the fight after his own mother was targeted and lost most of her life savings to a tech support scam. That moment changed everything. He founded...
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How Fraudsters Choose Targets
Easy Prey
It’s easy to think of fraud prevention as a technical problem with a software solution. But according to Brian Davis, effective fraud defense is just as much about people, trust, and communication as it is about tools and data. With over a decade of experience, Brian has built fraud teams from scratch, shaped company-wide strategy, and helped growing startups shift from reactive to proactive risk management. Brian is the Head of Fraud at Dodgeball, where he’s helping bring their orchestration platform to market, and the founder of House of Fraud, an invite-only community where top fraud...
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Hidden Dangers of AI in Cybersecurity
Easy Prey
Everyone’s talking about AI these days, especially in cybersecurity. Sure, artificial intelligence can boost your defenses, but cybercriminals have noticed too. Now they're crafting phishing emails so believable it’s scary and finding clever paths around spam filters while zeroing in on vulnerabilities you didn’t even realize were there. Today, Aviad Hasnis joins the show. He's the CTO of Cynet Security and spent years running cybersecurity missions for the Israeli Defense Forces. Aviad’s here to help us figure out what the changing threat landscape really means, whether...
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Author Scams Exposed
Easy Prey
Writers pour their hearts into their work, but unfortunately, that passion can make them prime targets for scams. From fake agents and vanity publishers to slick marketing schemes and social media impersonators, the tactics have only gotten more sophisticated over time. In this episode, we dig into the murky world of publishing scams and how they work and who they target. Along with why even experienced authors can get caught off guard. Today’s guest is Victoria Strauss. Victoria is the author of nine fantasy and historical novels for adults and teens, and she’s also the co-founder of...
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Tricked by Followers and Badges
Easy Prey
What if your social media success was built on deception, and it was working? In today’s episode, we hear from someone who knows exactly how that happens. Tim O’Hearn is a former software engineer and the author of Framed: A Villain’s Perspective on Social Media, a book that pulls back the curtain on how follower factories, automation, and persuasive technologies have shaped the online world we now take for granted. Tim doesn’t just theorize, he built these systems himself. Tim walks us through how his small side gig growing Instagram accounts evolved into a lucrative business, one...
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Only 10 Seconds to Expose a Scam
Easy Prey
What if you could stop a scam in real-time before the damage is done? In this episode, I’m joined by Nick Stapleton, an investigative journalist and the face behind Scam Interceptors, the BAFTA award-winning BBC series that exposes online fraud and steps in to protect victims as scams unfold. Nick brings a decade of undercover documentary experience to his current mission: fighting digital deception and empowering everyday people to stay safe. He shares jaw-dropping stories from the front lines, including the near miss that almost caught him off guard, and breaks down the complex...
info_outlineScammers aren’t just phishing your inbox anymore—they’re impersonating your voice, your face, and even your coworkers. Deep fakes and social engineering have moved beyond clever tricks and become powerful tools that bad actors are using to infiltrate businesses, breach accounts, and dismantle trust at scale. What used to take a hacker hours and expensive tools can now be done in minutes by anyone with a Wi-Fi connection and a little malicious intent.
Our guest today is Aaron Painter, CEO of Nametag, a company leading the charge in next-generation identity verification. Aaron’s background includes 14 years at Microsoft and executive roles in cloud tech across Europe and Asia. After witnessing firsthand how easily identity theft could unravel lives—especially during the shift to remote everything—he founded Nametag to answer a critical question: how can we know who’s really behind the screen? With Nametag, Aaron is building real-time, high-security ID checks that are already reshaping how help desks and businesses protect users.
In this conversation, we unpack the difference between authentication and identity, why traditional methods like security questions are dangerously outdated, and how mobile tech and biometrics are changing the game. Aaron also shares practical tips on protecting your most valuable digital asset—your email—and what consumers and companies alike can do to stay ahead of evolving threats. This one’s packed with insight, and more relevant than ever.
Show Notes:
- [00:54] Aaron is the CEO of Nametag. A company he started 5 years ago that focuses on identity verification at high-risk moments.
- [01:37] He spent 14 years at Microsoft working on product including at Microsoft China. He also ran a cloud computing company that was AWS's largest partner in Europe.
- [02:12] When everything went remote in 2020, he discovered that there were identity verification issues over phone lines.
- [03:03] He began building technology that will help accurately identify people when they call in to support or help desks.
- [04:22] Most of what we think of as identity is really just authentication.
- [07:41] A common new challenge is the rise of remote work and people having to connect remotely. The rise of technologies that make it easier to impersonate someone is also a problem.
- [10:38] Knowing who you hire and who you're working with matters.
- [11:03] Deep fakes and voice cloning has become so much easier.
- [15:47] How platforms have a responsibility to know their users.
- [18:11] How deep fakes are being exploited in the corporate world.
- [19:30] The vulnerability is often the human processes. Back doors and side doors are deleting ways that companies are breached.
- [23:53] High value accounts and companies that know they have something to protect our early adopters of Aaron's technology.
- [24:50] Identity verification methods including using mobile phones. The device has cryptography.
- [27:07] Behavioral biometrics include the way we walk or the way we type.
- [29:56] If you're working with a company that offers additional security tools, take them up on it.
- [34:04] Dating sites are starting to do verification profiles.
- [43:07] We all need to push for more secure ways to protect our accounts.
- [43:48] The importance of protecting your email.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.