Stu Sjouwerman

Chief Executive Officer & President

Stu Sjouwerman (pronounced “shower-man”) is the founder and CEO of KnowBe4, Inc., which hosts the world’s most popular integrated security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, with over 54,000 organization customers and more than 50 million users. A serial entrepreneur and data security expert with 30 years in the IT industry, Stu was the co-founder of Inc. 500 company Sunbelt Software, a multiple award-winning anti-malware software company that was acquired in 2010.

Books

Cyberheist E-Book

Find all of Stu's books on Amazon

Genesis Market: a Study in the C2C Economy

May 5, 2021 8:55:19 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Researchers at Digital Shadows describe Genesis Market, a criminal-to-criminal marketplace that aggregates and sells digital fingerprints to facilitate cyberattacks. The researchers say ...

A Snapshot of the Ransomware Landscape

May 4, 2021 11:23:33 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Organizations need to take steps to disrupt the ransomware industry by making these attacks more expensive to carry out, according to Jen Miller-Osborn from Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42. ...

UK IT Decision Makers Fear Their Remote Workers Put Company Data at Risk for Data Breach

May 4, 2021 11:23:23 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

According to an annual survey from Apricorn, UK IT decision makers are fearing the worst as their staff continues to work in a remote environment.

CyberheistNews Vol 11 #17 [Heads Up] Mobile Is Now a Big Problem: 97% of Organizations Experienced Attacks in 2020

May 4, 2021 10:14:09 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Do Ransomware Gangs Restore Data, Even After They're Paid?

May 4, 2021 9:23:28 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Only 8% of ransomware victims get all of their data back after paying the ransom, according to researchers at Sophos. The researchers found that, on average, victims who pay the ransom ...

The Cost of Remediating a Ransomware Attack More than Doubles and is Quickly Approaching $2 Million

Apr 30, 2021 12:25:12 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

With 54% of organizations unable to stop a ransomware attack before data is encrypted and operations are impacted, the increasing cost of ransomware remediation is troubling.

U.K. Royal Mail-related Phishing Scams Are Up 645%

Apr 30, 2021 12:25:08 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

New data from CheckPoint highlights how scammers are using simple shipping-related social engineering scams to trick victims into giving up personal information and credit card details.

Ransomware Operators Threaten to Short Victims’ Stocks

Apr 29, 2021 10:33:38 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The Darkside ransomware operators are now offering to tip off unscrupulous stock traders before they post the names of publicly traded victim companies, the Record reports. The criminals ...

Ransomware Demands Spike by 43% Already in 2021

Apr 29, 2021 10:33:30 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Cybercriminal groups are increasing their automated and tactical ransomware attacks. Unfortunately, that also means they have an increase in greed.

[HEADS UP] Ransomware Gangs are Creating Ransomware Cartels

Apr 29, 2021 10:33:20 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Analysis by threat intelligence group Analyst1 recently uncovered that the bad guys are responsible for forming a ransomware cartel.

Scammers Target Rogers Customers With SMS Messages

Apr 29, 2021 10:33:17 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Scammers are targeting Rogers customers with text messages offering $50 refunds, according to BleepingComputer. The Canadian telecommunications provider suffered a widespread outage last ...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Cites Cyberthreats as Current “Biggest Concern” to Financial Institutions

Apr 29, 2021 10:25:54 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Fears of a resurgence of COVID-19 and increased cyberattacks are mentioned as top risks that can materially impact the finance sector and the economy, by Jerome Powell in a recent ...

Researchers Warn of EtterSilent Facilitating Risky Malware Delivery

Apr 29, 2021 10:25:23 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Cybercriminals are using a new malicious document builder dubbed “EtterSilent,” according to researchers at Intel 471. The builder is used to craft Microsoft Office documents with macros ...

Lazarus Group Uses New Technique to Avoid Detection

Apr 29, 2021 10:25:03 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

North Korea’s Lazarus group is using an interesting method to evade security measures, according to researchers at Malwarebytes. The threat actor is sending phishing emails with malicious ...

Evil Corp Tries to Work Around U.S. Treasury Sanctions Using Hades Ransomware

Apr 29, 2021 10:24:44 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The cybercriminal group linked to over $100 Million in financial damages has pivoted their execution strategy to bypass sanctions that prevent U.S. companies from paying them ransom.

New Ransomware Task Force Shares Actions To Disrupt Ransomware Cyber Crime

Apr 29, 2021 10:09:32 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The Ransomware Task Force, a public-party coalition of more than 50 experts, has shared a framework of actions to disrupt the ransomware business model.

Phishing Campaign Abuses Contact Forms

Apr 29, 2021 10:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Attackers are abusing websites’ contact forms to send malicious emails to the websites’ owners, according to researchers at Microsoft. The emails contain bogus copyright claims with a ...

Mobile is a Problem: 97% of Organizations Experienced Mobile Attacks in 2020

Apr 29, 2021 8:41:17 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Everything from applications, social apps, OS vulnerabilities and even mobile device management acted as initial attack vectors troubling nearly every single organization globally.

Cybercriminals Use Job-Specific Social Media Platforms to Target UK Citizens With Fake Accounts

Apr 29, 2021 4:55:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

At least 10,000 UK citizens have been targeted by nation-state actors via fake LinkedIn accounts over the past five years, the BBC reports. Ken McCallum, Director-General of MI5, said ...

Phishing Tactics Help Legitimate Pension Fund to Secure Meetings with Prospective Customers

Apr 28, 2021 8:57:07 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Security researchers uncover a marketing campaign that takes a page from the cybercriminal phishing handbook to “trick” pensioners to have an introductory call with their fund expert.

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