Tag

Phishing Awareness

Phishing awareness articles teach readers to identify and avoid phishing attacks across email, SMS, voice calls, and social media. Content includes real-world phishing examples, red flags to watch for, reporting procedures, and tips for running phishing simulation campaigns.

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CEO Fraud

CEO Fraud Email Scam: How Attackers Steal Millions

In May 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — the category that includes every CEO fraud email scam — caused adjusted losses exceeding $2.7 billion in 2022 alone. That made it the single most financially devastating cybercrime category the FBI tracks. Not ransomware.

Carl B. Johnson Jun 08, 2023 7 min read
Executive Phishing Attacks

Executive Phishing Attacks: Why the C-Suite Is Ground Zero

In January 2022, a European subsidiary of the Japanese manufacturer Nikkei lost $29 million after a single employee followed wire transfer instructions from a fraudulent email that impersonated a senior executive. That wasn't a failure of firewalls or endpoint detection. It was a surgical, well-researched executive phishing attack

Carl B. Johnson Jun 08, 2023 7 min read
Stolen Credentials Dark Web

Stolen Credentials Dark Web: Where Your Passwords End Up

In January 2023, Norton LifeLock disclosed that attackers used credential stuffing to compromise roughly 6,450 customer accounts. The passwords didn't come from a Norton breach. They came from stolen credentials dark web marketplaces had been selling for months — maybe years. The attackers simply bought username-password combos from

Carl B. Johnson Jun 06, 2023 7 min read
Credential Stuffing Attack

Credential Stuffing Attack: How to Stop It Cold

23 Billion Stolen Credentials Are Already For Sale In January 2023, cybersecurity researchers at Digital Shadows reported over 24.6 billion stolen username-and-password pairs circulating on dark web marketplaces. That's roughly three credentials for every person on Earth. And every single one of them is a loaded weapon

Carl B. Johnson Jun 06, 2023 7 min read
Smishing

FBI Warning on Smishing Texts: How to Protect Yourself

In early 2022, the FBI issued a stark warning: cybercriminals were registering over 10,000 malicious domains specifically designed to support SMS phishing — or "smishing" — campaigns targeting American consumers. These weren't sloppy, typo-filled messages from a decade ago. They were polished, urgent, and devastatingly effective. The

Carl B. Johnson Dec 18, 2022 6 min read
Phish Tour

Phish Tour: Simulated Attacks That Train Your Team

One Clicked Link Cost This Company Everything In September 2022, a single employee at Uber clicked a link in a social engineering attack. The threat actor, reportedly affiliated with Lapsus$, used that foothold to access internal systems, Slack channels, and cloud infrastructure. The breach made global headlines — not because Uber&

Carl B. Johnson Nov 21, 2022 7 min read