Back to the office, back to the threats.

Hacking Humans

On Hacking Humans, Dave Bittner, Joe Carrigan, and Maria Varmazis (also host of N2K's daily space podcast, T-Minus), are once again sharing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines to help our audience become aware of what is out there. This week Maria has the story on how the return to office life brings unique security challenges, highlighting the need for Red Team assessments to uncover and address physical and digital vulnerabilities, empowering organizations to proactively enhance workplace security and protect against evolving threats. Joe's story comes from the FCC's warning about a scam dubbed "Green Mirage," where fraudsters impersonate mortgage lenders, spoof caller IDs, and use social engineering to trick financially vulnerable homeowners into sending payments via unconventional methods, often only discovered when foreclosure proceedings begin. Last but not least, Dave's story is on how a Reddit user shared their cautious experiment with a suspected Airbnb scam involving a new account requesting to move to WhatsApp, agreeing to unusually high rental rates, and engaging in rapport-building tactics, with red flags pointing to potential financial fraud or phishing attempts. Our catch of the day comes from listener William, who spotted a phishing scam disguised as a security alert about a compromised crypto wallet, featuring an unsolicited QR code and a generic warning that targets even non-crypto users.

Resources and links to stories:

• Navigating Workplace Security: Red Team Insights for the Return to Office
• FCC warns of 50-state scam by fraudsters posing as mortgage lenders
• FCC ENFORCEMENT ADVISORY
• I'm saying "Yes" to the Chinese long-term rental WhatsApp chat asking for video

You can hear more from the T-Minus space daily show here.

Have a Catch of the Day you'd like to share? Email it to us at [email protected].