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Cybersecurity Training

Covers cybersecurity training programs, techniques, and best practices designed to equip employees and individuals with the skills to recognize and respond to cyber threats. Topics include security awareness curricula, simulation exercises, and measuring training effectiveness.

posts

Phishing

Definition of a Phishing Attack: What It Really Looks Like

The MGM Breach Started With a Single Phone Call In September 2023, a threat actor called the MGM Resorts help desk, pretended to be an employee, and talked their way into a credential reset. Within hours, the Scattered Spider group had deep access to MGM's systems. The result:

Carl B. Johnson Jan 17, 2026 7 min read
Fake Mail

Fake Mail: How to Spot It Before It Costs You

In May 2025, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — a sophisticated form of fake mail — accounted for over $2.9 billion in adjusted losses in 2023 alone. That number has only grown. I've personally worked cases where a single convincing email

Carl B. Johnson Dec 27, 2025 7 min read
Fake Emails

Fake Emails: How to Spot Them Before They Cost You

In May 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — a category built almost entirely on fake emails — accounted for over $2.9 billion in adjusted losses in a single year. That figure dwarfed ransomware losses by a factor of nearly 50. And those

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

What Is a Phishing Link? How to Spot and Stop Them

In March 2024, a finance employee at a multinational firm in Hong Kong wired $25.6 million to threat actors after joining a video call that appeared to feature the company's CFO. The deepfake was convincing, but the attack started with something far simpler — a phishing link embedded

Carl B. Johnson Dec 09, 2025 7 min read
Group Online Svindel

Group Online Svindel: How Organized Fraud Rings Work

In January 2024, a finance employee at the multinational firm Arup wired $25 million to criminals after a deepfake video call featuring what appeared to be the company's CFO and several colleagues. Every person on that call was fake — AI-generated avatars operated by an organized fraud ring. That

Carl B. Johnson Dec 09, 2025 7 min read
What Is Cybersecurity

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

A $4.88 Million Question Nobody Asks Until It's Too Late In May 2023, the city of Dallas, Texas got hit with Royal ransomware. Emergency services disrupted. Court systems offline. Weeks of recovery. The estimated cost ran into tens of millions. And the entry point? A service account

Carl B. Johnson Nov 06, 2025 7 min read
Cybersecurity Definition

Cybersecurity Definition: What It Actually Means in 2025

In May 2023, Progress Software's MOVEit file transfer tool was exploited by the Cl0p ransomware gang, compromising data from over 2,500 organizations and roughly 67 million individuals. Government agencies, hospitals, universities, Fortune 500 companies — none were spared. If you asked any of those organizations whether they had

Carl B. Johnson Sep 27, 2025 7 min read
Phishing Awareness Training

Phishing Awareness Training: What Actually Works in 2025

In March 2025, a mid-size logistics company in the Midwest lost $2.3 million after a single employee clicked a fake DocuSign link. The attacker harvested credentials, pivoted into the company's financial systems, and initiated wire transfers over a long weekend. The employee had never received phishing awareness

Carl B. Johnson Sep 25, 2025 8 min read