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 April 2021, researchers discovered a database of 533 million Facebook user records — names, phone numbers, email addresses — freely circulating on a dark web forum. That same month, a compilation of 3.2 billion email-password pairs called "COMB" surfaced, aggregated from years of breaches. Stolen credentials on the
In January 2021, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — a form of account takeover — cost victims over $1.8 billion in 2020 alone. That made it the costliest category of cybercrime by a wide margin. Not ransomware. Not credit card fraud. Account takeover.
In March 2021, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise and identity theft schemes cost U.S. organizations over $4.2 billion in 2020 alone — making it the single most expensive category of cybercrime. That number isn't slowing down. If you run
In January 2021, the FBI warned that cybercriminals were actively exploiting telecommuters by intercepting unencrypted network traffic — a textbook man in the middle attack. The shift to remote work didn't just expand the attack surface. It handed threat actors a golden opportunity to sit between employees and corporate
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&
