Today on the Social-Engineer Podcast: The Security Awareness Series, Ryan and I are joined by Dr. Abbie Maroño. Dr. Maroño is now the Director of Education at Social-Engineer, LLC, an active member of internationally recognized research groups, and an expert consultant and advisor.  Today, Chris, Ryan and Abbie will discuss the 2023 State of Vishing Report. [April 17, 2023]

00:00 - Intro

00:23 - Ryan Intro

01:20 - Intro Links:

-          Social-Engineer.com - http://www.social-engineer.com/

-          Managed Voice Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/vishing-service/

-          Managed Email Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/se-phishing-service/

-          Adversarial Simulations - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/social-engineering-penetration-test/

-          Social-Engineer channel on SLACK - https://social-engineering-hq.slack.com/ssb

-          CLUTCH - http://www.pro-rock.com/

-          innocentlivesfoundation.org - http://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/                               

04:42 - Dr. Abbie Maroño Intro

06:55 - Topic of the Day: 2023 State of Vishing Report                                    

08:25 - Discussing the Data Set                                                  

10:47 - Following the Trends                                                      

12:47 - Limitation of Data                                                            

13:28 - Negatives in Positives?                                                  

15:49 - Vishing: A Definition                                                       

18:10 - Understanding Vulnerabilities                                                    

19:10 - Got the Time                                                      

21:08 - Why Time of Day Matters                                                             

26:18 - Make it Personal                                                              

28:05 - Ethics are Vital!                                                 

31:34 - The Academic Dilemma                                                 

35:46 - Know Your Goal                                                

37:04 - Vishing Trends                                                  

39:28 - Increased Understanding                                                             

41:34 - Creating Vulnerability                                                    

45:18 - Hope through Education                                               

48:03 - Wrap Up & Outro

-          www.social-engineer.com

-          www.innocentlivesfoundation.org

This month, Chris Hadnagy and Ryan MacDougall are joined by Adam Levin.  Adam is a nationally recognized expert on cybersecurity, privacy, identity theft, fraud, and personal finance and has distinguished himself as a fierce consumer advocate for the past 50 years. Adam is the former Director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, and currently is the founder of CyberScout and co-founder of Credit.com. He is also author of the critically acclaimed book Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves. Adam is also the host of the podcast What the Hack with Adam Levin, where they talk to fascinating people about the most terrifying things that ever happened to them in cyberspace. (December 20, 2021)

00:00 – Intro

-          Social-Engineer.com - http://www.social-engineer.com/

-          Managed Voice Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/vishing-service/

-          Managed Email Phishing - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/se-phishing-service/

-          Adversarial Simulations - https://www.social-engineer.com/services/social-engineering-penetration-test/

-          Social-Engineer channel on SLACK - https://social-engineering-hq.slack.com/ssb

-          CLUTCH - http://www.pro-rock.com/

-          innocentlivesfoundation.org - http://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/

-          Human Behavior Conference – https://humanbehaviorcon.com/

03:26 - Adam Levin Intro

04:37 – How did you get started in the industry?

07:42 – What has the shift been like in the types of attacks from the 90s until now?

09:53 – How does the recent Robinhood breach tie into what we’re discussing?

12:00 – What should people be focusing on when they hear stories like this?

14:28 – Do these simplistic solutions really work?

18:45 – What type of advice would you give to companies that have public facing employees?

20:22 – You said something interesting earlier, “the company has to deal with it empathetically”.  What does that mean to you?

24:51 – Empathy, continued

30:22 – What do you see coming in the near future, what types of scams will become popular?

33:53 – What are some things people can look out for to avoid scams?

38:20 – Do you find that catastrophe and the emotional factor is used to get people to fall for scams?

41:39 – Finding Adam on the web:

-          www.adamlevin.com

-          https://adamlevin.com/what-the-hack/

42:57 – What are some action steps corporations can take to protect themselves?

45:13 – Who is your greatest mentor?

-          Virginia Long, director of Consumer Affairs

-          Ian Cohen – CEO of Lokker, a privacy company

-          Bill Tait – Vice Chairman at Humana

-          Jennifer Leuer – came from Experian

47:40 – Book Recommendations

-          Condor – TV Show

-          Spy novels (none specifically suggested) authors: Tom Clancy, Brad Thor, Vince Flynn

-          Yellowstone – TV Show series

-          FBI series and all spinoffs

49:16 – Outro

-          www.innocentlivesfoundation.org

-          www.social-engineer.com

-          www.pro-rock.com