This clever scam nearly hijacked a tech CEO's Apple ID
Smashing Security
Graham Cluley
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In episode 459 of Smashing Security, we dive into a chillingly clever account takeover attempt targeting WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg - involving MFA fatigue, real Apple alerts, a convincing support call, and a phishing page that oh-so-nearly worked. If a famous techie could have this happen to you, can you be sure you're immune?
Plus: would you donate your lifetime medical history to science if you were promised anonymity? We unpack serious concerns around UK Biobank, where “de-identified” data may not be as anonymous as you think — and how surprisingly little information it takes to reveal everything.
And! Human-powered “AI”, and a punishment worse than prison: eight hours on the RSA expo floor...
All this, and much more, in episode 459 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity veteran Graham Cluley, and special guest Paul Ducklin.
EPISODE LINKS:
- DOGE employee stole Social Security data and put it on a thumb drive, report says - TechCrunch.
- Foreign hacker in 2023 compromised Epstein files held by FBI, source and documents show - Reuters.
- New font-rendering trick hides malicious commands from AI tools - Bleeping Computer.
- Lockdown Mode - Apple support.
- Gone (Almost) Phishin’ - Matt Mullenweg.
- Listen to the Live Scam Call Targeting Matt Mullenweg’s Apple Account - YouTube.
- Confidential health records from UK BioBank project exposed online - The Guardian.
- A message from Professor Sir Rory Collins, Chief Executive and Principal Investigator of UK Biobank - UK BioBank.
- Psychotherapy data breach blackmailer sent to prison - Paul Ducklin.
- Your AI slop bores me.
- Post by Vaughan Shanks - LinkedIn.
- Judge Sentences CISO to 8 Consecutive Hours on RSA Expo Floor as Formal Punishment for Security Breach - The Exploit.
- Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff)
SPONSORS:
- Vanta - Expand the scope of your security program with market-leading compliance automation… while saving time and money. Smashing Security listeners get $1000 off!
- Adaptive Security - request a custom demo featuring a real CEO deepfake simulation.
- Meter - Network infrastructure for the enterprise. Get a free personalised demo.
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THANKS:
Theme tune: "Vinyl Memories" by Mikael Manvelyan.
Assorted sound effects: AudioBlocks.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A judge has sentenced a CISO to eight consecutive hours on the RSA conference floor. |
| 0:10.4 | His crime failing to disclose a breach to the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
| 0:16.3 | Legal experts at the SEC are calling the penalty proportionate and corrective. Former RSA attendees |
| 0:23.9 | are calling it barbaric. |
| 0:36.4 | Smashing Security, Episode 459. |
| 0:40.5 | This clever scam nearly hijacked a tech CEO's Apple ID, with Graham Cluley and special guest |
| 0:46.2 | Paul Ducklin. |
| 0:47.5 | Hello, hello, and welcome to Smashing Security episode 459. |
| 0:50.8 | My name's Graham Cluley. |
| 0:52.3 | And my name is Paul Duck. |
| 0:54.0 | Duck, great to have you back on the show once again. Thank you for joining us. |
| 0:58.1 | It's a great pleasure. So what fun stuff have you been up to lately? Well, as you know, Graham, for very many years, |
| 1:05.0 | I haven't owned a car because I kind of got into bicycling. Yes. So when I need a car, which is only very occasionally, I hire one and every time you seem to get a different model. Right. And the one thing you have to do, at least in Britain, when you hire a car, the rule is you get it full of fuel and you must return it full of fuel or they charge you some extortionate price to fill it back up. Yeah. And of course, because it's not your car, how do you know when you pull into the filling |
| 1:30.9 | station which side the filler cap is on? |
| 1:33.5 | Okay. |
| 1:33.8 | And although I've been doing this for years and years and years, I only very recently |
| 1:38.6 | discovered that if you look at the fuel gauge, digital or not, underneath it, |
| 1:43.2 | there's a little petrol pump icon, says this is the fuel gauge, digital or not, underneath it there's a little petrol pump icon, |
| 1:45.2 | says this is the fuel gauge, and at the bottom of the little petrol pump icon, there's an |
| 1:50.5 | arrow which is either on the left hand side or the right hand side. Guess what the arrow tells you. |
| 1:57.0 | I think bless you, Duck, for not knowing that. What? Well, I knew that. |
| 2:01.2 | Because in the cars I've driven, I've noticed that. |
... |
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