Computer Security US Blog

Computer Security News and Insights

Stolen Credentials

Stolen Credentials Dark Web: How Your Logins Get Sold

In 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported losses exceeding $16 billion from cybercrime — and compromised credentials were the gateway for a staggering number of those incidents. Right now, billions of username-and-password combinations sit on dark web marketplaces, priced anywhere from $1 to $500 depending on what

Carl B. Johnson Jun 05, 2026 5 min read
Ransomware

How Ransomware Spreads: 7 Paths Into Your Network

In February 2024, Change Healthcare — the largest medical claims processor in the United States — was hit by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group. The attack disrupted billing systems at hospitals and pharmacies nationwide for weeks. The entry point? Stolen credentials used on a remote access portal that lacked multi-factor authentication. One

Carl B. Johnson Jun 05, 2026 5 min read
Cybersecurity Definition

Cybersecurity Definition: What It Really Means in 2026

In 2023, MGM Resorts lost roughly $100 million after a social engineering phone call — a single phone call — gave threat actors the foothold they needed to deploy ransomware across the company's entire infrastructure. If you Google "cybersecurity definition," you'll get a tidy textbook answer

Carl B. Johnson Jun 04, 2026 5 min read
Computer Virus Prevention

Computer Virus Prevention: 9 Steps That Actually Work

A Single Click Cost One Hospital $28 Million In 2024, Change Healthcare — a unit of UnitedHealth Group — suffered a ransomware attack that started with compromised credentials and insufficient access controls. The fallout disrupted healthcare claims across the United States for weeks. The company paid a $22 million ransom, and total

Carl B. Johnson Jun 04, 2026 5 min read
Zero Trust

What Is Zero Trust? A Security Model That Actually Works

In 2020, threat actors compromised SolarWinds' Orion software and used it to breach dozens of U.S. government agencies. The attackers moved laterally through networks for months because once they were inside the perimeter, those networks trusted them. That single breach rewrote how the federal government thinks about network

Carl B. Johnson Jun 03, 2026 5 min read
Fake Email

Fake Email: How to Spot, Stop, and Survive One

A Single Fake Email Cost Facebook and Google $100 Million Between 2013 and 2015, a Lithuanian man named Evaldas Rimasauskas sent a series of fake email messages to employees at Facebook and Google. He impersonated a legitimate hardware vendor, attached fraudulent invoices, and directed payments to bank accounts he controlled.

Carl B. Johnson Jun 03, 2026 6 min read
Spear Phishing

Spear Phishing: Why Targeted Attacks Bypass Your Defenses

In January 2024, a finance employee at a multinational engineering firm in Hong Kong wired $25 million to threat actors after a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO. The call was a deepfake. But the attack started weeks earlier — with a single spear phishing

Carl B. Johnson Jun 02, 2026 5 min read
Man in the Middle Attack

Man in the Middle Attack: How Hackers Steal Data

In 2019, a Lithuanian national named Evaldas Rimasauskas pleaded guilty to stealing over $120 million from Google and Facebook using a sophisticated man in the middle attack scheme. He impersonated a legitimate hardware vendor, intercepted invoice communications, and redirected payments to bank accounts he controlled. The scheme ran for two

Carl B. Johnson Jun 02, 2026 5 min read
Cybersecurity Training

How to Train Employees on Cybersecurity in 2026

The Breach That Started With a Single Click In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor called Scattered Spider social-engineered a help desk employee with a ten-minute phone call. The attacker didn't exploit a zero-day vulnerability. They didn't crack an encryption

Carl B. Johnson Jun 01, 2026 5 min read