Posts exploring how attackers steal usernames, passwords, and authentication tokens through phishing, keylogging, brute force attacks, and credential stuffing. Includes actionable guidance on multi-factor authentication, password managers, and monitoring for compromised credentials.
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In 2020, a teenager and two accomplices convinced a Twitter employee they were from the company's IT department. That single phone call gave them access to internal tools, which they used to hijack 130 high-profile accounts — including those of Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Apple — netting over $100,
In July 2020, Twitter disclosed that attackers had compromised 130 high-profile accounts — including those of Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Apple — through a social engineering attack targeting employees with access to internal tools. The breach didn't involve some exotic zero-day exploit. It started with phone calls to Twitter
A Single Stolen Password Cost One Company $3.86 Million That's the average cost of a data breach in 2020, according to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report. And in nearly every major data breach example from recent years, the root cause wasn't
The Breach That Started With a Single Reused Password In December 2020, the SolarWinds breach dominated every security headline on the planet. But while the world fixated on nation-state threat actors and supply chain attacks, I kept thinking about a detail that emerged early: a SolarWinds intern had reportedly set
In the 2020 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, over 80% of hacking-related breaches involved stolen or brute-forced credentials. Not sophisticated zero-day exploits. Not nation-state malware. Passwords. The single thing most people treat as an afterthought is the single thing that gets most organizations compromised. Knowing how to create a strong
In July 2020, a teenager orchestrated one of the most embarrassing breaches in social media history — compromising 130 high-profile Twitter accounts including Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Apple. The attack vector? Social engineering employees and exploiting accounts that lacked robust internal authentication controls. It was a masterclass in what happens
In December 2020, SolarWinds disclosed one of the most devastating supply chain compromises in history. But buried in the early reporting was a detail that made every security professional wince: a critical password — "solarwinds123" — had been publicly accessible on GitHub. One weak, reused, laughably simple password contributed to
In December 2020, SolarWinds disclosed a supply chain compromise that shook the entire cybersecurity industry. But while the world was focused on nation-state threat actors, Verizon's 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report had already confirmed something far more common and just as devastating: over 80% of hacking-related breaches involved
The SolarWinds Hack Rewrote the Playbook — While We Were Still Reading It As I write this in December 2020, the cybersecurity world is reeling from the SolarWinds supply chain compromise — arguably the most sophisticated cyber espionage campaign ever discovered against the U.S. government and private sector. It's
In July 2020, a 17-year-old in Florida convinced a Twitter employee to hand over internal tool credentials. Within hours, threat actors had hijacked high-profile accounts — Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Apple — and ran a Bitcoin scam that netted over $100,000. The breach didn't start with a zero-day exploit
