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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A Single Stolen Password Shut Down Half the East Coast's Fuel In May 2021, a single compromised VPN credential gave a threat actor access to Colonial Pipeline's network. The ransomware attack that followed forced the company to shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline, triggered fuel
A Single Email Cost This Company $47 Million In 2016, Austrian aerospace firm FACC lost €42 million (roughly $47 million USD) after threat actors impersonated the CEO in a carefully crafted email to the finance department. The employee who wired the money believed they were following a direct executive order.
The Receptionist Who Stopped a Six-Figure Wire Fraud In 2023, a mid-size accounting firm in Ohio nearly lost $380,000 because a senior partner clicked a link in a spoofed email from a "client." The person who caught it wasn't a security analyst or an IT
A Single Email Cost This Company $47 Million In 2016, FACC, an Austrian aerospace parts manufacturer, lost €42 million (roughly $47 million USD) after an employee wired funds based on instructions that appeared to come from the CEO. The email was fake. The money vanished into accounts controlled by threat
A Single Email Cost This Company $100 Million In 2019, Toyota Boshoku Corporation — a major Toyota parts supplier — lost $37 million after employees wired funds to accounts controlled by attackers who impersonated a business partner via email. Facebook and Google collectively lost over $100 million to a Lithuanian man who
One Email Cost This Company $37 Million In 2024, Orion Engineering — a mid-size firm with 200 employees — wired $37 million to what they believed was a trusted overseas supplier. The invoice looked legitimate. The email thread was real. The bank details were the only thing that had changed. By the
The Breach That Started With a Single Click In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a threat actor called Scattered Spider social-engineered an IT help desk employee. One phone call. One credential reset. That's all it took to bring a $14 billion company to its
In February 2024, Change Healthcare — one of the largest health payment processors in the U.S. — was hit by the ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group. The attack disrupted claims processing for hospitals and pharmacies nationwide, exposed protected health information for an estimated 100 million people, and reportedly led to a $22
Your Bank Just Called. Except It Didn't. In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported over $1.2 billion in losses from call center fraud and impersonation scams. A significant chunk of those losses started the same way: a spoofing caller displaying a legitimate number
In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported that business email compromise caused $2.9 billion in adjusted losses — making it the single most financially devastating cybercrime category they track. Not ransomware. Not credential theft rings. BEC. And that number only reflects what gets reported. I&
