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

Thousands of NPM Packages Used to Spread Phishing Links

Feb 27, 2023 8:39:49 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Researchers at Checkmarx warn that attackers uploaded more than 15,000 packages to NPM, the open-source repository for JavaScript packages, to distribute phishing links. The packages ...

Malware Report: The Number of Unique Phishing Emails in Q4 Rose by 36%

Feb 23, 2023 11:28:45 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

With nearly 280 million phishing emails detected by just one vendor, and the increase in the number of unique emails, organizations have a lot to be worried about in 2023.

W-2s Are Just the Beginning of Tax-Related Scams This Year

Feb 23, 2023 11:28:23 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Email scammers can’t pass up a tried and true theme that is almost guaranteed to produce results. And with W-2 forms being sent out, it marks the start of this year’s expected campaigns.

Ransomware Attacks Using Extortion Tactics Reaches Critical Mass at 96% of all Attacks

Feb 23, 2023 11:28:04 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

New cyber attack data from 2022 is providing insight into what to expect in 2023, including ransomware campaigns.

28% of Users Open BEC Emails as BEC Attack Volume Skyrockets by 178%

Feb 23, 2023 11:27:44 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

New data shows users aren’t scrutinizing emails used in business email compromise (BEC) attacks, allowing critical changes in banking details that would impact the victim's organization ...

Coinbase Attack Used Social Engineering

Feb 22, 2023 8:48:30 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Coinbase describes a targeted social engineering attack that led to the theft of some employee data. The attacker first sent smishing messages to several Coinbase employees, urging them ...

A Special Case of Business Email Compromise

Feb 21, 2023 9:12:41 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Cloudflare warns that business email compromise (BEC) phishing has assumed a new form: vendor email compromise (VEC). The classic BEC case involves the impersonation of someone within an ...

CyberheistNews Vol 13 #08 [Heads Up] Reddit Is the Latest Victim of a Spear Phishing Attack Resulting in a Data Breach

Feb 21, 2023 9:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

CyberheistNews Vol 13 #08 | February 21st, 2023 [Heads Up] Reddit Is the Latest Victim of a Spear Phishing Attack Resulting in a Data Breach There is a lot to learn from Reddit's recent ...

Corporate Transitions Represent Times of Heightened Danger

Feb 20, 2023 10:05:40 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

When should organizations be on guard against social engineering? Always, of course, but there are certain times when they should be especially alert. A study of cyberattacks has found ...

[HEADS UP] Russian Hacker Group Launches New Spear Phishing Campaign with Targets in US and Europe

Feb 16, 2023 9:17:56 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The Russian-based hacking group Seaborgium is at it again with increased spear phishing attacks targeting US and European countries in the last year.

[INFOGRAPHIC] 9 Cognitive Biases Hackers Exploit the Most

Feb 15, 2023 10:18:50 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Cybersecurity is not just a technological challenge, but increasingly a social and behavioral one.

New Survey Reveals Employees are the Attack Surface

Feb 15, 2023 9:18:35 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

A survey by Tanium has found that IT security professionals in the UK say that 64% of avoidable cyber attacks are due to human error, which usually involves falling for phishing attacks. ...

Reddit is the Latest Victim of a Spear Phishing Attack Resulting in a Data Breach

Feb 15, 2023 8:18:20 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

There is a lot to learn from Reddit's recent data breach, which was the result of an employee falling for a “sophisticated and highly-targeted” spear phishing attack.

FTC: Romance Scams Cost U.S. Victims a Total of $1.3 Billion

Feb 15, 2023 8:11:41 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Seemingly repeating the previous year, the FTC’s latest report highlights that nearly 70,000 people reported being the victim of a romance scam last year.

Deepfake Crackdown After 4Chan Users Make Celebrity Voices Say Racist, Transphobic, and Violent Things

Feb 15, 2023 8:08:06 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

As deepfake technology continues to improve, creators of deepfake technology seek to lock down and safeguard the use of their technology after inappropriate use shows up on the web.

Cybercriminals are Using Geotargeted Phishing to Target Victims

Feb 14, 2023 9:06:54 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Attackers are abusing a legitimate service called “GeoTargetly” to launch localized phishing attacks, according to Jeremy Fuchs at Avanan. GeoTargetly is meant to be used by advertisers ...

CyberheistNews Vol 13 #07 [Scam of the Week] The Turkey-Syria Earthquake

Feb 14, 2023 9:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

CyberheistNews Vol 13 #07 | February 14th, 2023 [Scam of the Week] The Turkey-Syria Earthquake Just when you think they cannot sink any lower, criminal internet scum is now exploiting the ...

Spear Phishing Attacks Increase 127% as Use of Impersonation Skyrockets

Feb 9, 2023 8:51:35 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Impersonation of users, domains, and brands is on the rise, as is the use of malicious links, in response to security vendors improving their ability to detect malicious attachments.

U.K. Citizens See 82% Increase in Advanced Fee Scams in the Last Year

Feb 9, 2023 8:51:29 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

In the wake of the rising cost of living, new scams targeting those in less-than-optimal financial situations based on “deprived” areas throughout the country.

Hackers Work Around ChatGPT Malicious Content Restrictions to Create Phishing Email Content

Feb 9, 2023 8:51:21 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Active discussions in hacker forums on the dark web showcase how using a mixture of the Open AI API and automated bot from the Telegram messenger platform can create malicious emails.

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