Computer Security News and Insights
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported $4.2 billion in losses from cybercrime in 2020 — and phishing scams were the number one reported attack type, with 241,342 complaints. That's not a typo. Nearly a quarter of a million people filed formal complaints about phishing
When "Removed" Shows Up, Your Instincts Are Right to Question It Last month, I received three separate emails from readers asking the same question: they'd encountered an app, service, or website branded as "Removed" and wanted to know — removed is it legit? The fact
In December 2020, the world learned that SolarWinds — a company whose software sat inside thousands of government and corporate networks — had been compromised by a sophisticated nation-state threat actor. The initial intrusion vector? Targeted, carefully crafted communications designed to exploit trust. If you're asking what is spear phishing,
In March 2021, a single phishing email led to the compromise of over 30,000 U.S. organizations through the Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities. The attackers didn't need a sophisticated zero-day to get their initial foothold — they needed someone to click. If you're trying to define
A $900,000 FTC Settlement Started with a Fake Identity Website In 2020, the FTC took action against operators running deceptive websites that harvested personal information under the guise of offering government services. Consumers thought they were applying for benefits or retrieving official documents. Instead, their Social Security numbers, dates
In March 2021, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — often launched using a fake mailer or spoofing tool — cost American organizations over $1.8 billion in 2020 alone. That made it the most financially damaging cybercrime category in the entire IC3 report, dwarfing
The FBI Keeps Warning About Gmail — And Most People Keep Ignoring It In 2020, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 791,790 complaints — a 69% increase from 2019. A staggering number of those complaints involved business email compromise, phishing, and credential theft targeting popular email platforms.
In May 2021, a single compromised password shut down Colonial Pipeline — the largest fuel pipeline in the United States. Gasoline shortages spread across the Southeast. The company paid a $4.4 million ransom in Bitcoin. The root cause wasn't some exotic zero-day exploit. It was a legacy VPN
The Colonial Pipeline Attack Changed Everything On May 7, 2021, a single compromised password shut down the largest fuel pipeline in the United States. Colonial Pipeline paid a $4.4 million ransom to the DarkSide threat actor group — and Americans along the East Coast panic-bought gasoline for days. That'
Colonial Pipeline. JBS Foods. SolarWinds. The first half of 2021 has delivered a masterclass in what happens when cyber security fails at scale. Colonial paid $4.4 million in ransom. JBS paid $11 million. And the SolarWinds fallout — which compromised nine federal agencies and over 100 private companies — is still
