Tag

Zero Trust Security

Zero trust security content examines the principle of never trusting and always verifying every user, device, and connection. Articles explore micro-segmentation, least-privilege access, continuous monitoring, and how organizations transition from perimeter-based defenses to zero trust models.

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Insider Threat Awareness

Insider Threat Awareness: What Your Team Isn't Telling You

The Threat That Already Has a Badge and a Password In January 2023, the FBI arrested a former GE employee and a collaborator for stealing trade secrets related to turbine technology — a scheme that had been running for years. The insider had legitimate access the entire time. No firewall stopped

Carl B. Johnson Dec 09, 2023 7 min read
Insider Threats

Malicious Insider vs Negligent Insider: The Real Threat

Two Employees, Two Paths to a Breach In May 2023, Tesla disclosed that two former employees had leaked the personal data of over 75,000 workers — including Social Security numbers and financial records — to a German news outlet. That wasn't a sophisticated nation-state hack. It was insiders walking

Carl B. Johnson Dec 09, 2023 7 min read
Insider Threat Indicators

Insider Threat Indicators: 12 Red Flags You're Missing

In January 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice charged a former Twitter employee with spying for Saudi Arabia — accessing the personal data of dissidents and handing it to foreign intelligence. He'd worked at the company for years. Passed background checks. Sat in meetings. Nobody flagged a thing

Carl B. Johnson Dec 09, 2023 7 min read
Securing Remote Employees

Securing Remote Employees: A Practical 2023 Guide

In August 2023, a single remote employee at a casino and entertainment company fell for a social engineering call. That one mistake gave threat actors the keys to MGM Resorts' entire kingdom — an attack that cost the company over $100 million in damages according to their SEC filing. The

Carl B. Johnson Nov 26, 2023 7 min read
Remote Desktop Security Risks

Remote Desktop Security Risks That Breach Networks Daily

In September 2023, the FBI and CISA issued a joint advisory warning that the Play ransomware group had compromised over 300 organizations — and their most common initial access vector was exposed Remote Desktop Protocol. That's not a sophisticated zero-day exploit. That's a login screen sitting wide

Carl B. Johnson Nov 26, 2023 7 min read
Shadow IT Risks

Shadow IT Risks: The Hidden Threat Draining Your Budget

The App Your Marketing Team Installed Last Tuesday Could Cost You Millions In 2022, a mid-size healthcare company discovered that an employee had been syncing patient records to a personal Dropbox account for three years. No malicious intent — they just wanted to work from home more easily. The resulting HIPAA

Carl B. Johnson Nov 03, 2023 7 min read
Shadow IT

What Is Shadow IT? The Hidden Risk Draining Your Security

The Salesforce Instance Nobody Knew About In 2022, a mid-size healthcare company discovered that one of its marketing teams had been running an entirely separate Salesforce instance — for eleven months. Patient-adjacent data sat in an environment with no encryption at rest, no access controls, and no logging. The IT security

Carl B. Johnson Nov 03, 2023 7 min read
BYOD Security Risks

BYOD Security Risks: What Your Policy Is Missing

In January 2023, T-Mobile disclosed that a threat actor had stolen data on 37 million customer accounts — and the intrusion reportedly exploited an API accessible from systems that included employee-used devices. It wasn't a sophisticated zero-day. It was a gap in how endpoints and access were managed. If

Carl B. Johnson Sep 18, 2023 7 min read
USB Drive Security Risks

USB Drive Security Risks: The Threat Already on Your Desk

In January 2022, the FBI issued a public warning that the cybercriminal group FIN7 had been mailing malicious USB drives to U.S. companies — disguised as packages from Amazon and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The drives, once plugged in, deployed ransomware onto corporate networks. This

Carl B. Johnson Sep 18, 2023 7 min read