Signalgate sucks, and the quandary of quishing
Smashing Security
Graham Cluley
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
QR codes are being weaponised by scammers — so maybe think twice before scanning that parking meter. And in a blunder so dumb it makes autocorrect look smart, the White House explains how it leaked war plans on Signal because an iPhone mistook a journalist for a government insider.
Plus! Don't miss our featured interview with Josh Donelson of Material and Tony Albano from Google, about detection and response in today's AI-driven world.
All this and more is discussed in the latest edition of the "Smashing Security" podcast by cybersecurity veterans Graham Cluley and Carole Theriault.
Warning: This podcast may contain nuts, adult themes, and rude language.
Episode links:
- The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans - The Atlantic.
- Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal - The Atlantic.
- How the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg got added to the White House Signal group chat - The Guardian.
- From convenience to compromise: The rising threat of quishing scams - Fast Company.
- Microsoft Warns of Tax-Themed Email Attacks Using PDFs and QR Codes to Deliver Malware - Hacker News.
- QR Code Statistics 2024: Trends & Use Cases - QR Code.
- Honey Garlic Scallop Kabobs - Heinz.
- With QR Code Redemption Set to Surge to 5.3 Billion in 2025, Cybercriminals will Increase Their Quishing Attacks - Wealth & Finance International.
- Chess Masters: The End Game - BBC iPlayer.
- Cribbage Classic - iOS app store.
- Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff)
Sponsored by:
- Material - Email security that covers the full threat landscape – stopping new flavors of phishing and pretexting attacks in their tracks, while also protecting accounts and data from exploit or exposure.
- Vanta – Expand the scope of your security program with market-leading compliance automation… while saving time and money. Smashing Security listeners get $1000 off!
- 1Password Extended Access Management – Secure every sign-in for every app on every device.
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THANKS:
Theme tune: "Vinyl Memories" by Mikael Manvelyan.
Assorted sound effects: AudioBlocks.
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacyTranscript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Is it better or worse than having a Facebook group? |
| 0:10.0 | I would argue, yes, it is better than having a Facebook group. |
| 0:13.4 | See, are you giving them awards, Crow? |
| 0:15.2 | You say, well done for not using Facebook for this. |
| 0:24.9 | Yeah. Facebook for this. Smashing Security, episode 412, Signal Gate Sucks, and the quandary of Quishing, with Carol |
| 0:32.5 | Terrio and Graham Cluley. |
| 0:34.8 | Hello, hello and welcome to Smashing Security episode 412. My name's Graham Clurely. |
| 0:39.9 | And I'm Carol Terrio. |
| 0:41.5 | Coral, what have we got coming up on the show this week? |
| 0:44.0 | Before we kick off, let's thank this week's wonderful sponsors, OnePassword, Vanta, and Material. |
| 0:50.0 | Dot Security. It's their support that help us give you this show for free. |
| 0:53.8 | Now coming up on today's show, Graham, what do you got? |
| 0:56.5 | I'm going to be describing how you can get sucked into a signal chat. |
| 1:00.6 | Okay, and I'm talking about the rise of the quish. |
| 1:04.8 | Plus, we have a featured interview. |
| 1:07.3 | I had the pleasure of speaking with Joss Donaldson of Material. |
| 1:10.7 | Dot security and Tony Albano of Material. Security and Tony |
| 1:12.3 | Albano of Google about detection and response in today's AI-driven world. All this and much more |
| 1:18.6 | coming up on this episode of Smashing Security. Now, chums, chums, and specifically you |
| 1:25.4 | crawl, do iPhones suck? |
| 1:27.9 | No? |
| 1:29.5 | I think they do, actually. |
... |
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