A former developer at Eaton Corp, Davis Lu, is convicted of deploying a kill switch script that disrupted thousands of users worldwide—he’s now facing up to 10 years in prison. A major AI image generator, GenNomis, accidentally exposed 95,000 image prompts online, raising serious privacy and security concerns. And finally, researchers discover debug commands in the popular ESP32 Bluetooth chip, sparking worries about potential exploitation.

Note: We mention and explain this in the last episode, but we’re in the process of pumping the brakes on the ads and keeping our reads faster. Things got overstuffed—that’s on us. Thanks for the honest feedback.

Got a strange tale of technology, security, or hacking? Share it at HotlineHacked.com.

Hacked is brought to you by Push Security. Check them out at PushSecurity.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hacked Discord accounts, zombie emergency alerts on TV, and a crime spree in Diablo 3—just another day. As always, thanks for sharing your calls with us—we had a blast listening.

Note: We mention and explain this in the episode, but we’ve pumped the brakes on the ads. Things got overstuffed—that’s on us. Thanks for the honest feedback.

Got a strange tale of technology, security, or hacking? Share it at HotlineHacked.com.

Hacked is brought to you by Push Security. Check them out at PushSecurity.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Double Digits! Featuring caller stories of sarcastic keyboard pranks, failed SEO birthday gifts, vending machine hijinks and more.

Hacked is brought to you by Push Security—helping companies stop identity attacks before they happen. Phishing, credential stuffing, session hijacking—Push tackles it right where it starts: in the browser. Smart, seamless, and built for how people actually work. Check them out at pushsecurity.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adam used to break into companies for a living—legally. As a red teamer, he watched the attack surface shift from networks to endpoints to something new: identity. The Snowflake breach proved it—attackers aren’t breaking in anymore, they’re logging in. Adam saw it coming, founded Push Security to stop it, and now he’s here to break it all down. They’re our new sponsor, so if that’s not your thing, no worries—catch you in the next one. But his story? Fascinating.

Hacked is brought to you by Push Security—helping companies stop identity attacks before they happen. Phishing, credential stuffing, session hijacking—Push tackles it right where it starts: in the browser. Smart, seamless, and built for how people actually work. Check them out at pushsecurity.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We dive into the story of Silk Road—the infamous darknet marketplace that changed the internet. We revisit its rise under Ross Ulbricht, aka "Dread Pirate Roberts," and how law enforcement finally brought it down. With Ulbricht’s recent presidential pardon in 2025, his release reignites debates on digital privacy, cybercrime, and government overreach. Plus, we’ve got a lot to catch up on—DeepSeek, the latest in AI, and much more. 

Hacked is brought to you by Push Security—helping companies stop identity attacks before they happen. Phishing, credential stuffing, session hijacking—Push tackles it right where it starts: in the browser. Smart, seamless, and built for how people actually work. Check them out at pushsecurity.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Quantum computing raises big questions—about security, power, and who benefits as the technology advances.

To kick off 2025, the International Year of Quantum, I sat down with Joan Etude Arrow—Founder and CEO of the Quantum Ethics Project and a Womanium Quantum Solutions Launchpad Fellow—to talk about what’s real, what’s next, and why it matters.

This is our chat with Joan Etude Arrow, here on Hacked.

🔗 More from Joan: quantumjustice.bsky.social

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A bunch of great stories, including a prank between brothers with video evidence, a DOS frat war, and a person who tried to buy a building with a credit card. Want to share your story? Check out hotlinehacked.com.

Hotline Hacked is brought to you by DeleteMe. Take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for DeleteMe. Now at a special discount for our listeners: Today get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to joindeleteme.com/HACKED and use promo code HACKED at checkout. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We have a bunch of stories to get to, but before you listen, check out our new Youtube page we'll be putting a lot of love into in 2025: https://www.youtube.com/@hackedpodcast and this very useful site a listener made based on our last episode about an extremely expensive pizza delivery.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy holidays, everyone. We’re bringing you a hacked classic to tide you over while Scott and I take a break to relax and gear up for the new year to hit us like a ton of bricks.

This is one of my favorites from a couple of years ago, back in the halcyon days of June 2022—an interview with music professor Meryl Goldberg that I still think about. It’s got Cold War intrigue, hidden codes, and Klezmer music. Honestly, I want to make a movie about it, so if your 2025 wishlist includes setting a bunch of money on fire producing a film, let me know.

Hope you had a happy holiday and a festive new year. Safe travels if you’re on the road, and if you’re home, I hope you’re relaxing.

Enjoy The Phantom Orchestra.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices