Graham Cluley and rotating co-hosts unpack real hacking cases, scams, and cyber news each week.
Smashing Security treats hacking and privacy news as messy human drama, not dry threat intel. Graham Cluley and special guests move from LinkedIn tracking to insider crime, ransomware mishaps, smart glasses, cryptocurrency trails, and corporate security blunders with brisk comic timing.
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Smashing Security is a co-hosted interview and discussion show centered on current cybersecurity and cybercrime news, hosted by Graham Cluley. Most episodes open with casual banter between Cluley and a co-host or guest before moving into two or three main stories pulled from recent hacking, fraud, or privacy incidents. Danny Palmer appears as a recurring co-host, while Dave Bittner (host of The Cyber Wire and Hacking Humans) and Paul Ducklin, a returning cybersecurity expert, are frequent guests who bring their own reporting into the conversation. Other guests include specialists such as Carl Miller, who discusses AI-driven information manipulation and dark-web investigations, Jenny Radcliffe, who covers physical infiltration and social engineering, and Leslie Carhart, a digital forensics and incident-response veteran. Recurring subject matter includes ransomware negotiation and payment trends, insider leaks at security companies, cryptocurrency theft and recovery, romance and pig-butchering scams, corporate data-privacy failures, and state-sponsored hacking allegations. Stories are told through specific case details — named companies, court filings, and indictments — rather than general security advice. Sponsor segments from IT security and compliance vendors run within most episodes. The tone blends serious incident reporting with humor and tangents rather than dense technical explanation. General listeners curious about hacking cases, online scams, and privacy news can follow the show without a technical background, while security professionals may get added value from the guest interviews with incident responders and threat researchers.
Made for: General listeners and cybersecurity professionals interested in real-world hacking incidents, online scams, and data privacy news.
What sets it apart: Pairs case-by-case breach and scam storytelling with informal co-host banter and a rotating cast of investigative guests like Dave Bittner and Paul Ducklin, rather than delivering straight security news.
Stories from the world of hacking, cybersecurity, and rogue AI. Smashing Security isn’t your typical tech podcast. Hosted by cybersecurity keynote speaker and industry veteran Graham Cluley, it serves up weekly tales of cybercrime, hacking horror stories, privacy blunders, and tech mishaps - all with sharp insight, a sense of humour, and zero tolerance for tech waffle. Winner of the best and most entertaining cybersecurity podcast awards in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024, Smashing Security has had over ten million downloads. Past guests include Garry Kasparov, Mikko Hyppönen, and Jack Rhysider. Follow the podcast on Bluesky at @smashingsecurity.com ( https://bsky.app/pro...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Graham Cluley and his guests make cybercrime legible by connecting technical failures to the incentives and human choices behind them.
Smashing Security turns cybercrime into lively case discussion, with Graham Cluley and rotating guests following the human decisions behind compromised systems.
A $400 million fishing rod is where your cybersecurity briefing stops behaving like homework.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A skeptical, funny privacy chat about LinkedIn tracking, browser fingerprinting, and the ridiculous language of professional networking.
Smashing Security takes LinkedIn's data appetite as a privacy problem with a familiar shape: browser fingerprinting, advertising incentives, and the uneasy question of when routine tracking starts to feel like surveillance.
A funny, technically clear crypto mystery where a fishing rod leads to wallets, custody addresses, and an unresolved police trail.
A fishing rod turns out to be the strangest storage device in a crypto mystery involving 500 bitcoins, watched wallets, and a move into Coinbase custody.
A sharp insider threat segment where sloppy crypto habits, workplace trust, and Smashing Security's dry banter do the damage.
Smashing Security makes a tidy, skeptical meal of an insider threat case that looks less like elite hacking than ordinary trust gone bad. Graham Cluley and Jenny Radcliffe linger on the awkward details: a contractor with legitimate access to sensitive data, an attempted…
Smashing Security pairs an Apple ID scam hook with dry, conversational coverage of UK Biobank and institutional risk.
Smashing Security opens with a grim little joke about breach disclosure and the RSA conference floor, then settles into the familiar Graeme Cluley and Paul Ducklin rhythm: dry, chatty, and happy to wander before the security meat arrives.
A sharp Smashing Security episode about dormant malicious scripts, platform hygiene, and the boring maintenance that prevents louder failures.
Smashing Security episode 458 opens loose, with Graham Cluley and Tricia Howard trading GTA 5 banter before settling into a more practical security lesson: platforms that allow scripts or user generated content need to worry about code that looks dormant until it wakes back up.
A loose but unsettling cybercrime discussion about insider greed, exploit sales, and the politics sitting behind the market.
Smashing Security uses the strange case promised in its title, a cybersecurity boss framing his own employee, to get at a wider and more uncomfortable point: insider trust can fail in very ordinary-looking ways.
A dry, practical security episode built around ESXi ransomware, business disruption, and malware that may stumble over its own bad code.
Smashing Security leans into its usual mix of gallows humor and practical security talk, with Graham Cluley and Paul Ducklin steering from jokes about AI porn into the kind of operational risk that keeps IT teams awake.
A sharp, skeptical look at Meta's glasses, facial recognition, and the politics of launching a privacy problem.
Meta's glasses are treated as both a privacy hazard and a case study in disastrous launch strategy. Graham Cluley and guest James Ball zero in on Meta's reportedly internal Name Tag feature, which would use facial recognition to identify people through the glasses and pull…
News commentary through a biblical worldview.
Host Jack Rhysider narrates true hacking, breach, and privacy stories from the people involved.
David Pierce and Verge staffers cover AI industry news, gadgets, and tech policy weekly.
Long-form interviews on AI coding agents, infrastructure, and security, plus a recurring SED News roundup.
Founders and engineers on AI coding agents like Claude Code, and supply chain security.
Episode 462 starts sideways.
Smashing Security episode 461 opens with Danny Palmer returning from leave and Graeme Clewley pointing to RSA Conference themes, including the UK National Cyber Security Centre warning about generative AI security.
Graham Cluley and Jenny Radcliffe begin with awkward salary talk.
A CISO gets the RSA-floor sentence.
Asterisks kick off the trouble.
Smashing Security episode 457 centers on Graham Cluley and Carl Miller discussing how Peter Williams, the US head of Trenchant, allegedly framed an iOS developer during a London team-building trip.
AI porn gets the eyebrow-raise first.
Meta's glasses get the villain-note treatment.
Graham Cluley and Ian Thompson discuss cybersecurity news, including a potential pro-Russian hacking group and other tech mishaps.
Graham Cluley and guest Tricia Howard discuss cybersecurity news, including a hacker exposed by the Epstein files, with humor and expert insight.
Graham Cluley and Joe Tidy discuss the cruelest cyber attack in history and the launch of Joe's book in North America.
Graham Cluley and guest Ray Redacted discuss cybersecurity, hacking, and the challenges of maintaining anonymity after a family member's Olympic fame.
This episode of Smashing Security features a discussion with former CISO and white hat hacker Monica Verma about cybersecurity issues, including Instagram panic and Grok gone wild, and her experiences hacking products like trains.
Choose-your-own-adventure, but for manipulation.
This cybersecurity podcast episode discusses a Kindle hacking incident and the £1.2 million fine against LastPass for a data breach affecting 1.6 million UK users.
A humorous cybersecurity podcast discussing hacking stories, social engineering, and tech mishaps.
This episode discusses a hacker who doxxes himself and explores social engineering-as-a-service in cybersecurity, featuring hosts Graham Cluley and guest Rick Ferguson.
Graham Cluley and Dan Raywood discuss a unique hacking technique using default passwords from public manuals.
This episode of Smashing Security introduces a new guest from Akamai Technologies and previews a discussion about a major security flaw in WhatsApp affecting billions of people.
This episode discusses cybersecurity topics including Tinder's camera roll feature and a deepfake of Warren Buffett, featuring guest Ron Eddings from Hacker Valley Media.
Bittner Ransomware opens the bit.
Graham Cluley and guest Danny Palmer discuss a mob-related poker hack and a Formula One security fumble.
Graham Cluley and Scott Helm discuss cybersecurity topics including hacking prisons and online checkout threats.
Graham Cluley and Annabelle Berry discuss cybersecurity news, including a surge in UK cyber attacks, with humor and insight.
Graham Cluley and Geoff White discuss cybersecurity news, including a new season of The Lazarus Heist podcast, with humor and insight.
A humorous cybersecurity podcast discussing a critical Salesforce vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.4.
A humorous cybersecurity podcast discussing a supply chain attack and a gold heist powered by ransomware.
Graham Cluley and Alan Liska discuss cybersecurity news, including a ransomware attack on UK telecoms firm Colt and a White House backdoor demand.
Graham Cluley and Carol Terrio discuss a Swiss cybersecurity firm's initiative targeting hackers, with a focus on Nigerian 419 scams.
Graham Cluley and Carol Terrio discuss the cyber Streisand effect and a snail mail ransom demand.
Graham Cluley and Carol Terrio discuss HP's hold music and human trafficking, along with tech support vulnerabilities and cybersecurity tips.
Graham Cluley and Carol Terrio discuss the biggest theft in history and new regulations testing cyber bullies.
This episode covers a cryptocurrency exchange called BTC-E and concert ticket scams, with a focus on cybersecurity and hacking stories.
The hosts discuss cybersecurity news, including ransomware and a new scam-focused podcast, with humor and insight.
A cybersecurity podcast discussing Coinbase crypto heists, QR codes, and ransomware in classrooms with a special guest.