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Computer Security in 2021: What Actually Works Now

The Colonial Pipeline Hack Changed the Conversation 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 in Bitcoin to the DarkSide ransomware group. Gas stations across the Southeast ran dry. Panic buying erupted.

Carl B. Johnson Jun 03, 2021 7 min read
Security of Cyberspace

Security of Cyberspace: What Actually Works in 2021

The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in May 2021 shut down fuel delivery across the U.S. East Coast for nearly a week. Gas stations ran dry. Panic buying erupted. A single compromised password — reportedly linked to an inactive VPN account without multi-factor authentication — brought critical infrastructure to its knees. If

Carl B. Johnson Jun 03, 2021 6 min read
Cybersecurity Tips

Cybersecurity Tips That Actually Stop Breaches in 2021

Colonial Pipeline. SolarWinds. The Microsoft Exchange Server hack. We're barely halfway through 2021, and the breach headlines already read like a disaster film. Each one of these incidents started with something preventable — a compromised password, an unpatched system, a single employee who clicked the wrong link. The cybersecurity

Carl B. Johnson Jun 03, 2021 6 min read
IT Security

IT Security in 2021: What Most Organizations Get Wrong

Colonial Pipeline. SolarWinds. Microsoft Exchange. We're barely halfway through 2021 and the breach headlines are relentless. But here's what frustrates me most: the majority of these incidents didn't exploit exotic zero-day vulnerabilities. They exploited basic IT security gaps that organizations have known about for

Carl B. Johnson Jun 01, 2021 7 min read
Jobs Computer Security

Jobs in Computer Security: Your 2021 Career Guide

3.5 Million Unfilled Positions — And Counting Cybersecurity Ventures projected 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs globally by 2021. We've hit that number. Right now, organizations across every sector — healthcare, finance, government, retail — are scrambling to hire people who understand how to defend networks, investigate breaches, and build

Carl B. Johnson Jun 01, 2021 7 min read
Computer Security Security

Computer Security Security: Layers That Actually Work

The Colonial Pipeline Just Proved Your Security Needs Security On May 7, 2021, a single compromised password shut down 5,500 miles of fuel pipeline. Colonial Pipeline paid a $4.4 million ransom within hours. The attack didn't exploit some exotic zero-day. It walked through a legacy VPN

Carl B. Johnson Jun 01, 2021 6 min read
Web Security Best Practices

Web Security Best Practices: 12 Steps That Actually Work

In March 2021, a single misconfigured web server at a major airline exposed 4.2 million passenger records. Names, email addresses, passport numbers — all sitting in an unprotected cloud bucket. The fix would have taken about fifteen minutes. The breach response cost millions and took months. That's the

Carl B. Johnson Jun 01, 2021 6 min read
Computer Security Companies

Computer Security Companies: What They Won't Tell You

Colonial Pipeline just paid $4.4 million in ransom to a criminal group called DarkSide — and they had a security vendor. SolarWinds, a company that literally sold security monitoring tools, became the vector for one of the most devastating supply chain attacks in history. If massive organizations with million-dollar security

Carl B. Johnson Jun 01, 2021 6 min read
cyber security

Cyber Security Basics That Actually Stop Breaches

The Colonial Pipeline Hack Was a Wake-Up Call Nobody Should Have Needed 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 fuel shortages rippled across the

Carl B. Johnson Jun 01, 2021 6 min read