8th Layer Insights

8th Layer Insights

Get ready for a deep dive into what cybersecurity professionals often refer to as the "8th Layer" of security: HUMANS. Welcome to 8th Layer Insights (8Li). This podcast is a multidisciplinary exploration into how the complexities of human nature affect security and risk. Author, security researcher, and behavior science enthusiast Perry Carpenter taps experts for their insights and illumination. Topics include cybersecurity, psychology, behavior science, communication, leadership, and more.

Episodes

Cognitive Heists series #7: The Trojan Gift

September 29, 2025 • 10 mins
Hey folks! It's been a few weeks, but now the gift is here. :) It's the 7th installment of the "Cognitive Heists" series. This one is titled, "The Trojan Gift." 🎁 Not all traps look like traps. Some arrive with a bow on top. The Trojan Horse is the oldest example. But today, the gift often looks like a free service. No charge, no strings… except the ones you don’t see. Because the real price isn’t money. It’s privacy. -- It’s...
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Cognitive Heist series #6: The Shill

September 6, 2025 • 9 mins
Some cons don’t succeed because of the smooth-talking seller. Instead, they succeed because of the crowd. Enter The Shill -- a hidden accomplice pretending to be just another customer, audience member, or lucky passerby. They're in the crowd, acting as a 'normal' audience member... all with the goal of bringing validation to the con-artist's claims. They clap first, they nod enthusiastically. They “buy” the tonic. They shout “th...
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Cognitive Heist series #5: The Long Con

August 11, 2025 • 11 mins
Welcome to Deceptive Minds - An audio newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. This one is all about "The Long Con." When the lie moves in next door. Not every con kicks down the door. Some knock politely, charm their way inside, and stay for dinner. In this issue , we explore the anatomy of the long con... a psychological slow-burn that trades urgency for intimacy. Think of the...
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Cognitive Heist series #4: The Ghost - Panic, Urgency, and the Speed of Deception

August 3, 2025 • 12 mins
👻 New Deceptive Minds issue: Cognitive Heist series issue #4 -- The Ghost The ghost doesn’t break in. It doesn’t even exist. It just panics you into acting-- fast, unthinking, exposed. This issue explores one of the most dangerous tools in a scammer’s toolkit: urgency. We unpack: 🧠 The psychology of panic and why urgency shuts down critical thinking 📞 Real-world scams that weaponize fake emergencies 🕯️ A chilling tie-in...
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Cognitive Heists series #3: The Call Is Coming from Inside Your Mind

July 25, 2025 • 12 mins
📞 The Call Is Coming from Inside Your Mind Welcome to #3 of the "Cognitive Heists" series. The Voice in Your Head -- Authority, Audio Deepfakes, and the Power of a Familiar Voice In 2019, a UK energy firm received a call. The voice on the other end sounded exactly like the CEO of their German parent company. The request? Transfer €220,000 immediately to a trusted vendor. It wasn’t the CEO. It was a deepfake. This wa...
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Cognitive Heist series #2: The Bait Man

July 17, 2025 • 13 mins
Welcome to part 2 of the Cognitive Heist miniseries: The Bait Man 🗝️ He doesn’t pick the lock. 🚪 He doesn’t sneak in the back. 🪝 He just leaves something shiny on the ground and waits for you to pick it up. Enter "The Bait Man": the scammer who lets your own curiosity or greed do all the work. Part 2 of Cognitive Heist explores: 👉 Why bait-based scams (phishing, “found” USBs, QR traps, honeytexts) work so well ...
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Cognitive Heists series #1: The Insider -- Trust by Proximity, not Proof

July 11, 2025 • 13 mins
🕵️‍♂️ New Deceptive Minds mini-series: Behind the Scams (Cognitive Heists) 🕵️‍♂️ They didn’t pick the lock. They didn’t sneak in through the vents. You held the door open for them. This week’s issue kicks off a new 10-part series: Cognitive Heist—a deep dive into the psychological exploits behind the world’s most effective social engineering attacks.T his week is all about "The Insider": Trust by proximity. Why do we let...
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Narrative Armor: Why Some Stories Become Immune to the Truth

June 28, 2025 • 11 mins
When it comes to deception, everything is about story. And the stories people cling hardest to are ones that aren't solely about information... they are about self-protection. They explain the world. They spark emotion. They reinforce identity. And once we believe them, we don’t just share them…We defend them. In this issue of Deceptive Minds, I explore why some narratives become immune to fact-checking, critique, or correction...
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Repeat Until Real

June 24, 2025 • 12 mins
Hey Friends! This is one of the most important issues so far -- please share! Ever find yourself believing something… just because you’ve heard it enough? That’s the Illusory Truth Effect at work. "Illusory Truth" is the cognitive glitch that makes repetition feel like credibility. In this issue of Deceptive Minds, we explore: 🧠 Why familiar lies feel more believable than unfamiliar truths 📢 How repetition is used in...
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Truth Hurts. So We Lie.

June 12, 2025 • 17 mins
Ok. This one's pretty uncomfortable. It's about the lies we tell ourselves and why we believe them. We all like to think we’re rational. But the truth is, our minds are masters of defense... not just against deception, but against discomfort. In this issue, I explore the mental machinery behind "motivated reasoning" and "cognitive dissonance." These are mechanisms we use to try to protect ourselves from inconvenient facts. ...
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The Costume of Truth: Why We Trust the Logo, the Lab Coat, and the Lanyard

June 9, 2025 • 13 mins
Not all deception hides in the shadows. Some of it walks right in — wearing a badge, a clipboard, or a lab coat. In the latest issue of Deceptive Minds, I explore one of the most powerful tools in the scammer’s playbook: credibility theater — the subtle art of looking legitimate enough to bypass your skepticism. Inside this issue: 🎭 Why we trust uniforms, logos, and titles more than facts 🧠 The psychology behind “surface-level...
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Feel First, Think Never: Your Emotions Are the Exploit

May 27, 2025 • 13 mins
If it made you panic, rage, or rush… it probably bypassed your cognitive defenses. In the latest issue of Deceptive Minds, I dig into the dark cognitive malware of emotional hijacking: how scammers, manipulators, and even well-meaning voices use fear, urgency, outrage, and hope to short-circuit your critical thinking. Inside: 🧠 Why your emotions beat your rational mind to the punch 📞 How scam messages and panic phishing bypa...
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Too Easy to Be True: The Fluency Trap and the Lie That Slides Right Past You

May 20, 2025 • 12 mins
Some lies try hard to fool you. Others just make it easy for you to believe them. That’s the danger of cognitive fluency: the simpler something feels, the more likely we are to think it’s true. In the latest issue of Deceptive Minds, I explore: Why fake documents with grainy photos often seem more real than verified ones How anti-intellectualism and slogan-based disinfo campaigns thrive on fluency bias And what makes ...
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The Plausibility Effect

May 14, 2025 • 11 mins
Hey friends, Let’s start with a weird truth: People don’t fall for things because they’re true. They fall for things because they’re plausible. That’s the dark magic of deception — it doesn’t need to be airtight, or flawless, or even particularly clever. It just needs to feel true enough. Something your brain can accept without asking too many questions. Welcome to the Plausibility Effect — the sneaky cognitive glitch that power...
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👁️ Look Here: Why Every Great Deception Starts with Stolen Attention

May 5, 2025 • 13 mins
Welcome to issue #3 of Deceptive Minds: a newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. In this week's episode: 🚨 Your attention is under attack! 🚨 From WWII rubber tanks to 2023’s phantom Paris bedbugs, the first strike of any scam is the same: steal your gaze, shape your reality. This issue of Deceptive Minds is all about “attention theft”—how con-artists, phishers, and AI-powered tri...
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Artifacts of Deception (Deceptive Minds - issue #2)

April 28, 2025 • 12 mins
Hey friends! Here's issue 2 of Deceptive Minds: a newsletter about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. 🔥 Since starting this newsletter last week, we're already closing in on 3,000 subscribers to the print edition! 🔥 Huge thanks to everyone who's jumped in early! This week, I'm diving into what I call the “artifacts of deception,” and why the flashy stuff (deepfakes, fake emails, cloned voic...
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Deceptive Minds (the audio experience): Issue #1

April 28, 2025 • 7 mins
 Hey listeners, Perry Carpenter here. Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted this feed, but I've got something exciting that I think you'll be interested in. It's the audio version of a newsletter that I recently started. The newsletter is called Deceptive Minds, and it's all about how we are fooled, how we fool ourselves, and what we can do about it. In other words, it's the exact right newsletter for the 8th Layer Insights ...
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The FAIK Files | Holiday Special: AI Safety Update

December 27, 2024 • 38 mins
Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of 2024. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed on all things artificial intelligence and natural nonsense. In our holiday episode, Mason opens a rather unique Christmas present from Perry, we invite a specia...
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The FAIK Files | The Butcher Will Scam You Now

December 20, 2024 • 59 mins
Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to the show that keeps you informed on all things artificial intelligence and natural nonsense. Warning: today's episode gets a bit dark as we chat with seasoned prosecutor and founder of Oper...
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The FAIK Files | AI Gone Wild: Worrisome Leaks, Misguided Conspiracies, and More

December 13, 2024 • 52 mins
Note: We're posting Perry's new show, "The FAIK Files", to this feed through the end of the year. This will give you a chance to get a feel for the new show and subscribe to the new feed if you want to keep following in 2025. Welcome back to The FAIK Files--- the show about artificial intelligence and natural nonsense! In this week's episode: Mason shares how ChatGPT became an unexpected hero in solving his home networking and ...
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