Smashing Security podcast #456: How to lose friends and DDoS people

Graham Cluley @ 12:16 am, February 26, 2026  @grahamcluley.com  / grahamcluley When the mysterious operator of an internet archiving-service decided to silence a curious Finnish blogger, they didn’t just send a stroppy email – they allegedly weaponised their own CAPTCHA page to launch a DDoS attack, threatened to invent an entirely new genre of AI porn, and tampered with parts of their own archive to smear the blogger’s name. In this episode, we unravel how a website designed to preserve history may have trashed its own credibility – and how Wikipedia responded when trust went out the window. Plus a ransomware gang shoots itself in the foot with a classic case of buffoonery, accidentally corrupting the very keys victims would need to decrypt their data. When even the criminals can’t unlock your files, what happens next? All this, a surprisingly zen Pick of the Week, and a gloriously splenetic rant against web forms, on episode 456 of the award-winning “Smashing Security” podcast, with cybersecurity veteran Graham Cluley and special guest Paul Ducklin. Smashing Security #456: How to lose friends and DDoS people PLAY 00:00 00:00 00:00 MUTE SETTINGS Host: Graham Cluley:  @grahamcluley.com  @gcluley@mastodon.green  / grahamcluley Guest: Paul Ducklin:  / pducklin Episode links: This App Will Detect People Wearing Smart Glasses Near You – Lifehacker. Patients listed as dead after major NZ health app MediMap hacked – 1News. Why fake AI videos of UK urban decline are taking over social media – BBC News. FBI orders domain registrar to reveal who runs mysterious Archive.is site – Ars Technica. Archive.today CAPTCHA page executes DDoS; Wikipedia considers banning site – Ars Technica. Archive.today is directing a DDOS attack against my blog – Gyrovague. Critical buffer overflow bug – in ESXi ransomware – SolCyber. Yoga with Adriene – YouTube. Smashing Security merchandise (t-shirts, mugs, stickers and stuff) Sponsored by: Coreview – Download “Total Tenant Takeover”, a white paper about the Microsoft 365 Disaster No One Is Ready For. Vanta – Expand the scope of your security program with market-leading compliance automation… while saving time and money. Smashing Security listeners get $1000 off! ThreatLocker – Start your free trial and book a demo of ThreatLocker today to see how you can implement Zero Trust in your environment. Support the show: You can help the podcast by telling your friends and colleagues about “Smashing Security”, and leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Join Smashing Security PLUS for ad-free episodes and our early-release feed! Follow us: Follow the show on Bluesky, or join us on the Smashing Security subreddit, or visit our website for more episodes. Thanks: Theme tune: “Vinyl Memories” by Mikael Manvelyan. Assorted sound effects: AudioBlocks. Found this article interesting? Follow Graham Cluley on LinkedIn, Bluesky, or Mastodon to read more of the exclusive content we post. Denial of Service Law & order Podcast Privacy #CAPTCHA #cloud #DDoS #Europe #Podcast #Smashing Security #United States #Wikipedia Graham Cluley Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and hosts the popular "Smashing Security" podcast. Follow him on TikTok, LinkedIn, Bluesky and Mastodon, or drop him an email.