Explores strategies and best practices for preventing data breaches in organizations of all sizes. Covers topics like access controls, encryption, network monitoring, incident response planning, and employee awareness to help reduce the risk of unauthorized data exposure.
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The Breach That Started Behind the Firewall In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor social-engineered their way past the help desk with a single phone call. The attacker didn't punch through a firewall. They didn't exploit some exotic zero-day. They
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
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
One Click Cost This Company $100 Million In 2023, MGM Resorts was brought to its knees — not by a sophisticated zero-day exploit, but by a phone call. A threat actor called the help desk, impersonated an employee found on LinkedIn, and gained enough access to deploy ransomware across the entire
In 2023, a single employee at MGM Resorts used a corporate credential to respond to a social engineering call. The threat actor impersonated IT, gained access, and triggered a ransomware attack that cost the company over $100 million. The kicker? A well-enforced acceptable use policy — one that clearly defined how
A Single Stolen Password Cost This Company $60 Million In 2023, MGM Resorts International was brought to its knees — not by a sophisticated zero-day exploit, but by a phone call. A threat actor called the help desk, impersonated an employee found on LinkedIn, and gained access to internal systems. The
43% of Cyberattacks Target Small Businesses — Most Aren't Ready That number comes straight from the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, and it's been climbing for years. In my experience working with organizations of every size, small businesses consistently overestimate their security posture and underestimate their exposure.
A Marketing Team's Slack Alternative Nearly Took Down an Entire Hospital Network In 2023, a regional healthcare system discovered that its marketing department had been using an unapproved messaging platform for over 14 months. Nobody in IT knew. The platform stored patient-adjacent data with no encryption, no access
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
In 2023, Verizon's Data Breach Investigations Report found that 74% of all breaches involved the human element — and a growing percentage of those started on a mobile device. I've reviewed mobile device security policies for organizations of every size, and here's the uncomfortable truth:
