Examines manipulation-based cyberattacks including phishing, pretexting, baiting, and business email compromise. Provides practical tips for recognizing deceptive tactics and building a human-centered defense against social engineering threats.
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In 2023, MGM Resorts lost roughly $100 million after a threat actor called Scattered Spider social-engineered the company's IT help desk with a single phone call. The attacker impersonated an employee, convinced the help desk to reset credentials, and within hours had burrowed deep enough to deploy ransomware
In September 2022, a teenager allegedly convinced an Uber employee to hand over access credentials through a simple text message. No zero-day exploit. No sophisticated malware. Just a convincing story and a target who didn't verify the request. That single social engineering attack gave the threat actor access
In February 2025, a finance employee at a Hong Kong multinational wired $25 million to threat actors after a deepfake video call impersonating the company's CFO. That single incident captures the state of social engineering attacks right now: they're sophisticated, they exploit trust instead of technology,
The Phone Call That Cost One Company $25 Million In early 2024, an employee at British engineering firm Arup joined a video call with what appeared to be the company's chief financial officer and several colleagues. Every face on the screen was a deepfake. The employee, convinced by
The Phone Call That Cost One Company $100 Million In 2019, a UK-based energy company's CEO received a phone call from what he believed was his boss — the head of the parent company in Germany. The voice was perfect. The accent, the tone, the speech patterns — all spot
The Phone Call That Cost One Company $75 Million In 2020, a teenager orchestrated one of the most high-profile social engineering attacks in history. He called Twitter employees, posed as IT staff, and convinced them to hand over credentials to internal tools. Within hours, he'd hijacked accounts belonging
The Phone Call That Cost One Company $25 Million In early 2024, an employee at engineering firm Arup joined a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and several colleagues. Every face on screen was a deepfake. The employee transferred $25 million across multiple transactions
