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Security Awareness Training

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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Phishing

Phishing: Why It Still Works and How to Stop It

In 2024, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor called a help desk, impersonated an employee, and gained access to internal systems. The initial vector? A social engineering call informed by information harvested through phishing. One phone call. One convincing story. Nine figures in damages. If

Carl B. Johnson Feb 28, 2020 7 min read
Smishing

FBI Warning on Smishing Texts: What You Must Do Now

10,000 Malicious Domains and Counting In early 2025, the FBI issued a stark public warning about a massive smishing campaign — fraudulent SMS text messages — targeting Americans across all 50 states. The FBI warning on smishing texts wasn't routine. It described a coordinated operation leveraging more than 10,

Carl B. Johnson Feb 28, 2020 7 min read
Phish Tour

Phish Tour: How Attackers Map Your Organization

They Don't Just Send One Email — They Run a Phish Tour In 2023, the FBI's IC3 received over 298,000 phishing complaints, making it the most reported cybercrime category for the fifth consecutive year. But here's the part that doesn't make the

Carl B. Johnson Feb 27, 2020 6 min read
Phishing

Definition of a Phishing Attack: What It Really Means

In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 298,000 complaints about phishing — making it the single most reported cybercrime for the fifth consecutive year. Yet when I ask executives what phishing actually is, most give me a vague answer about "fake emails." That&

Carl B. Johnson Feb 27, 2020 7 min read
Spear Phishing

Spear Phishing: Why Targeted Attacks Beat Your Defenses

In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor called Scattered Spider used a spear phishing phone call to trick a help desk employee into resetting credentials. One call. One employee. One hundred million dollars. That's not a bulk spam campaign — that's

Carl B. Johnson Feb 23, 2020 7 min read
AI Phishing Attacks

FBI Warns Gmail Users of AI-Driven Phishing Attacks

When the FBI Tells You to Pay Attention, Pay Attention In late 2024, the FBI issued a stark public service announcement warning that threat actors are leveraging generative AI to craft highly convincing phishing campaigns — and Gmail's 1.8 billion users sit squarely in the crosshairs. The FBI

Carl B. Johnson Feb 23, 2020 7 min read
Phishing Email

Phishing Email Attacks: How to Spot and Stop Them

One Phishing Email Cost This Company $100 Million In 2019, a Lithuanian man named Evaldas Rimasauskas pleaded guilty to stealing over $100 million from Google and Facebook using nothing more than fraudulent invoices and carefully crafted phishing emails. He impersonated a legitimate hardware vendor, sent fake invoices to accounts payable

Carl B. Johnson Feb 16, 2020 7 min read
Phishing

Phishing Attacks in 2026: How to Spot and Stop Them

In 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported that phishing was the most frequently reported cybercrime — again. Over 193,000 complaints were filed for phishing alone, and the real number is far higher since most incidents go unreported. I've spent years watching organizations get

Carl B. Johnson Feb 16, 2020 6 min read
Phish Food

Phish Food: What Threat Actors Serve Your Employees

Your Inbox Is a Buffet — And Threat Actors Are Cooking In March 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that phishing was the number one crime type by victim count for the fifth year running, with over 298,000 complaints in a single year. Every one of

Carl B. Johnson Feb 16, 2020 7 min read
Phishing Attacks

What Is a Phishing Attack? A Real-World Breakdown

In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 298,000 complaints about phishing — making it the most reported cybercrime category for the fifth year running. That's not a number on a slide deck. That's hundreds of thousands of real organizations bleeding money,

Carl B. Johnson Feb 16, 2020 7 min read