Badbox 2.0

Hh hey maybe don't buy that $14 projector off amazon. In this episode, we dive into the sequel nobody asked for: BADBOX 2.0 — the return of last year’s botnet built out of bargain-bin Android gadgets. Google just filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that millions of sketchy streaming boxes, projectors, and mystery electronics were shipped pre-infected from factories overseas. The moment someone plugs one in, it joins a global botnet used for ad fraud, click fraud, and even to rent out your home internet connection to criminals. We talk to the team at HUMAN Security, the researchers credited in Google’s suit, about how they traced this thing across 222 countries, why it came back bigger than before, and how you even begin to kill a botnet that ships itself directly to people’s living rooms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Badbox 2.0 is an episode from Hacked by Sticks & Stones.

This episode is 49:32 long.

This episode was published on Nov 2, 2025.

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