Focuses on recognizing and countering manipulation tactics that attackers use to exploit human trust. Covers pretexting, baiting, tailgating, impersonation scams, and organizational defenses such as verification protocols, awareness campaigns, and incident reporting procedures.
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In February 2024, Change Healthcare — one of the largest health payment processors in the United States — was brought to its knees by a ransomware attack. Patient data for potentially tens of millions of Americans was exposed. The initial access vector? Stolen credentials on a system that lacked multi-factor authentication. One
The Breach That Changed How I Think About Cyber Security In January 2024, Microsoft disclosed that Russian threat actor Midnight Blizzard had been lurking inside their corporate email systems since November 2023. Not a small startup. Not a company that skimps on security budgets. Microsoft. If their cyber security defenses
In January 2024, a finance employee at engineering firm Arup wired $25 million to threat actors after joining a video call with what appeared to be the company's CFO and several colleagues. Every person on that call was a deepfake. The attack started the same way almost all
In March 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise alone cost organizations $2.7 billion in 2022 — and the vast majority of those losses started with a single employee clicking, replying, or trusting the wrong message. I've reviewed dozens of incident
In July 2023, a ransomware attack crippled the nonprofit hospital chain CommonSpirit Health, ultimately affecting over 600,000 patients and costing the organization an estimated $160 million. That's not a Fortune 500 company. That's a mission-driven organization built to serve communities — brought to its knees because
A Single Employee Click Cost MGM Resorts $100 Million In September 2023, MGM Resorts International disclosed a devastating cyberattack that disrupted hotel operations, slot machines, and reservation systems across Las Vegas. The attack vector? A social engineering phone call. A threat actor impersonated an employee, called the IT help desk,
A 45-Minute Slide Deck Didn't Stop the Breach at MGM In September 2023, a threat actor social-engineered their way into MGM Resorts' systems with a single phone call. The attackers reportedly found an employee on LinkedIn, called the help desk, and convinced someone to reset credentials. The
A $2.6 Million Invoice Nobody Budgeted For In March 2023, the city of Oakland, California declared a state of emergency after a ransomware attack crippled city services for weeks. Systems went offline. Sensitive employee data leaked onto the dark web. The estimated recovery cost? Millions. And the initial entry
The Breach That Started With a Single W-2 In early 2023, the IRS warned — again — about a surge in W-2 phishing scams targeting businesses. A threat actor sends one convincing email to someone in payroll. That person exports employee tax records. Within hours, fraudulent tax returns are filed under dozens
In March 2022, the FBI issued a Private Industry Notification warning that cybercriminals were using keyloggers embedded in fake business invoices to compromise corporate networks. The attackers harvested credentials for weeks before anyone noticed. By then, the damage was done — financial accounts drained, email systems hijacked, and sensitive client data
