Foundational cybersecurity knowledge for beginners and anyone looking to strengthen core security habits. Posts cover essential topics like strong password creation, software updates, recognizing social engineering attacks, securing home networks, and understanding common threat types.
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A Three-Letter Prefix That Now Governs Trillions of Dollars When the White House released its updated National Cybersecurity Strategy implementation plan in 2024, the word "cyber" appeared over 400 times in a single document. The Pentagon has an entire command built around it — U.S. Cyber Command. The
The Attack That Cost MGM Resorts $100 Million Started With a Phone Call In September 2023, a threat actor called the MGM Resorts IT help desk, impersonated an employee they found on LinkedIn, and talked their way into a password reset. Within hours, the attackers had deployed ransomware across MGM&
In February 2024, Change Healthcare — one of the largest health payment processors in the U.S. — got hit with a ransomware attack that disrupted claims processing for weeks and exposed data on roughly 100 million individuals. The root cause? Compromised credentials on a system that lacked multi-factor authentication. That'
In January 2024, a finance employee at a multinational engineering firm in Hong Kong wired $25.6 million to threat actors after a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and several colleagues. Every person on that call was a deepfake. The attack started with
In January 2024, a finance employee at a multinational firm in Hong Kong transferred $25 million after a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and several colleagues. Every person on that call was a deepfake. The whole operation started with a single phishing email.
In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 880,000 complaints with potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion — a 22% increase in losses from the year before. That's not a theoretical number. Those are real businesses shuttered, real retirement accounts emptied, and real hospitals
In March 2024, a ransomware attack on Change Healthcare — one of the largest health payment processors in the U.S. — disrupted claims processing for pharmacies and hospitals nationwide. Patients couldn't fill prescriptions. Providers couldn't get paid. A single breach paralyzed a massive chunk of American healthcare
The Word Everyone Uses But Few Can Explain In March 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its 2023 annual report showing $12.5 billion in reported cybercrime losses — a 22% jump from the year before. Politicians, news anchors, and boardroom executives all toss around the
In March 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that Americans lost over $10.3 billion to cybercrime in 2022 — a 49% jump from 2021. The vast majority of those losses traced back to failures in basic security practices. Not zero-day exploits. Not nation-state attacks. Basic, preventable
A hospital employee clicked a link in what looked like a routine password reset email. Within 72 hours, CommonSpirit Health — one of the largest U.S. health systems — was battling a ransomware attack that disrupted operations at over 140 facilities. The investigation report cited "lack of basic security awareness&
