The Malware Behind Holiday Scams - Ep 180

Christmas holiday cybercrime is back in focus—but this time, Reimagining Cyber goes deeper than scams and suspicious messages. In a previous episode, we explored the holiday threat landscape from the victim’s point of view: phishing emails, fake delivery notices, and gift-card fraud. In this episode, cybersecurity expert Tyler Moffitt shift perspectives to what most people never see—the malware and criminal infrastructure that make those scams possible in the first place.

The conversation dives into info stealers as the foundation of modern cybercrime, including a new malware-as-a-service offering dubbed “SantaStealer.” Tyler explains how stolen credentials and session tokens quietly enable account takeovers, fraud, and abuse at scale—often weeks before any scam ever reaches a user’s inbox. You’ll also learn why these threats spike during the holidays, how attackers bypass MFA without phishing, and what defenders should be prioritizing beyond traditional email security.

If the last episode covered what holiday scams look like, this one explains how they’re powered—and why the real compromise often happens long before anyone realizes they’ve been targeted.

It's 5 years since Reimagining Cyber began. Thanks to all of our loyal listeners!

As featured on Million Podcasts'

Best 100 Cybersecurity Podcasts

Top 50 Chief Information Security Officer CISO Podcasts

Top 70 Security Hacking Podcasts

This list is the most comprehensive ranking of Cyber Security Podcasts online and we are honoured to feature amongst the best!

Follow or subscribe to the show on your preferred podcast platform.
Share the show with others in the cybersecurity world.
Get in touch via reimaginingcyber@gmail.com