Tag

Social Engineering

Learn how attackers use psychological manipulation to trick people into revealing sensitive information or performing unsafe actions. Topics include pretexting, baiting, tailgating, vishing, and real-world social engineering case studies that expose common human vulnerabilities.

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Social Engineering

How to Spot Social Engineering Before It Costs You

In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor called the help desk, pretended to be an employee, and talked their way into a password reset. No malware. No zero-day exploit. Just a phone call and a convincing story. That single incident shut down slot machines,

Carl B. Johnson May 26, 2026 5 min read
Phish Tour

Phish Tour: Mapping the Anatomy of a Phishing Attack

Welcome to the Phish Tour: How a Single Email Becomes a Full-Blown Breach In March 2023, the FBI's IC3 received over 298,000 complaints related to phishing schemes — more than any other cybercrime category by a wide margin. That number has only climbed since. Yet most people still

Carl B. Johnson May 24, 2026 5 min read
Phishing Links

What Is a Phishing Link? How to Spot One Fast

In March 2024, a single phishing link in a spoofed Microsoft 365 email gave attackers access to the email accounts of several U.S. State Department employees. The link looked like a routine password-reset page. It wasn't. That one click led to weeks of unauthorized access before anyone

Carl B. Johnson May 23, 2026 5 min read
Phishing Awareness

How to Recognize a Phishing Email Before You Click

The Email That Cost One Company $100 Million In 2019, Toyota Boshoku Corporation lost $37 million in a single business email compromise attack. A threat actor impersonated a senior executive, sent a convincing email, and an employee wired the funds. No malware. No zero-day exploit. Just one phishing email that

Carl B. Johnson May 22, 2026 6 min read
Spear Phishing

What Is Spear Phishing? The Targeted Attack Behind Major Breaches

A Single Email Cost This Company $100 Million In 2015, Ubiquiti Networks disclosed that attackers used carefully crafted emails impersonating company executives to trick finance employees into wiring $46.7 million to overseas accounts. The attackers didn't exploit a software vulnerability. They exploited trust. That's spear

Carl B. Johnson May 21, 2026 5 min read
Cybersecurity Best Practices

Cybersecurity Best Practices for Employees in 2026

One Click Cost MGM Resorts $100 Million In September 2023, a threat actor called Scattered Spider called the MGM Resorts help desk, impersonated an employee found on LinkedIn, and convinced IT staff to reset credentials. The result: ten days of operational chaos, encrypted systems, and an estimated $100 million in

Carl B. Johnson May 20, 2026 5 min read
Phishing Links

What Is a Phishing Link? How to Spot One Fast

In March 2024, a finance employee at a Hong Kong multinational wired $25 million to threat actors after clicking a single link in what appeared to be a routine email from the company's CFO. That link led to a deepfake video call — but it started with something deceptively

Carl B. Johnson May 18, 2026 6 min read
Spear Phishing

What Is Spear Phishing? The Targeted Attack Behind Major Breaches

A Single Email Cost One Company $100 Million In 2019, Toyota Boshoku Corporation lost $37 million in a single business email compromise attack. The attacker didn't blast out a million generic emails. They researched one finance executive, crafted one convincing message, and walked away with the money. That&

Carl B. Johnson May 17, 2026 5 min read
Spoofing Caller

Spoofing Caller Attacks: How Criminals Fake Numbers

The IRS Call That Cost a Hospital $1.5 Million A CFO at a mid-sized hospital picked up the phone. The caller ID showed the IRS main line. The voice on the other end was professional, urgent, and specific — citing the organization's actual EIN and a pending audit.

Carl B. Johnson May 17, 2026 5 min read
Insider Threat Awareness

Insider Threat Awareness: What Most Companies Miss

The Threat Already Inside Your Network In 2023, Tesla disclosed that two former employees had leaked the personal data of more than 75,000 workers to a German news outlet. It wasn't a sophisticated hack. It wasn't a nation-state threat actor. It was people who already

Carl B. Johnson May 17, 2026 5 min read