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.
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The $350 Million Acquisition That Fell Apart Over a Data Breach When Verizon moved to acquire Yahoo in 2017, the deal was nearly complete. Then Yahoo disclosed two massive data breaches affecting all three billion user accounts. Verizon knocked $350 million off the purchase price. That single failure in cybersecurity
Your Stolen Password Is Already For Sale Somewhere In January 2024, a dataset called "Naz.API" surfaced on dark web forums containing over 70 million unique email addresses paired with plaintext passwords. The data had been harvested from credential-stealing malware installed on everyday people's computers. If
Your Employees' Passwords Are Probably Already for Sale In January 2024, researchers discovered a file called "Naz.API" circulating on dark web forums containing over 71 million unique email addresses paired with plaintext passwords — many harvested by credential-stealing malware. That's not a hypothetical. That'
23andMe Filed for Bankruptcy. Account Takeover Was the Starting Gun. In October 2023, genetic testing company 23andMe confirmed that threat actors had compromised roughly 6.9 million user accounts. The attack method wasn't some exotic zero-day exploit. It was credential stuffing — attackers used previously leaked username and password
In January 2024, a single compromised employee credential at a mid-size financial services firm led to the theft of 4.3 million customer records. The breach cost the company $18 million in remediation, legal fees, and regulatory fines — and their brand reputation still hasn't recovered. That's
A Single Click Cost MGM Resorts $100 Million In September 2023, a threat actor called Scattered Spider used social engineering to trick an MGM Resorts help desk employee into resetting credentials. Within hours, they deployed malware across MGM's network — crippling hotel check-ins, slot machines, and digital room keys
In September 2024, a security researcher discovered a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability in a major email platform that allowed attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript the moment a victim opened a crafted message. No clicks required beyond reading the email. The vulnerability sat unpatched for weeks. If you think XSS is
In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a single social engineering phone call tricked an IT help desk employee into resetting credentials. One employee. One question they got wrong in real life — not on a cybersecurity awareness quiz, but in a live attack. The attacker found a
In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor social-engineered a help desk employee with a ten-minute phone call. The attacker didn't exploit a zero-day vulnerability. They exploited a person — someone who hadn't been trained to recognize what was happening. That single
In January 2024, a finance employee at a multinational firm in Hong Kong joined what appeared to be a routine video call with the company's CFO. Everything looked normal — the CFO's face, voice, and mannerisms were all spot-on. The employee followed instructions and wired $25 million
