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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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
23 Billion Stolen Credentials Are Circulating Right Now In 2020, Digital Shadows found more than 15 billion stolen credentials for sale on dark web markets — and that number has only climbed since. Every single one of those username-password pairs is ammunition for a credential stuffing attack. This isn't
In March 2021, Microsoft disclosed that the Hafnium threat actor group had exploited Exchange Server vulnerabilities — but what most people missed is that many of those compromised servers were initially discovered through brute force password spraying. The attackers didn't need a sophisticated zero-day for every target. They just
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
The Colonial Pipeline Attack Changed Everything In May 2021, a single compromised password led to the most disruptive cyberattack on U.S. critical infrastructure in history. DarkSide ransomware shut down Colonial Pipeline's 5,500-mile fuel system, triggering gas shortages across the eastern seaboard. The company paid a $4.
Colonial Pipeline Was Just the Beginning In May 2021, a single compromised password shut down the largest fuel pipeline in the United States. Colonial Pipeline paid DarkSide operators $4.4 million in ransom. Fuel shortages rippled across the Southeast for days. That attack used just one of the many types
In July 2021, the REvil ransomware gang exploited a vulnerability in Kaseya's VSA software and dropped a trojan payload onto the systems of roughly 1,500 businesses worldwide. The attack didn't arrive as an obvious virus. It masqueraded as a legitimate software update — the textbook definition
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
