Skip to content

Clippy's crypto comeback

October 8, 2026 · 58 min

Show notes

Microsoft's Twitter account, with its 13 million followers, was hijacked by a paperclip. There was no ransomware or data theft, just Clippy, a dodgy crypto coin, and a corporate apology that wasn't from Microsoft either.

Meanwhile, UK losses from hacked email and social media accounts have rocketed by 417%, as scammers pose as your friends to flog you tickets to gigs that don't exist.

Plus, Hack The Box's Christine Bartlett joins us for a featured interview to ask what happens when AI agents join your security team, and whether anyone has thought to give them a performance review.

All this and more in episode 487 of the "Smashing Security" podcast with cybersecurity expert and keynote speaker Graham Cluley, and special guest Danny Palmer.


EPISODE LINKS:



SPONSORS:

  • Hack The Box - Develop, exercise and measure the capabilities of your human operators and AI agents.
  • Vanta - Expand the scope of your security program with market-leading compliance automation… while saving time and money. Smashing Security listeners get $1000 off!
  • Origin - Endpoint AI observability. Put your AI agent on the record, and request a demo.


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.




Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

All episodes of Smashing Security

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.