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Cybersecurity Awareness Training

Provides guidance on designing, implementing, and optimizing security awareness programs for organizations. Articles cover curriculum development, interactive training methods, compliance requirements, engagement metrics, and techniques to transform employees into an active line of defense against cyber threats.

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Cybersecurity Awareness Training

Cybersecurity Awareness Training: Why "Free" Costs More

In January 2024, Microsoft disclosed that the Russian threat actor group Midnight Blizzard had breached corporate email accounts — not through some exotic zero-day exploit, but through a password spray attack on a legacy test account that lacked multi-factor authentication. One of the most well-resourced technology companies on the planet got

Carl B. Johnson Feb 28, 2024 7 min read
Ransomware Protection Tips

Ransomware Protection Tips That Actually Work in 2024

MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million from a single ransomware attack in September 2023. The entry point? A social engineering call to the help desk that lasted about ten minutes. That's all it took for the Scattered Spider threat actor group to cripple slot machines, hotel check-in

Carl B. Johnson Feb 09, 2024 7 min read
Data Breach Prevention

Data Breach Prevention: 9 Steps That Actually Work

In January 2024, Microsoft disclosed that a Russian state-sponsored threat actor known as Midnight Blizzard had breached executive email accounts — not through some exotic zero-day exploit, but through a simple password spray attack on a legacy test account that lacked multi-factor authentication. If Microsoft can get caught flat-footed, your organization

Carl B. Johnson Feb 09, 2024 6 min read
Securing Remote Employees

Securing Remote Employees: A Practical 2023 Guide

In August 2023, a single remote employee at a casino and entertainment company fell for a social engineering call. That one mistake gave threat actors the keys to MGM Resorts' entire kingdom — an attack that cost the company over $100 million in damages according to their SEC filing. The

Carl B. Johnson Nov 26, 2023 7 min read
Remote Desktop Security Risks

Remote Desktop Security Risks That Breach Networks Daily

In September 2023, the FBI and CISA issued a joint advisory warning that the Play ransomware group had compromised over 300 organizations — and their most common initial access vector was exposed Remote Desktop Protocol. That's not a sophisticated zero-day exploit. That's a login screen sitting wide

Carl B. Johnson Nov 26, 2023 7 min read
Tailgating Attack

Tailgating Attack Cybersecurity: Stop the Walk-In Threat

In 2019, a man wearing a reflective vest and carrying a clipboard walked into a secure data center in Atlanta, unplugged a server, tucked it under his arm, and walked right back out the front door. Nobody stopped him. Nobody questioned him. A $2.5 million client database left the

Carl B. Johnson Sep 18, 2023 7 min read
Smishing

FBI Warning on Smishing Texts: How to Protect Yourself

In early 2022, the FBI issued a stark warning: cybercriminals were registering over 10,000 malicious domains specifically designed to support SMS phishing — or "smishing" — campaigns targeting American consumers. These weren't sloppy, typo-filled messages from a decade ago. They were polished, urgent, and devastatingly effective. The

Carl B. Johnson Dec 18, 2022 6 min read
Spoofing Caller

Spoofing Caller Attacks: How Hackers Steal Trust

In March 2022, the FBI warned that threat actors were spoofing caller IDs of financial institutions and government agencies to steal millions from unsuspecting victims. The Bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received over 18,000 complaints related to spoofing in 2021 alone, with adjusted losses exceeding $82

Carl B. Johnson Sep 04, 2022 6 min read
Cybersecurity Awareness Training

Cybersecurity Awareness Training: What Actually Works

The 82% Problem Nobody Wants to Own The 2022 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 82% of breaches involved a human element — phishing, stolen credentials, misuse, or simple error. That number has barely budged in years. And yet most organizations still treat cybersecurity awareness training as a checkbox exercise:

Carl B. Johnson Apr 04, 2022 8 min read