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

Pressure, Peer and Otherwise: Ransomware and Data Theft Go Hand-In-Hand

Aug 13, 2020 9:01:33 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Data theft is now a well-established element of ransomware attacks, according to John Shier, a Senior Security Expert at Sophos. In a blog post (summarized by iTwire), Shier noted that in ...

My lazy Sunday afternoon was interrupted...

Aug 12, 2020 5:19:33 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

My lazy Sunday afternoon was interrupted with what appeared to be a prank, a social engineering attempt, or something else that remains to be identified.

Paying the Ransom After a Ransomware Attack May Become More Complicated, Thanks to the U.S. Treasury

Aug 12, 2020 4:10:51 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

With many organizations considering to pay the ransom should they experience an attack, new guidance from the U.S. Treasury may put a damper on an organization’s ability to pay.

[Heads Up] Apparently Slack Phishing Got So Bad They Had To Do Something About It

Aug 12, 2020 10:09:15 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Slack has announced a slew of new security features, certificates and integrations, including a verification system that adds an additional layer to protect against phishing scams.

CyberheistNews Vol 10 #33 [Heads Up] Explosion of Zoom Meeting Phishing Attacks Targeting O365 and Outlook

Aug 11, 2020 9:45:27 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Cybercriminals Target Execs in Microsoft 365 Credential Attack to Launch Internal BEC Scams

Aug 11, 2020 9:30:40 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

A new phishing attack spotted in the wild by security researchers at Trend Micro demonstrates how compromised data in an initial cyberattack is purposed in subsequent attacks.

Many US States Requiring Training on COVID-19 Before Return to Work

Aug 11, 2020 9:25:24 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Many states across the US are now mandating that organizations provide training to your employees before they can return to work. Definitely check your local state guidelines but KnowBe4 ...

Legitimate Accounts for Illegitimate Business Email Compromise

Aug 11, 2020 8:28:12 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Cybercriminals frequently use email accounts from legitimate services like Gmail to carry out business email compromise (BEC) attacks, Help Net Security reports. Researchers at Barracuda ...

KnowBe4 Celebrates 10 Years by Planting 10,000 Trees Worldwide

Aug 10, 2020 1:41:53 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

We're celebrating 10 years as a company today! To celebrate this milestone, we'll be planting 10,000 trees around the world to celebrate our 10th anniversary and the addition of its ...

Cyberattacks Involving Both Data Exfiltration and Ransomware to Ensure Ransom Payment Increase 152%

Aug 10, 2020 8:27:19 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Ransomware authors are realizing the benefit of either stealing data or just implying they have and threatening to publish the data publicly in order to increase their chances of being ...

Dark Patterns and the Craft of Online Persuasion

Aug 10, 2020 8:22:35 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

People should learn how to spot the tactics companies (and, more importantly, criminals) use to persuade customers (or marks), especially when those tactics are used deceitfully, ...

Nearly Half of Dutch Listed Companies Do Not Provide Information on Cybersecurity in Annual Report

Aug 10, 2020 8:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Many publicly traded companies in the Dutch AEX, AMX and AScX indices fail to be transparent on cybersecurity efforts in their annual reports. While the Netherlands is a highly digitized ...

The U.N. counterterrorism chief says a 350% increase in phishing websites was reported in Q1 2020

Aug 7, 2020 4:14:05 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

UNITED NATIONS -- A 350% increase in phishing websites was reported in the first quarter of the year, many targeting hospitals and health care systems and hindering their work responding ...

Ransomware Payments Increase by a Massive 60% as Email Phishing Rises in Frequency as Primary Attack Vector

Aug 7, 2020 9:30:23 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The newest ransomware data paints a pretty bleak picture for organizations with “big game” attacks and six- and seven-figure ransom demands becoming the norm.

Leaked U.S.-UK Trade Documents Show How Devastating Compromised Email Can Be

Aug 6, 2020 4:15:57 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

An ongoing criminal investigation highlights how classified documents stolen by Russian hackers from former U.K. trade minister Liam Fox may have been used to impact the British 2019 ...

Five Reasons Why Ransomware Attacks Should Be Your Biggest Worry and Aren’t Going Anywhere

Aug 6, 2020 4:15:29 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

No other cyberattack has evolved like ransomware. Today’s attacks are more pervasive, invasive, impactful, damaging, and costly. Learn why and what to do about it.

The Importance of Identifying and Focusing on the Malicious Behavior

Aug 6, 2020 8:31:49 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Identifying malicious behavior is a more effective long-term strategy than trying to block individual malicious actors, according to Johnathan Hunt, Vice President of Security at GitLab. ...

Visit KnowBe4 at Black Hat USA 2020 - Virtual Event

Aug 5, 2020 11:26:42 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Are you attending (the 100% virtual) Black Hat USA 2020? Be sure to stop by the KnowBe4 booth August 5-6th to find out how to secure your last line of defense: USERS.

[Interpol Alert] LockBit Ransomware Attacks Affect American SMB's

Aug 5, 2020 10:19:07 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

If you thought LockBit ransomware has gone away, think again. According to a recent report from Interpol, the impact of COVID-19 on cybercrime has taken shape and LockBit operators are ...

Explosion of Zoom Meeting Phishing Attacks Over Spring and Summer of 2020 and Targeting Office365 and Outlook Credentials

Aug 5, 2020 8:44:18 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Researchers at INKY have observed an “explosion” of Zoom-themed phishing attacks over the Spring and Summer of 2020. Most of the attacks are aimed at stealing credentials to services like ...

Security Awareness Training Blog

View Topics