Discover resources and strategies for building effective security awareness training programs. Posts cover curriculum design, engagement techniques, compliance requirements, and methods for measuring training impact to reduce human-related security incidents across organizations.
posts
The Phone Call That Cost MGM Resorts $100 Million In September 2023, a threat actor called MGM Resorts' IT help desk, impersonated an employee they found on LinkedIn, and convinced the technician to reset credentials. That single phone call triggered a ransomware attack that disrupted operations across Las Vegas
In March 2024, a finance director at a mid-size manufacturer in Ohio wired $2.3 million to a threat actor who impersonated the company's CEO — all because of a single phishing email. The message looked perfect: right logo, right tone, right email signature. It even referenced an actual
The Click That Cost One Company $47 Million In 2023, MGM Resorts was brought to its knees — not by a sophisticated zero-day exploit, but by a social engineering phone call that led to credential theft and a devastating ransomware attack. The estimated cost exceeded $100 million. The attack vector? A
The Receptionist Who Stopped a $3 Million Wire Fraud In 2023, a business email compromise attack targeted a mid-size manufacturing company in Ohio. The threat actor had spoofed the CEO's email perfectly. The wire transfer request looked legitimate. But a receptionist — someone with zero technical background — noticed the
In January 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice charged a former Google engineer with stealing proprietary AI trade secrets while secretly working for two China-based companies. He had access for years. He passed background checks. He was a trusted employee. And that's exactly the point — the most
A $5.8 Million Wake-Up Call from the FTC In 2023, the FTC finalized a settlement with Drizly and its CEO after a data breach exposed the personal information of roughly 2.5 million consumers. What made this case unusual wasn't just the fine — it was that the
The Industry That Can't Afford a Single Mistake In November 2023, the SEC fined several financial advisory firms a combined total of nearly $750,000 for cybersecurity failures following credential theft incidents that exposed thousands of customer records. The firms had the basics — firewalls, antivirus — but lacked the
One Reused Password Cost This Company $4.6 Billion In 2017, a single set of reused credentials let threat actors walk into Equifax's systems and expose 147 million records. The total cost exceeded $4.6 billion when you factor in the FTC settlement, lawsuits, and remediation. One password.
93% of Breaches Start With a Person, Not a Firewall In 2023, Verizon's Data Breach Investigations Report confirmed what security professionals have been screaming about for years: the human element was involved in 74% of all breaches. By 2024, that figure remained stubbornly high. A cybersecurity awareness quiz
The FBI Warned You About Medusa. Did You Listen? In March 2025, the FBI and CISA issued a joint advisory — #StopRansomware: Medusa Ransomware — warning that the Medusa ransomware gang had already hit over 300 organizations across critical infrastructure sectors. Healthcare, education, manufacturing, technology. The common thread? Nearly every intrusion started
