Computer Security News and Insights
In 2024, IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report pegged the global average cost of a single breach at $4.88 million — the highest figure ever recorded. And yet, when I talk to business owners after an incident, most of them ask the same question: How did this
A Single Lost Phone Cost This Company $4.9 Million In 2023, a healthcare organization reported a breach to HHS that started with one unencrypted smartphone left in an airport lounge. Patient records, internal credentials, VPN configurations — all exposed. The settlement and remediation costs were staggering. And here's
A Single Stolen Password Shut Down Half the East Coast's Fuel In May 2021, a single compromised VPN credential gave a threat actor access to Colonial Pipeline's network. The ransomware attack that followed forced the company to shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline, triggered fuel
A Single Email Cost This Company $47 Million In 2016, Austrian aerospace firm FACC lost €42 million (roughly $47 million USD) after threat actors impersonated the CEO in a carefully crafted email to the finance department. The employee who wired the money believed they were following a direct executive order.
The Receptionist Who Stopped a Six-Figure Wire Fraud In 2023, a mid-size accounting firm in Ohio nearly lost $380,000 because a senior partner clicked a link in a spoofed email from a "client." The person who caught it wasn't a security analyst or an IT
In 2024, the average cost of a data breach hit $4.88 million globally, according to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report. The root cause in most cases wasn't some exotic zero-day exploit. It was the basics — unpatched systems, reused passwords, employees clicking phishing links.
A Single Email Cost This Company $47 Million In 2016, FACC, an Austrian aerospace parts manufacturer, lost €42 million (roughly $47 million USD) after an employee wired funds based on instructions that appeared to come from the CEO. The email was fake. The money vanished into accounts controlled by threat
A Single Email Cost This Company $100 Million In 2019, Toyota Boshoku Corporation — a major Toyota parts supplier — lost $37 million after employees wired funds to accounts controlled by attackers who impersonated a business partner via email. Facebook and Google collectively lost over $100 million to a Lithuanian man who
One Email Cost This Company $37 Million In 2024, Orion Engineering — a mid-size firm with 200 employees — wired $37 million to what they believed was a trusted overseas supplier. The invoice looked legitimate. The email thread was real. The bank details were the only thing that had changed. By the
In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 880,000 complaints with potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion — and small businesses absorbed a disproportionate share of that damage. I've worked with companies of 15 employees that lost six figures to a single business email
