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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The Phishing Email That Came From PayPal's Own Servers In late 2024, security researchers at Avanan documented a campaign where threat actors sent phishing invoices through PayPal's actual invoicing system — meaning the emails passed SPF, DKIM, and DMARC checks flawlessly. The same tactic has since merged
The Email That Cost One Company $121 Million In 2019, a Lithuanian national named Evaldas Rimasauskas pleaded guilty to stealing over $121 million from Google and Facebook using nothing more than fake invoices and spoofed email addresses. No zero-day exploits. No sophisticated malware. Just phishing emails that looked like they
In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported over $12.5 billion in losses from internet crime — a record high driven largely by organized criminal groups running coordinated fraud operations. These aren't lone hackers in basements. They're structured teams with defined roles,
That Google Alert in Your Inbox Might Be Real — Or It Might Be the Attack Itself Last year, the FBI's IC3 received over 298,000 complaints related to phishing and personal data breaches — and a massive share of those started with a single email that looked exactly like
In 2023, a single phishing email cost MGM Resorts an estimated $100 million. The threat actor didn't exploit a zero-day vulnerability or deploy exotic malware. They called the help desk, impersonated an employee found on LinkedIn, and got a password reset. That's it. If you'
A $4.88 Million Problem That Starts With One Email 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 number one initial attack vector? Phishing. Not sophisticated zero-day exploits. Not nation-state hackers tunneling
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 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.
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
