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Cybersecurity Awareness

Articles on cybersecurity awareness cover the foundational knowledge individuals and organizations need to recognize and respond to digital threats. Topics include safe browsing habits, password hygiene, social engineering tactics, and building a security-first culture across teams.

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Group Online Svindel

Group Online Svindel: How Organized Fraud Rings Work

A Single Fraud Ring Stole $6 Million Before Anyone Noticed In 2023, the FBI's IC3 received over 880,000 cybercrime complaints with losses exceeding $12.5 billion — a 22% increase from the prior year. A growing share of those losses came from coordinated fraud operations, not lone hackers

Carl B. Johnson Apr 26, 2026 5 min read
Whaling Attack

Whaling Attack Cybersecurity: How CEOs Get Hacked

The CFO Who Wired $25 Million to a Threat Actor In early 2024, a finance worker at engineering firm Arup was tricked into transferring $25 million after attending a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and other colleagues. Every person on that call was

Carl B. Johnson Apr 24, 2026 5 min read
Strong Passwords

How to Create a Strong Password That Actually Works

In 2023, a single reused password gave a threat actor access to 23andMe's credential-stuffing attack that exposed the data of nearly 7 million users. The attacker didn't exploit a zero-day vulnerability or deploy sophisticated malware. They just tried stolen passwords from other breaches — and millions of

Carl B. Johnson Apr 23, 2026 5 min read
Social Engineering Examples

Social Engineering Examples: Real Attacks Happening Now

A Teenager Breached Uber. No Malware Required. In September 2022, an 18-year-old compromised Uber's internal systems — not with a sophisticated zero-day exploit, but with a text message. The attacker bombarded an Uber contractor with multi-factor authentication push requests until the contractor finally approved one. From there, the threat

Carl B. Johnson Apr 22, 2026 6 min read
What Is Cybersecurity

What Is Cybersecurity? A Practitioner's Real-World Guide

In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor called Scattered Spider social-engineered a help desk employee with a ten-minute phone call. That single conversation gave attackers the keys to one of the largest hospitality companies on the planet. So when someone asks me what is

Carl B. Johnson Apr 15, 2026 5 min read
Ransomware Recovery

Ransomware Recovery Steps: A Battle-Tested Playbook

The Clock Starts the Moment You See the Ransom Note In February 2024, Change Healthcare — one of the largest health payment processors in the United States — was hit by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group. The attack disrupted pharmacy operations, delayed insurance claims, and affected an estimated one-third of all Americans&

Carl B. Johnson Apr 14, 2026 5 min read
Computer Virus Prevention

Computer Virus Prevention: 9 Steps That Actually Work

In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received over 880,000 complaints with potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion — a 22% increase from the year before. A massive chunk of those losses traced back to malware infections that could have been stopped with basic hygiene. If

Carl B. Johnson Apr 13, 2026 4 min read
VPN Best Practices

VPN Best Practices: What Actually Protects You in 2026

In early 2024, threat actors exploited critical vulnerabilities in Ivanti Connect Secure VPN appliances so aggressively that CISA issued an emergency directive ordering federal agencies to disconnect the devices entirely. Not patch them. Disconnect them. That moment should have been a wake-up call: having a VPN isn't enough.

Carl B. Johnson Apr 12, 2026 5 min read
Password Manager

Why Use a Password Manager: The Case Is Overwhelming

The Breach That Started With "Company123!" In 2024, the credential stuffing attack against Roku compromised over 576,000 accounts. The attackers didn't exploit some exotic zero-day vulnerability. They used passwords stolen from other breaches and tried them against Roku accounts — because people reuse passwords everywhere. That

Carl B. Johnson Apr 10, 2026 6 min read