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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In March 2021, a single employee at a water treatment facility in Oldsmar, Florida clicked through a remote access session that could have poisoned an entire city's water supply. The attacker didn't use a sophisticated zero-day exploit. They used a shared TeamViewer password and the fact
In March 2021, a mid-size law firm in Atlanta lost $2.3 million to a single wire fraud attack. The attacker spoofed the managing partner's email, requested an urgent transfer, and a paralegal complied without hesitation. When the firm investigated, they discovered their annual security awareness program consisted
In July 2021, a single phishing email gave attackers access to an employee's credentials at a Florida managed service provider, which cascaded into the massive Kaseya VSA ransomware attack affecting up to 1,500 businesses worldwide. One click. One employee who didn't know how to spot
In June 2021, Google disclosed that it had sent over 50,000 warnings to account holders about state-sponsored phishing and malware attempts in just the first three quarters of the year — a 33% increase over the same period in 2020. If you've received a Gmail account access warning,
16,000 Complaints and Counting: Why the FBI Is Sounding the Alarm In February 2021, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) began tracking a dramatic spike in smishing — phishing attacks delivered via SMS text messages. The FBI warning on smishing texts wasn't hypothetical. It came
Every Great Attack Starts With a Setlist In July 2021, a single phishing email gave a threat actor access to credentials at a Florida IT management firm, triggering the Kaseya VSA ransomware attack that cascaded to over 1,500 businesses worldwide. One click. One employee. One email that someone didn&
In July 2020, a teenager from Florida used spear phishing to compromise the internal tools at Twitter, hijacking 130 high-profile accounts — including those of Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Apple — to run a Bitcoin scam. The attack didn't exploit some exotic zero-day vulnerability. It started with targeted messages
Earlier this year, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported that phishing schemes were the most reported cybercrime in 2020, with 241,342 complaints and adjusted losses exceeding $54 million. Now the threat is evolving fast. The FBI warns Gmail users of sophisticated AI-driven phishing attacks that
In January 2020, the FBI and CISA issued a joint advisory warning organizations about a wave of vishing attacks targeting remote workers. By mid-2021, the problem has only gotten worse. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported over 240,000 phishing, vishing, and smishing complaints in 2020
In January 2021, a wave of PayPal phishing attacks hit inboxes so convincingly that even security-savvy professionals did a double take. The emails replicated PayPal's branding pixel-for-pixel, warned of "unusual activity" on the recipient's account, and linked to a login page hosted on a
