Tag

Endpoint Security

Comprehensive resources on securing laptops, desktops, mobile devices, and other endpoints that connect to your network. Covers endpoint detection and response tools, device hardening, patch management, encryption, and policies that minimize the attack surface across distributed environments.

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Malware

What Is Malware? A Security Pro's Field Guide for 2025

A Single Click Cost MGM Resorts $100 Million In September 2023, a threat actor called Scattered Spider used social engineering to trick an MGM Resorts help desk employee into resetting credentials. Within hours, they deployed malware across MGM's network — crippling hotel check-ins, slot machines, and digital room keys

Carl B. Johnson Jan 06, 2025 7 min read
Trojan Horse Malware

Trojan Horse Malware: How It Gets In and How to Stop It

In September 2023, MGM Resorts watched helplessly as its systems went dark — slot machines frozen, hotel check-ins offline, operations paralyzed for ten days. The estimated cost exceeded $100 million. The attack vector? Social engineering that led to credential theft, which opened the door for malware deployment across the enterprise. That&

Carl B. Johnson Dec 19, 2024 7 min read
Keylogger Attack

Keylogger Attack: How Hackers Steal Every Keystroke

In March 2024, security researchers at Fortinet uncovered a campaign distributing Snake Keylogger through phishing emails disguised as payment remittance notices. The malware silently captured credentials from over 280 banking and email applications before exfiltrating everything to attacker-controlled Telegram bots. The victims had no idea. Every password, every credit card

Carl B. Johnson Dec 19, 2024 6 min read
Computer Virus Prevention

Computer Virus Prevention: 9 Steps That Actually Work

In January 2024, a single employee at a mid-sized accounting firm double-clicked a file named Invoice_Final_v2.exe. Within 40 minutes, the LockBit ransomware variant had encrypted 14,000 files across three networked drives. The ransom demand was $2.2 million. The firm's antivirus was installed. It

Carl B. Johnson Jul 13, 2024 6 min read
Security for System

Security for System Hardening: A Practical Guide

In February 2024, a misconfigured system at Change Healthcare led to one of the most devastating ransomware attacks in U.S. healthcare history. The ALPHV/BlackCat group exploited a Citrix remote access portal that lacked multi-factor authentication — a basic security for system control that should have been in place years

Carl B. Johnson Jul 10, 2024 7 min read
Computer Virus Prevention

Computer Virus Prevention: 9 Steps That Actually Work

The Virus That Cost a Hospital Chain $100 Million In 2017, the NotPetya malware ripped through networks worldwide. It wasn't theoretical. Nuance Communications, a major healthcare IT vendor, took a $92 million hit. Maersk, the shipping giant, lost around $300 million. Heritage Valley Health System in Pennsylvania lost

Carl B. Johnson May 13, 2024 6 min read
Mobile Device Security Policy

Mobile Device Security Policy: What Most Companies Get Wrong

In March 2023, Samsung employees accidentally leaked sensitive source code and internal meeting notes by pasting proprietary data into ChatGPT — on their mobile devices. No malware was involved. No sophisticated threat actor broke through a firewall. Employees simply used their phones in ways the company's mobile device security

Carl B. Johnson Sep 18, 2023 7 min read
BYOD Security Risks

BYOD Security Risks: What Your Policy Is Missing

In January 2023, T-Mobile disclosed that a threat actor had stolen data on 37 million customer accounts — and the intrusion reportedly exploited an API accessible from systems that included employee-used devices. It wasn't a sophisticated zero-day. It was a gap in how endpoints and access were managed. If

Carl B. Johnson Sep 18, 2023 7 min read
USB Drive Security Risks

USB Drive Security Risks: The Threat Already on Your Desk

In January 2022, the FBI issued a public warning that the cybercriminal group FIN7 had been mailing malicious USB drives to U.S. companies — disguised as packages from Amazon and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The drives, once plugged in, deployed ransomware onto corporate networks. This

Carl B. Johnson Sep 18, 2023 7 min read