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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Group Online Svindel

Group Online Svindel: How Organized Fraud Rings Work

In 2023, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported over $12.5 billion in losses from internet crime — a staggering 22% increase from the year before. Behind many of these losses weren't lone hackers in basements. They were organized groups running coordinated group online svindel

Carl B. Johnson Apr 01, 2019 7 min read
Phishing News

Phishing News: The Attacks Reshaping 2026 Security

A Single Phishing Email Just Cost a Healthcare System $65 Million If you follow phishing news, you already know the headlines keep getting worse. Change Healthcare's 2024 breach — triggered by compromised credentials and the absence of multi-factor authentication — led to a reported $22 billion disruption across the U.

Carl B. Johnson Mar 20, 2019 7 min read
Is It Legit

Removed App: Is It Legit or a Security Risk?

When "Removed" Shows Up and You Don't Know Why Last month, a colleague forwarded me a screenshot from their phone. An app called "Removed" appeared in their app list, and they had no memory of installing it. Their first instinct was to Google "

Carl B. Johnson Mar 20, 2019 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 threat actors used spear phishing emails to impersonate executives and trick finance staff into wiring $46.7 million to overseas accounts. They eventually recovered some funds, but the damage was done. That wasn't a

Carl B. Johnson Mar 20, 2019 8 min read
Fake Identity Website

Fake Identity Website Threats: How to Spot and Stop Them

A Single Fake Identity Website Took Down a $200M Company's Reputation In 2023, the FBI's IC3 received over 880,000 complaints with potential losses exceeding $12.5 billion — and identity-related fraud was the single fastest-growing category. A huge chunk of that fraud starts at a fake

Carl B. Johnson Mar 20, 2019 7 min read
Fake Mailer

Fake Mailer Attacks: How Threat Actors Spoof Email

In March 2024, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that business email compromise — much of it powered by spoofed sender addresses — cost victims over $2.9 billion in a single year. Behind many of those attacks sits a deceptively simple weapon: a fake mailer. These tools let

Carl B. Johnson Mar 10, 2019 7 min read
Cyber Security

Cyber Security in 2026: What Actually Stops Breaches

A Single Stolen Password Cost One Company $150 Million In 2024, Change Healthcare suffered a catastrophic breach that disrupted pharmacy operations across the United States for weeks. The entry point? A compromised credential on a system lacking multi-factor authentication. That single oversight in cyber security led to what UnitedHealth Group

Carl B. Johnson Feb 14, 2019 6 min read
Cybersecurity Definition

Cybersecurity Definition: What It Really Means in 2026

The Breach That Rewrote the Cybersecurity Definition for Everyone In 2023, MGM Resorts lost an estimated $100 million after a social engineering attack that started with a single phone call to their help desk. The threat actor didn't exploit a zero-day vulnerability. They didn't brute-force a

Carl B. Johnson Feb 14, 2019 6 min read
Phishing Psychology

How Phishing Emails Work: The Psychology Behind the Click

Updated for 2026 A Single Email Cost This Company $121 Million In 2019, Rubin Schron's Cammeby's International Group wired $121 million to a fraudulent account after receiving what appeared to be a routine email from their attorney. The email was a phish. No malware. No zero-day

Carl B. Johnson Feb 02, 2019 7 min read