When AI wears a suit and tie.

When AI wears a suit and tie.

From Hacking Humans by N2K Networks

March 19, 2026 · 49 min · Season 8 · Episode 378

About this episode

The episode discusses the latest social engineering scams and the role of AI in enhancing fraud techniques.

This week, hosts of N2K CyberWire ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Maria Varmazis⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dave Bittner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ alongside ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Joe Carrigan⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ are discussing the latest in social engineering scams, phishing schemes, and criminal exploits that are making headlines. We start with some follow up on aggravated identity theft and how it ties to crimes like wire fraud, along with a quick look at shared mailboxes and why sharing login credentials can create security risks. Joe’s got the story of a vishing attack on an Ericsson vendor that exposed sensitive data of over 15,000 people, highlighting the risks of third-party security gaps. Dave’s story is on Meta removing millions of scam ads and accounts while facing scrutiny over whether it profits from fraudulent advertising, highlighting the growing scale of social media-driven scams and pressure from lawmakers to crack down. Maria has the story on how scammers are using AI to impersonate government officials through deepfakes, fake websites, and voice cloning, making fraud more…

People in this episode

Hosts: Maria Varmazis, Dave Bittner

Guest: Joe Carrigan

Topics covered

  • social engineering scams
  • phishing schemes
  • identity theft
  • AI in fraud
  • data breaches
  • social media scams

Keywords

  • AI
  • scams
  • phishing
  • identity theft
  • data breach
  • social media
  • deepfakes

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Meta, Ericsson

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