Tag

Identity Theft

posts

Spoofing Caller

Spoofing Caller Attacks: How Hackers Weaponize Your Phone

In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 40,000 complaints related to spoofing, with losses exceeding $300 million. That number keeps climbing. A spoofing caller attack — where a threat actor manipulates the caller ID to impersonate a trusted number — is one of the oldest tricks

Carl B. Johnson May 08, 2026 5 min read
Spoofing

Spoofing Attacks: How They Work and How to Stop Them

A CFO Wired $25 Million Because of a Spoofed Video Call In early 2024, a finance worker at a multinational firm in Hong Kong transferred $25.6 million after joining a video conference call where every other participant — including the company's CFO — was a deepfake. The threat actors

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

Fake Identity Website Threats: What You Need to Know

A Single Fake Identity Website Cost One Company $47 Million In early 2024, a finance employee at engineering firm Arup wired $25 million after joining a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and other colleagues. Every person on that call was a deepfake. The

Carl B. Johnson Nov 13, 2025 7 min read
Dark Web

What Is the Dark Web? A Security Pro's Real-World Guide

Your Stolen Password Is Already For Sale Somewhere In January 2024, a dataset called "Naz.API" surfaced on dark web forums containing over 70 million unique email addresses paired with plaintext passwords. The data had been harvested from credential-stealing malware installed on everyday people's computers. If

Carl B. Johnson Feb 28, 2025 7 min read
Dark Web

What Is the Dark Web? A Security Pro's Real Talk

Your Credentials Are Probably Already There In April 2021, a threat actor posted a database of 533 million Facebook user records — phone numbers, full names, locations, email addresses — on a popular dark web forum. For the price of nothing. Just sitting there, searchable. So what is the dark web, exactly,

Carl B. Johnson Sep 23, 2021 7 min read
Dark Web

What Is the Dark Web? A Security Pro's Real Guide

Your Stolen Password Is Probably Already There In 2024, a single dark web marketplace called BreachForums was seized by the FBI — and then resurrected by its users within two weeks. That tells you everything about the persistence of the underground economy. If you've ever wondered what is the

Carl B. Johnson Jun 25, 2020 6 min read