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How Many Lost Laptops Is Too Many?
Manage episode 493050119 series 3672475
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This week on The Awareness Angle, Anthony Davis and Luke Pettigrew unpack everything from text scams and AI scrapers to school shutdowns and insider threats. It’s a mix of the strange, the serious, and the preventable, plus a few thoughts on whether changing the Blue Screen of Death was really necessary.
Episode note - In this episode, we mention that 26,000 public sector devices were lost or stolen. That number isn’t accurate. The real figure is still shocking, with just over 2,000 devices in the past year, according to FOI-based reports. We caught the error before the episode went live, but since we recorded it, we’re calling it out here to keep things straight. Always better to be accurate.
📱 SMS Blasters & Android Security – Low-cost tools are sending out spoofed texts by the thousands. Meanwhile, Android 16 adds cellular warnings—so why doesn’t iPhone
🎥 The Hikvision Ban – Canada pulls the plug on Hikvision over national security concerns. We talk cheap CCTV, surveillance tech, and where other countries stand.
💻 26,000 Lost Devices – UK government departments lost thousands of laptops and phones. We dig into unencrypted risks and the shadow IT no one talks about.
🧠 Cloudflare vs AI Bots – New protections aim to stop AI from scraping websites—but are some tools are already mimicking humans to sneak past?
🎓 University Parking Hack – A former student manipulates grades, parking, and more. It started small… and escalated fast.
🏫 Cyberattacks on Schools – Another UK school forced to close after a ransomware attack. 60% of secondary schools were hit last year—why are they such a soft target?
📲 QR Code Phishing (Quishing) – A new warning on fake parking signs and QR scams. We ask: is it time to fix the mess that is parking apps?
👨💻 Insider Threats – A suspended IT worker wipes systems, costing £200k. A reminder: always revoke access before the fallout.
🖥️ The Death of the Blue Screen – Microsoft ditches the iconic BSOD for a black version. It’s a small change—but raises big questions about user trust and clarity.
If you care about human risk, digital culture, and the strange places security slips through, this episode’s got something for you.
🕒 Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: A new intro and newsletter plug
01:30 – AJ King interview highlights
03:26 – SMS Blasters and Google’s Pixel 10 protection
09:27 – Canada bans Hikvision over national security risks
15:04 – 26,000 public sector devices lost or stolen
20:39 – Cloudflare launches AI bot blocker
24:28 – Ex-student hacks university over parking, triggers breach
27:41 – Cornwall school cyberattack and UK education stats
31:13 – £3.5m lost to quishing (QR phishing)
35:20 – IT worker jailed for revenge attack after suspension
38:23 – Microsoft kills the Blue Screen of Death
42:00 – Awareness events: SANS Summit, IASAP, and Huficon
46:01 – Can we teach our mums to spot fake AI videos?
48:06 – IKEA gift card checkout scam warning
50:27 – WHSmith rebrands as TG Jones – phishing vibes
54:07 – Instagram inheritance scam analysed by ChatGPT
57:51 – TikTok strikes vs Meta’s scam filtering
59:15 – AI chatbots recommending phishing links
01:04:09 – CSGO player doxxed via Steam OSINT
01:08:47 – Digital footprints and parenting in a connected world
01:11:16 – Local business cyber day preview
01:12:11 – Weekly wrap-up and final thoughts
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License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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