Hacked

The $5 Wrench Attack

In this chatty chat episode, we kick things off with a primer on one of the oldest methods of stealing money—made new again in the age of crypto: the $5 wrench attack. It’s a simple tactic, but it has enabled some surprisingly significant damage. We also cover recent incidents, including the DJI robot vacuum hack, and wrap up with an in-depth discussion on AI harnesses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

=Coffee

A lot of modern AI models have a kind of security guard layer that sits in front of them. Its job? A binary choice as to whether the prompt heading into the model is safe or not. Kasimir Schulz, a lead security researcher at HiddenLayer, has been researching how to trick these models. Their solution, a technique called "Echogram" involves words with such positive statistical sentiment — such overwhelming good vibes — that it flips that verdict. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Protege — "Possibly the Worst Intelligence Disaster in U.S. History"

Two FBI agents. One room. One of them is the most damaging spy in U.S. history. Robert Hanssen told a lot of lies — including a really weird one about booking the Beach Boys for the FBI. That lie didn’t matter all that much, but the others did. For 22 years, Hanssen sold America’s deepest secrets while hunting moles inside the Bureau. With retirement looming, the FBI set a trap: a fake department, a fake job, and a young agent named Eric O’Neill placed three feet from the suspected spy. This episode is our conversation with Eric O’Neill — the man tasked with spying on the spy — about lies, tradecraft, psychological warfare, and the sting operation into what the DOJ later called “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

The Charizard Charade

Pokémon cards became a billion-dollar market—and then a massive fraud target. This episode follows the rise of ultra-rare Pokémon prototypes, the grading systems meant to protect collectors, and the amateur investigator who used codebreaking and printer forensics to expose a modern forgery ring hiding in plain sight. All that plus a nice chatty chat after the break to kick off the year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

2025 Chatty Chat Year in Review

It’s the 2025 Chatty Chat year in review friends! We’re diving into a big old pile of stories from the past year and speculating on what’s to come in 2026. If you’re wondering where this sits on the "in-depth interview vs. casual chatting" spectrum, just know we spend a considerable amount of time talking about how rad the Switch 2 is. This is not a deep dive, just a good time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]