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 March 2022, Lapsus$ — a threat actor group largely composed of teenagers — breached Okta, Microsoft, Samsung, and Nvidia in rapid succession. Their primary weapon wasn't a sophisticated zero-day exploit. It was employee cybersecurity training failures: stolen credentials, SIM swapping, and social engineering attacks that targeted the humans sitting
Last October, while organizations across the country were hanging "Think Before You Click" posters in their break rooms, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center was logging over 847,000 complaints representing nearly $7 billion in losses for 2021. That's roughly a 7% increase in
In 2020, a 10-person insurance agency in Oregon lost $285,000 in a single business email compromise attack. The threat actor spoofed the owner's email address, sent a wire transfer request to the bookkeeper, and the money was gone in 47 minutes. No malware. No Hollywood hacking. Just
In December 2021, a 35-person accounting firm in Ohio paid a $150,000 ransom after one employee clicked a link in a fake DocuSign email. The firm had no cybersecurity training program. No phishing simulations. No written security policy. The threat actor was inside their network for eleven days before
In March 2021, a business email compromise attack tricked an employee at a Scottish charity into wiring £173,000 to a threat actor posing as a construction firm. The employee wasn't careless. They weren't stupid. They simply hadn't been trained to spot the signs.
In February 2022, Nvidia — one of the largest chip manufacturers on the planet — confirmed it was hit by a ransomware attack. The threat actor group Lapsus$ claimed they stole over a terabyte of proprietary data and began leaking employee credentials and source code. If a company with Nvidia's
The Colonial Pipeline Attack Changed Everything 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 Bitcoin — and even after paying, it took days to restore operations. Fuel shortages hit the East Coast. Panic
Colonial Pipeline Taught Us What Happens Without a Plan In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4 million in ransom after a single compromised password shut down fuel delivery across the Eastern United States. The company had backups. They had resources. They still paid — because their ransomware recovery steps weren&
In May 2021, Colonial Pipeline paid $4.4 million in ransom after a single compromised password shut down fuel delivery across the Eastern United States. Months later, meat processor JBS paid $11 million to resume operations. If you searched for ransomware examples hoping to understand what these attacks actually look
In February 2022, the FBI and CISA issued a joint advisory warning that ransomware incidents against 14 of 16 U.S. critical infrastructure sectors had increased dramatically. That advisory wasn't theoretical — it followed real attacks against water treatment facilities, hospitals, and food processors. If you're searching
