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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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Social Engineering

How to Spot Social Engineering Before It Costs You

In July 2020, a teenager convinced Twitter employees to hand over internal credentials through a phone-based social engineering attack. The result: hijacked accounts belonging to Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and Apple — broadcasting a Bitcoin scam to hundreds of millions of followers. The attacker didn't exploit a

Carl B. Johnson Apr 12, 2021 7 min read
Fake Email

Fake Email: How to Spot, Report, and Stop It

In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — a sophisticated category of fake email — caused adjusted losses exceeding $2.9 billion in a single year. That wasn't from exotic zero-day exploits. It was from emails that looked real but weren'

Carl B. Johnson Feb 28, 2020 7 min read
Fake Emails

Fake Emails: How to Spot Them Before They Cost You

A Single Fake Email Cost This Company $37 Million In 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported that Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes — built entirely on fake emails — accounted for over $2.9 billion in adjusted losses across the United States. That figure only captures what

Carl B. Johnson Feb 09, 2020 8 min read
Phishing

How to Spot a Phishing Email Before It Costs You

In May 2021, a single phishing email led to the shutdown of Colonial Pipeline — the largest fuel pipeline in the United States. One compromised credential. One employee who didn't catch the red flags. The result: fuel shortages across the East Coast, a $4.4 million ransom payment, and

Carl B. Johnson Jul 04, 2019 7 min read
Fake Emails

Fake Emails: How to Spot Them Before They Cost You

A Single Fake Email Cost This Company $37 Million In 2024, Japanese pharmaceutical giant Nikkei disclosed that a single employee wired approximately $29 million to a fraudulent account after receiving what appeared to be a legitimate email from a senior executive. They aren't alone. The FBI's

Carl B. Johnson Apr 05, 2019 7 min read
Cybersecurity Tips

Cybersecurity Tips That Actually Stop Breaches in 2026

In 2024, the average cost of a data breach hit $4.88 million globally, according to IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report. That number didn't come from sophisticated nation-state attacks or exotic zero-days. Most of those breaches started with stolen credentials, a phishing email, or

Carl B. Johnson Feb 25, 2019 6 min read