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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Phishing Emails

How Phishing Emails Work: The Psychology Behind the Click

In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 298,000 phishing complaints — making it the most reported cybercrime category for the fifth consecutive year. But here's what the raw numbers don't tell you: every single one of those incidents started with a

Carl B. Johnson May 06, 2026 5 min read
Fake Email

Fake Email: How to Spot One Before It Costs You

In 2019, a Lithuanian national named Evaldas Rimasauskas pleaded guilty to stealing over $100 million from Google and Facebook using nothing more than a series of fake email messages. He impersonated a legitimate hardware vendor, sent invoices from a lookalike domain, and two of the most technologically sophisticated companies on

Carl B. Johnson May 06, 2026 5 min read
Phish Food

Phish Food: What Employees Click and Why It Works

Your Employees Are Hungry — And Threat Actors Are Cooking In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) logged over 298,000 phishing complaints — more than any other cybercrime category for the fifth year running. That's nearly 817 reported phishing attacks per day. And those are

Carl B. Johnson May 05, 2026 5 min read
Phishing Attack Examples

Phishing Attack Examples: Real Incidents That Cost Millions

A Single Email That Cost $100 Million In 2019, Toyota Boshoku Corporation lost $37 million after an employee followed wire transfer instructions in a fraudulent email. Facebook and Google collectively lost over $100 million to a Lithuanian threat actor who sent fake invoices posing as a hardware vendor. These aren&

Carl B. Johnson May 05, 2026 5 min read
Mobile Phishing Attacks

Mobile Phishing Attacks: Why Your Phone Is Now Target #1

Your Employees' Phones Are Under Siege In March 2024, MGM Resorts was still reeling from one of the most expensive social engineering attacks in corporate history — one that started with a phone call, not an email. That incident cost the company over $100 million. And it's not

Carl B. Johnson May 04, 2026 6 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 MGM Resorts' IT help desk, impersonated an employee found on LinkedIn, and gained access to the company's entire network. The result: over $100 million in losses, days of disrupted operations,

Carl B. Johnson May 03, 2026 6 min read
Phishing

Phishing Attacks in 2026: What Actually Works to Stop Them

The Typo That Costs Billions: Why "Phising" Lands You Here Here's something I find fascinating — "phising" is one of the most commonly misspelled cybersecurity terms on the internet. If you searched for it, you're in exactly the right place. Phishing (with the

Carl B. Johnson May 02, 2026 6 min read
Cyber Security

Cyber Security in 2026: What Actually Works Now

The Breach That Changed How I Think About Cyber Security In February 2024, Change Healthcare suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted insurance claims processing for millions of Americans. UnitedHealth Group confirmed paying a $22 million ransom. The attack vector? Stolen credentials on a system that lacked multi-factor authentication. One missing

Carl B. Johnson May 02, 2026 5 min read
Cybersecurity Culture

Building a Cybersecurity Culture That Actually Works

A Poster on the Breakroom Wall Never Stopped a Breach In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor called the help desk, impersonated an employee found on LinkedIn, and talked their way into the network. No zero-day exploit. No nation-state malware. Just a phone call.

Carl B. Johnson Apr 30, 2026 5 min read
Data Breach

What Causes a Data Breach: 7 Root Causes in 2026

In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor called a help desk, impersonated an employee found on LinkedIn, and talked their way into the network. No zero-day exploit. No nation-state tooling. Just a phone call. If you want to understand what causes a data breach,

Carl B. Johnson Apr 30, 2026 5 min read