Carl B. Johnson
Author

Carl B. Johnson

vCISO and compliance expert.

https://carlbjohnson.com

posts

Cybersecurity for Law Firms

Cybersecurity for Law Firms: A Practical Defense Guide

Why Threat Actors Love Targeting Law Firms In February 2021, the law firm Jones Day confirmed that hackers had stolen confidential client data through a vulnerability in Accellion's file-transfer appliance. Sensitive case documents, including those related to major corporate litigation, ended up on the Clop ransomware gang'

Carl B. Johnson Jan 01, 2022 7 min read
Cybersecurity for Nonprofits

Cybersecurity for Nonprofits: A Practical Defense Guide

The Blackbaud Breach Should Have Been a Wake-Up Call In May 2020, a ransomware attack hit Blackbaud — one of the largest cloud computing providers serving nonprofits, hospitals, and universities. The breach exposed donor records, financial data, and Social Security numbers belonging to millions of people across hundreds of organizations. Blackbaud

Carl B. Johnson Jan 01, 2022 7 min read
Cloud Security Best Practices

Cloud Security Best Practices That Actually Stop Breaches

A Single Checkbox Left Unchecked Cost Capital One $80 Million In 2019, a former AWS employee exploited a misconfigured web application firewall to access over 100 million Capital One customer records. The breach led to an FTC investigation, an $80 million fine from the OCC, and a $190 million class-action

Carl B. Johnson Jan 01, 2022 7 min read
Securing Cloud Applications

Securing Cloud Applications: A Practical 2021 Guide

The Misconfiguration That Exposed 3.8 Billion Records In June 2021, researchers discovered an unsecured Elasticsearch instance containing 3.8 billion records — names, emails, phone numbers, and social media profiles compiled from scraped and breached data. It sat wide open on the internet. No password. No access controls. Just a

Carl B. Johnson Dec 23, 2021 7 min read
Shadow IT Risks

Shadow IT Risks: The Threats Hiding in Your Network

Your Employees Are Building a Second Network — And You Can't See It In March 2021, a vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange Server sent security teams scrambling. But here's what didn't make the headlines: many organizations discovered Exchange instances they didn't even know existed.

Carl B. Johnson Dec 23, 2021 8 min read
Mobile Device Security Policy

Mobile Device Security Policy: A Practical Guide

In April 2021, the FBI's IC3 reported a sharp rise in mobile-focused phishing attacks — schemes specifically designed to exploit the smaller screens and always-on nature of smartphones. I've watched organizations pour millions into securing their perimeters while ignoring the devices employees actually use the most. The

Carl B. Johnson Dec 22, 2021 7 min read
BYOD Security Risks

BYOD Security Risks: What Your Policy Is Missing

A Single Employee's Phone Just Cost This Company Everything In August 2021, T-Mobile confirmed a massive data breach affecting over 50 million people. While the full attack chain was complex, the reality is that personal devices connecting to corporate environments create attack surfaces that most IT teams drastically

Carl B. Johnson Dec 22, 2021 7 min read