Fake vs. Taken-Over Accounts with Jason Kent and Will Glazier

20-12-2023 • 45 mins

As we approach the next season, threat actors will be keeping a close eye on dating apps. These apps have become a prime target for threat actors due to the size of the market expanding to over 300 million users and the rich information stored in these apps.

Today’s guests are Jason Kent and Will Glazier. Jason is a hacker-in-residence at Cequence Security. He has a diverse information security, networking, and IT background and a generous level of knowledge for most pieces of the IT spectrum including firewalls, security architecture, security controls, and security infrastructure.

Will Glazier is the Head of Threat Research at Cequence Security where they protect some of the world’s largest brands from sophisticated bot attacks and threats against the public facing APIs. Will has a background in fraud abuse and prevention as well as building threat intelligence systems.

Show Notes:

[1:18] - Jason and Will share their backgrounds and current roles at Cequence Security.
[5:24] - As common as scams and fraud are, even Jason and Will have personal experience with them.
[7:39] - Dating app attacks are particularly hard because they prey on vulnerable people. There are so many cases, that there should not be shame around talking about it.
[9:32] - The first red flag is when someone you are talking to on a dating app tries to get you over to texting or another app.
[11:37] - In any given month, the amount of malicious API transactions that Cequence is blocking is in the billions.
[13:52] - Fake accounts are constantly made but not as heavily used as taken over accounts.
[16:08] - Scammers are now paying for premium accounts to appear more legitimate and the investment pays off when they scam someone.
[18:11] - There are tools people can buy to make all accounts look real through automation.
[19:29] - It is essential that people in a fraud department can trust the information and push it out to Cequence.
[22:04] - Some organizations will pay a ransom to decrease the time wasted and money lost. In their eyes, the money lost to pay the ransom isn’t as much.
[26:11] - Margins are getting tighter for the bad guys.
[30:31] - The infrastructure that scammers use varies. There are some that are really well known at Cequence and some that are more difficult.
[32:51] - It is easier to take out one big player than to take out hundreds of small ones.
[36:03] - There are human and political pressures that make things more challenging for security.
[38:07] - Romance scammers are employing new tactics and switching them up.
[39:48] - If you put too much trust in the platform that it makes you trust the random person you’re talking to, take a step back.
[42:40] - Take a look online for things that have been done by scammers historically, especially if you are new to dating apps.