Tag

Zero Trust

Understand the Zero Trust security model, which operates on the principle of never trust, always verify. Posts cover Zero Trust architecture, identity verification, micro-segmentation, least-privilege access, and practical steps for implementing Zero Trust frameworks across enterprise environments.

posts

Acceptable Use Policy

Acceptable Use Policy Cybersecurity: Why Yours Fails

The Policy Gathering Dust in Your Shared Drive In 2023, the city of Dallas was hit by a Royal ransomware attack that crippled municipal services for weeks. Investigators traced the initial access back to a service account and poor access controls — exactly the kind of risk a well-enforced acceptable use

Carl B. Johnson Sep 20, 2019 7 min read
Cybersecurity for Law Firms

Cybersecurity for Law Firms: A Practical Defense Guide

Why Threat Actors Treat Law Firms Like ATMs In 2023, the international law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner disclosed a breach that exposed the personal data of over 51,000 individuals — including clients of major corporations like Mondelēz. That same year, an Am Law 100 firm paid a multimillion-dollar ransom

Carl B. Johnson Sep 10, 2019 7 min read
Cloud Security Best Practices

Cloud Security Best Practices That Stop Real Breaches

A Single Misconfigured S3 Bucket Exposed 3 Billion Records In 2023, researchers at Cybernews discovered what they called one of the largest data exposures ever — over 3 billion records sitting in an open cloud storage instance. No sophisticated hack. No zero-day exploit. Just a misconfigured Amazon S3 bucket with public

Carl B. Johnson Sep 10, 2019 8 min read
Cloud Storage Security Risks

Cloud Storage Security Risks Your Team Is Ignoring

A Single Misconfigured Bucket Cost Them Everything In 2023, Toyota disclosed that a cloud misconfiguration had exposed the vehicle location data of 2.15 million customers for over a decade. The root cause wasn't a sophisticated threat actor. It was a single storage bucket set to public instead

Carl B. Johnson Sep 10, 2019 7 min read
Securing Cloud Applications

Securing Cloud Applications: A Practical Guide for 2026

The Misconfiguration That Exposed 100 Million Records In 2019, a former Amazon Web Services employee exploited a misconfigured web application firewall to breach Capital One's cloud infrastructure. The result: over 100 million customer records exposed, a $190 million class-action settlement, and an $80 million fine from the OCC.

Carl B. Johnson Sep 10, 2019 7 min read
Shadow IT Risks

Shadow IT Risks: The Hidden Threat Draining Your Budget

One Unapproved App Cost a Hospital Network $3 Million In 2023, a regional hospital system discovered that a department had been using an unapproved file-sharing tool to exchange patient records for over a year. The tool had no encryption, no access controls, and no audit trail. When an attacker exploited

Carl B. Johnson Sep 10, 2019 8 min read
Mobile Phishing Attacks

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

The Text Message That Cost a Company $15 Million In 2022, Twilio disclosed a breach that started with a simple SMS message. Employees received text messages impersonating the IT department, directing them to a fake login page. Several entered their credentials. That single vector — mobile phishing attacks delivered via text

Carl B. Johnson Sep 08, 2019 7 min read
Cybersecurity Culture

Building a Cybersecurity Culture That Actually Works

The Breach That Started With a Single Slack Message In September 2022, a threat actor sent a push notification to an Uber contractor's phone — over and over, for more than an hour. The contractor eventually approved the multi-factor authentication request just to make it stop. That single moment

Carl B. Johnson Sep 01, 2019 6 min read
Third Party Risk Management

Third Party Vendor Cybersecurity Risk: A Practical Guide

The Breach That Didn't Start With You In 2023, the MOVEit Transfer vulnerability didn't just hit one company. It cascaded through thousands of organizations that relied on a single file-transfer vendor. Government agencies, banks, healthcare systems, and universities all found themselves exposed — not because of anything

Carl B. Johnson Aug 14, 2019 7 min read