Computer Security News and Insights
In 2023, a seemingly harmless browser extension called "PDF Toolbox" was downloaded over two million times from the Chrome Web Store before researchers at Palant discovered it was quietly injecting tracking code and redirecting ad revenue — a textbook adware operation that crossed hard into spyware territory. That single
The Fake Invoice That Cost a Hospital $28 Million In 2024, Ascension Healthcare disclosed a ransomware attack that disrupted operations at 140 hospitals across 19 states. The initial entry point? An employee opened what appeared to be a routine file. It was trojan horse malware — a malicious payload disguised as
In 2023, a single keylogger embedded in a phishing email gave threat actors access to credentials at over 2,000 organizations worldwide as part of the Snake Keylogger campaign. The malware silently recorded every keystroke — passwords, credit card numbers, internal messages — and exfiltrated the data before anyone noticed. A keylogger
In 2015, a Belgian company called Crelan Bank lost over €70 million to a sophisticated fraud scheme that began with attackers intercepting email communications between executives. The threat actors positioned themselves between two parties, manipulated invoices, and redirected payments — all without either side realizing the conversation had been compromised. That&
In April 2022, researchers at Avast discovered that the GhostDNS botnet had compromised over 100,000 home routers across Brazil — silently redirecting banking customers to pixel-perfect phishing pages. Victims typed their real bank URLs into their browsers. The addresses looked correct. But every keystroke landed on a threat actor'
The Attack That Hides in Plain Sight on Your Website In 2018, British Airways disclosed a breach that compromised the personal and financial data of roughly 380,000 customers. The attack vector? A modified JavaScript injected into the airline's payment page — a textbook cross-site scripting attack that skimmed
89% of Employees Think They'd Spot a Phish. The Data Says Otherwise. I ran a phishing simulation for a mid-size law firm last year. Before the test, we surveyed staff — 89% said they were confident they could identify a phishing email. Then we sent three simulated phishes over
Most Security Quizzes Are a Waste of Everyone's Time I recently reviewed the cybersecurity training program at a mid-size financial services firm that had been breached through a credential theft phishing email. They had a training program. They had quizzes. Every employee passed with flying colors — 95% average
The Email That Cost One Company $37 Million In 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — a sophisticated form of phishing — accounted for over $2.9 billion in adjusted losses. That's not a typo. Billions. And it all starts with a
In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 298,000 phishing complaints — making it the most reported cybercrime for the fifth consecutive year. And those are just the ones people reported. I've spent years helping organizations respond to breaches, and the vast majority start
