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Incident Response

Explores the strategies, frameworks, and best practices organizations use to detect, contain, and recover from cybersecurity incidents. Articles cover team roles, communication protocols, forensic analysis, and lessons learned from real-world security breaches.

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Incident Response

Cyber Incident Response Steps: A Practical Playbook

The 37 Minutes That Cost MGM Resorts $100 Million In September 2023, a threat actor called Scattered Spider social-engineered an MGM Resorts help desk employee. Within 37 minutes, they had enough access to cripple one of the world's largest casino and hotel operators. Slot machines went dark. Hotel

Carl B. Johnson Dec 11, 2023 7 min read
Ransomware

What Is Ransomware? A Practical Defense Guide for 2022

In February 2022, Nvidia — one of the largest chip manufacturers on the planet — confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack. The threat actor group Lapsus$ claimed they stole over a terabyte of proprietary data and began leaking employee credentials and source code. If a company with Nvidia's

Carl B. Johnson Mar 21, 2022 7 min read
Ransomware Prevention

How to Prevent Ransomware: A Practical Defense Guide

The Colonial Pipeline Attack Changed Everything In May 2021, a single compromised password shut down the largest fuel pipeline in the United States. Colonial Pipeline paid DarkSide operators $4.4 million in Bitcoin — and even after paying, it took days to restore operations. Fuel shortages hit the East Coast. Panic

Carl B. Johnson Mar 21, 2022 7 min read
Ransomware Recovery

Ransomware Recovery Steps: A Practical Guide for 2022

Colonial Pipeline Taught Us What Happens Without a Plan In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4 million in ransom after a single compromised password shut down fuel delivery across the Eastern United States. The company had backups. They had resources. They still paid — because their ransomware recovery steps weren&

Carl B. Johnson Mar 18, 2022 7 min read
Ransomware Protection

Ransomware Protection Tips That Actually Work in 2022

Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4 million in ransom in May 2021. Within months, JBS Foods handed over $11 million. Kaseya's supply chain attack hit over 1,500 businesses in a single weekend. And those are just the ones that made headlines. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint

Carl B. Johnson Mar 18, 2022 7 min read
Data Breach Response Plan

Data Breach Response Plan: Build One Before You Need It

Marriott Had 383 Million Records Exposed — And No Clear Playbook When Marriott disclosed its massive breach in 2018, the company revealed that attackers had been inside Starwood's reservation system since 2014 — four years of undetected access to 383 million guest records. The breach cost Marriott over $28 million

Carl B. Johnson Mar 18, 2022 7 min read
Data Breach Reporting

How to Report a Data Breach: A Step-by-Step Guide

The Breach Nobody Reported — Until It Was Too Late In 2020, the health insurer Anthem agreed to pay $39.5 million to settle claims with 43 state attorneys general over a 2015 data breach affecting nearly 79 million people. The breach itself was devastating. But the lawsuits and regulatory actions

Carl B. Johnson Feb 24, 2022 7 min read
Incident Response Plan Template

Incident Response Plan Template: Build Yours in 2022

When Colonial Pipeline got hit with ransomware in May 2021, they paid $4.4 million within hours. Their CEO later told a Senate committee the company had an incident response plan — but executing it under pressure exposed gaps nobody anticipated. If a company running critical U.S. infrastructure can stumble,

Carl B. Johnson Feb 10, 2022 8 min read