Can Attackers really turn safety tools into weapons?

The Awareness Angle: Cyber News Weekly

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This week on The Awareness Angle, Ant Davis and Luke Pettigrew break down a wild mix of stories that show how everyday tools are becoming attack surfaces.

This episode digs into the human habits, design gaps and risky shortcuts that make these attacks possible.

🔓 Google Find Hub Used for Remote Wipe

A North Korean group found a way to hijack Google accounts, track victims and remotely wipe Android devices. Ant and Luke talk through how cloud accounts have quietly become the true kill switch for modern phones.

🤖 The First AI Orchestrated Cyber Attack

A Chinese state linked group jailbroke Claude Code and used it to run eighty to ninety percent of a full intrusion chain. No big team. No complex tooling. Just structured tasks and an AI agent that never gets tired.

💸 Checkout dot com Turns Extortion Into Something Positive

Instead of paying, they donated the ransom amount to cybercrime research at Oxford and Carnegie Mellon. A rare example of turning an attack into something that helps the whole community.

📡 Two Billion Credential Dump

HIBP indexes a massive set of recycled passwords and emails. The boys explain why password reuse is still at the root of so many real world breaches.

🔍 Ofcom Monitoring VPN Usage

A UK regulator tracking VPN use with an unnamed vendor. Ant and Luke get into the privacy implications and why transparency matters.

🚌 Chinese Built Buses That Can Be Stopped Remotely

A strange but worrying discovery in Norway. Even legitimate remote access can become a serious operational risk.

🧠 PlusCIISec Live, clever awareness ideas on LinkedIn, why timeless videos still work, and a worrying text scam that shows how vulnerable people are still the biggest targets for social engineering.

#cybersecurity #securityawareness #phishing #podcast #cloudsecurity #passwords #AIsecurity #infosec

🕒 Timestamps:

• ​00:00 Intro and catch up
• ​01:52 Breach Watch begins
• ​02:27 Doctor Alliance healthcare breach
• ​04:02 Synnovis NHS ransomware investigation
• ​07:06 DoorDash social engineering breach
• ​08:56 Checkout dot com extortion attempt
• ​10:10 Synthient credential stuffing dump
• ​13:25 Ofcom monitoring VPN usage
• ​16:20 Chinese built buses can be remotely stopped
• ​21:59 Google Find Hub remote wipe attack
• ​25:55 AI orchestrated espionage using Claude Code
• ​29:55 Scotland launches cyber observatory
• ​31:00 UK Cyber Security and Resilience Bill
• ​35:06 Quantum Route Redirect phishing kit
• ​38:11 Awareness Awareness
• ​40:59 Think and Share challenge
• ​44:34 Right Hand Cyber Halloween posters
• ​47:07 Jimmy Kimmel password clip
• ​50:16 Leanne Potter on language shaping cyber and AI
• ​52:48 Luke’s topic, Lloyds Bank text scam
• ​54:40 Ant’s topic, suspicious car finance email example
• ​58:20 Wrap up

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