We’re sorry. Wait, did a company actually say that?
Smashing Security
Graham Cluley
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 20 November 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Stop the press - a company has actually said "sorry" after a data breach, and hotels are helping hackers phish their own guests.
In episode 444 of "Smashing Security" we examine a refreshingly honest breach response (and why legacy systems are still going to ruin your week), dig into a nasty hotel-booking malware campaign that abuses trust in apps and CAPTCHAs, and chat about autonomous pen testing, AI-turbocharged cybercrime, and what CISOs should really be asking on Monday morning.
And lost Doctor Who is brought back to life by one very dedicated animator, and we take a look at Eddie Murphy’s career.
All this and more is discussed in episode 444 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity veteran Graham Cluley, and special guest Tricia Howard.
Plus - don't miss our featured interview with Snehal Antani from Horizon3.ai!
EPISODE LINKS:
- A Simple WhatsApp Security Flaw Exposed 3.5 Billion Phone Numbers - Wired.
- British hacker must repay £4m after hijacking celebrity Twitter accounts - BBC News.
- Cloudflare experiences a massive outage - LifeHacker.
- Protecting our Merchants: Standing up to Extortion - Checkout.
- A miracle: A company says sorry after a cyber attack - and donates the ransom to cybersecurity research - Hot for Security.
- Large-Scale ClickFix Phishing Attacks Target Hotel Systems with PureRAT Malware - The Hacker News.
- Unmasking a Sophisticated Phishing Campaign That Targets Hotel Guests - Akamai.
- Doctor Who Animation: Daleks' Master Plan - The Nightmare Begins. Part 1 - YouTube.
- Doctor Who Animation: Daleks' Master Plan - The Nightmare Begins. Part 2 - YouTube.
- Being Eddie - Netflix.
- 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!
- Horizon3.ai - Get an autonomous pentest demo and see your network the way attackers do. Visit Horizon3.ai.
SUPPORT THE SHOW:
Tell your friends and colleagues about “Smashing Security”, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser.
Become a supporter! Join Smashing Security PLUS via Patreon or Apple Podcasts for ad-free episodes on our early-release feed!
FOLLOW THE SHOW:
Follow us on Bluesky or Mastodon, or on the Smashing Security subreddit, and visit our website for more episodes.
THANKS:
Theme tune: "Vinyl Memories" by Mikael Manvelyan.
Assorted sound effects: AudioBlocks.
ENJOYED THE SHOW?
Make sure to check out our sister podcast, "The AI Fix".
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | So if you can secure that, you're going a long way to preventing yourself from becoming the next cybersecurity headline. Beautifully said. Beautifully said. Thank you. It's almost like you have a show that you do for a living. I wouldn't call it a living, but yeah. Okay. |
| 0:33.2 | Smashing Security, Episode 444. |
| 0:34.4 | We're sorry. |
| 0:35.1 | Wait. |
| 0:37.1 | Did a company actually say that? |
| 0:40.0 | With Graham Cluley and special guest Trisha Howard. |
| 0:44.6 | Hello, hello and welcome to Smash Insecurity Episode 444. My name's Graham Cluley. |
| 0:48.1 | And I'm Trisha Howard, aka Trisha kicks SaaS. |
| 0:51.7 | Tricia, hello, you're new to the show. Where have you come from? |
| 0:56.0 | I am so excited to be on here. I have been a fan of this show for such a long time. It's an honor. I work at Akamai Technologies. I represent the security intelligence |
| 1:02.0 | group here and I work with our hundreds of researchers globally. They break stuff and I help them |
| 1:08.0 | write about it. Oh, cool. Now, where do you get a nickname like Trisha KickSass from? |
| 1:13.7 | Ah, so, of course, security as a service. |
| 1:16.2 | Oh, yes. |
| 1:16.9 | There was a vendor that came in one time at my first job, long, long time ago, and they had said |
| 1:23.5 | something kicks sass, and I thought that was so funny that I stole it. |
| 1:27.4 | And it has become |
| 1:28.7 | my name ever since. Most of the best things are stolen, aren't they? That's basically how |
| 1:34.6 | the British Empire was built. I prefer inspired by, but I definitely stole this one. |
| 1:40.0 | Ah, okay. Now, before we kick off this week, let's thank this week's wonderful sponsors, Vanta and Horizon 3 AI. |
| 1:47.1 | We'll be hearing more about them later on in the podcast. |
| 1:52.6 | This week on Smashing Security. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Graham Cluley, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Graham Cluley and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.