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Cybersecurity Tips

Actionable cybersecurity tips for individuals and organizations looking to strengthen their digital defenses. Topics range from password management and multi-factor authentication to device security, safe browsing habits, and incident response planning.

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Home Computer Security

How Can You Protect Your Home Computer in 2026

In 2023, the FBI's IC3 received over 880,000 cybercrime complaints with losses exceeding $12.5 billion — and a massive chunk of those victims were everyday people sitting at home computers. Not Fortune 500 companies. Not government agencies. Regular people who thought their home setup was too small

Carl B. Johnson May 27, 2026 5 min read
Computer Security Advice

Computer Security Advice That Actually Works in 2026

The Breach That Started With a Single Password In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor social-engineered a help desk employee with a ten-minute phone call. The attackers didn't exploit some exotic zero-day vulnerability. They used basic social engineering — information scraped from LinkedIn

Carl B. Johnson May 19, 2026 5 min read
Smishing Attack Examples

Smishing Attack Examples: Real Texts That Steal Data

The Text Message That Cost One Company $15 Million In 2022, threat actors hit Twilio with an SMS-based social engineering attack that compromised employee credentials and exposed data for over 160 customers. The attack didn't involve a sophisticated zero-day exploit. It started with a text message pretending to

Carl B. Johnson Apr 21, 2026 5 min read
Phishing Prevention

How to Avoid Phishing Attacks: A 2026 Survival Guide

Last March, a finance director at a mid-size logistics company wired $2.1 million to a threat actor who had spoofed the CEO's email address. The message looked perfect — right tone, right signature, right sense of urgency. The only thing wrong was the reply-to domain, off by a

Carl B. Johnson Apr 20, 2026 5 min read
Phishing Email Detection

How to Recognize a Phishing Email Before You Click

In March 2024, a finance director at a mid-size manufacturer in Ohio wired $2.3 million to a threat actor who impersonated the company's CEO — all because of a single phishing email. The message looked perfect: right logo, right tone, right email signature. It even referenced an actual

Carl B. Johnson Apr 04, 2026 5 min read
Phishing Awareness

How to Spot Phishing Emails: 9 Red Flags to Catch Now

The Email That Cost MGM Resorts $100 Million In September 2023, a single social engineering attack — starting with a phone call but rooted in the same deception principles as phishing emails — led to a breach at MGM Resorts that cost the company over $100 million. The threat actors behind the

Carl B. Johnson Dec 13, 2025 7 min read
Phishing Awareness

How to Spot a Phishing Email Before It Costs You

In January 2024, a finance employee at a multinational firm in Hong Kong joined what appeared to be a routine video call with the company's CFO. Everything looked normal — the CFO's face, voice, and mannerisms were all spot-on. The employee followed instructions and wired $25 million

Carl B. Johnson Dec 10, 2024 7 min read
Phishing Emails

How to Spot Phishing Emails: A Practical Guide

The Email That Cost One Company $37 Million In 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — a sophisticated cousin of phishing — accounted for over $2.9 billion in adjusted losses in 2023 alone. That's not a typo. And those are just

Carl B. Johnson Sep 11, 2024 8 min read
Cybersecurity Tips

Cybersecurity Tips That Actually Stop Breaches in 2024

In February 2024, Change Healthcare — one of the largest health payment processors in the United States — was brought to its knees by a ransomware attack. Patient data for potentially tens of millions of Americans was exposed. The initial access vector? Stolen credentials on a system that lacked multi-factor authentication. One

Carl B. Johnson Jul 10, 2024 7 min read