Familial Identity Theft
Easy Prey
Identity theft is usually framed as an external threat. Hackers, data breaches, anonymous criminals operating somewhere far away. This episode looks at a much harder reality to face: identity theft that happens inside families, often quietly, over many years, and without immediate detection. The damage isn’t just financial. It reshapes trust, relationships, and a person’s sense of stability long before anyone realizes what’s happening. My guest is Axton Betz-Hamilton, an associate professor of financial counseling and planning whose research focuses on familial and child identity theft....
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Exploiting Trust (Part 2)
Easy Prey
Security failures rarely come from cutting-edge attacks or sophisticated tools. They happen in ordinary moments when someone holds a door, follows an instruction without questioning it, or finds a workaround that makes their day easier. Those small, human decisions are often the real entry points, and they tend to compound over time. This episode picks up the second half of our conversation on exploiting trust with FC Barker, a veteran ethical hacker and physical security expert known for legally breaking into banks, government buildings, and high-security facilities around the world. With...
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Exploiting Trust (Part 1)
Easy Prey
Most security failures don’t start with a dramatic breach or a mysterious hacker sitting in a dark room. They usually start quietly. Someone assumes a system is locked down. Someone trusts that a door shouldn’t open, or that a machine “just works,” or that no one would ever think to look there. Over time, those small assumptions stack up, and that’s where things tend to go wrong. Today’s guest is FC Barker, a renowned ethical hacker, social engineer, and global keynote speaker with more than three decades of experience legally breaking into organizations to expose their blind...
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Surviving a Ransomware Attack
Easy Prey
A ransomware attack doesn’t always announce itself with flashing warnings and locked screens. Sometimes it starts with a quiet system outage, a few unavailable servers, and a sinking realization days later that the threat actors were already inside. This conversation pulls back the curtain on what really happens when an organization believes it’s dealing with routine failures only to discover it’s facing a full-scale cyber extortion event. My guest today is Zachary Lewis, CIO and CISO for a Midwest university, a 40 Under 40 Business Leader, and a former Nonprofit CISO of the Year....
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Why You Fall For Scams
Easy Prey
Why do smart, capable people fall for scams even when the warning signs seem obvious in hindsight? In this episode, Dan Ariely joins us to examine how intuition often leads us in the wrong direction, especially under stress, uncertainty, or emotional pressure. A renowned behavioral economist, longtime professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, Misbehaving, and Misbelief, Dan has spent decades studying why rational people consistently make choices that don’t serve them. We talk about...
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Mobile Device Threats
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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Past, Present, and Future of AI agents
Easy Prey
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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You Are Traceable with OSINT
Easy Prey
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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Anyone Could Walk In
Easy Prey
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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The Scam You Never See Coming
Easy Prey
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,...
info_outlineRansomware 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 collaborations across government and industry to disrupt ransomware actors at their source.
We talk about how ransomware groups operate, why paying a ransom rarely solves the problem, and what layered defense really means for organizations and individuals. Cynthia also shares how AI is reshaping both sides of the cyber arms race and why she believes hope, not fear, is the most powerful tool for defenders.
Show Notes:
- [01:04] Cynthia Kaiser had a 20-year FBI career and has now transitioned from investigation to prevention at Halcyon.
- [03:58] The true scale of cyber threats is far larger than most people realize, even within the government.
- [04:19] Nation-state and criminal activity now overlap, making attribution increasingly difficult.
- [06:45] Cynthia outlines how ransomware spreads through phishing, credential theft, and unpatched systems.
- [08:08] Ransomware is an ecosystem of specialists including developers, access brokers, money launderers, and infrastructure providers.
- [09:55] Discussion of how many ransomware groups exist and the estimated cost of attacks worldwide.
- [11:37] Ransom payments dropped in 2023, but total business recovery costs remain enormous.
- [12:24] Paying a ransom can mark a company as an easy target and doesn’t guarantee full decryption.
- [13:11] Example of a decryptor that failed completely and how Halcyon helped a victim recover.
- [14:35] The so-called “criminal code of ethics” among ransomware gangs has largely disappeared.
- [16:48] Hospitals continue to be targeted despite claims of moral restraint among attackers.
- [18:44] Prevention basics still matter including strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, and timely patching.
- [19:18] Cynthia explains the value of layered defense and incident-response practice drills.
- [21:22] Even individuals need cyber hygiene like unique passwords, MFA, and updated antivirus protection.
- [23:32] Deepfakes are becoming a major threat vector, blurring trust in voice and video communications.
- [25:17] Always verify using a separate communication channel when asked to send money or change payment info.
- [27:40] Real-world example: credential-stuffing attack against MLB highlights the need for two-factor authentication.
- [29:55] What to do once ransomware hits includes containment, external counsel, and calling trusted law-enforcement contacts.
- [32:44] Cynthia recounts being impersonated online and how she responded to protect others from fraud.
- [34:28] Many victims feel ashamed to report cybercrime, especially among older adults.
- [36:45] Scams often succeed because they align with real-life timing or emotional triggers.
- [38:32] Children and everyday users are also at risk from deceptive links and push-fatigue attacks.
- [39:26] Overview of Halcyon’s Ransomware Research Center and its educational, collaborative goals.
- [42:15] The importance of public-private partnerships in defending hospitals and critical infrastructure.
- [43:38] How AI-driven behavioral detection gives defenders a new advantage.
- [44:48] Cynthia shares optimism that technology can reduce ransomware’s impact.
- [45:43] Closing advice includes practicing backups, building layered defenses, and staying hopeful.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.