In July 2021, a ransomware attack on Kaseya's VSA software cascaded through managed service providers and hit up to 1,500 businesses — many of them small companies with remote workers connecting through poorly secured endpoints. The REvil gang demanded $70 million. That single incident crystallized what I'
The Pulse Secure Breach Should Have Been Your Wake-Up Call In April 2021, CISA issued an emergency directive after threat actors exploited vulnerabilities in Pulse Connect Secure VPN appliances to compromise federal agencies and defense contractors. Attackers maintained persistent access for months before anyone noticed. The tool that was supposed
An Open Door You Didn't Know You Left Unlocked In August 2021, the FBI and CISA issued a joint advisory warning that threat actors exploiting Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) was the single most common initial access vector in ransomware attacks. Not phishing emails. Not zero-day exploits. RDP. The
In December 2020, a SolarWinds employee reportedly used the password "solarwinds123" on a critical server. That single credential failure contributed to one of the most devastating supply chain breaches in modern history, compromising at least nine federal agencies and over 100 private companies. The root cause wasn'
The Policy Nobody Reads Until It's Too Late In December 2020, a SolarWinds employee reportedly used the password "solarwinds123" on a critical server — a credential so weak it became a punchline at Congressional hearings. But here's the question nobody asked loudly enough: did SolarWinds
The Fine That Changed Everything for One Healthcare Provider In October 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fined Premera Blue Cross $6.85 million after a data breach exposed 10.4 million records. The root cause wasn't some exotic zero-day exploit. It was a
When Colonial Pipeline shut down 5,500 miles of fuel infrastructure in May 2021 due to a single compromised password, it wasn't a failure of technology. It was a failure of framework. The company lacked the layered defenses, detection capabilities, and response plans that the NIST Cybersecurity Framework
The Federal Agency Most Hackers Wish You'd Ignore In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4 million in ransom after a single compromised password shut down fuel delivery across the Eastern Seaboard. Within days, CISA — the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — issued an advisory with specific defensive measures
The FTC Just Fined a Company $5 Billion. Are You Next? In 2019, the FTC levied a record-breaking $5 billion penalty against Facebook for privacy violations. That number made headlines, but here's what most business owners missed: the FTC doesn't just go after tech giants. They
In October 2020, the FBI, CISA, and HHS issued a joint advisory warning of an "imminent and increased" threat of ransomware attacks against U.S. hospitals. Within weeks, Universal Health Services — a Fortune 500 hospital chain operating 400 facilities — confirmed a Ryuk ransomware attack that forced staff to
