Security Awareness Training Blog

Keeping You Informed. Keeping You Aware.
Stay on top of the latest in security including social engineering, ransomware and phishing attacks.

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Pervasive Ransomware Infection Cost German Software Company Pilz Tens Of Millions Of Euros

Dec 2, 2019 2:43:30 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

A pervasive ransomware infection cost the German automation company Pilz an estimated tens of millions of euros, says Jan Tournois, director of the Dutch department of the multinational.

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You Can’t Always Trust a Dot-Gov Domain

Dec 2, 2019 7:12:15 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

It may be easier than one thinks to register a dot-gov domain, according to KrebsOnSecurity. People have tended to regard urls with the top-level domain dot gov as generally reliable, but ...

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Business Email Compromise Topples Over $26 Billion in Losses

Dec 2, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

This lucrative business of tricking companies into fraudulently transferring funds into cybercriminal-owned bank accounts is showing signs of growing. Scammers use many forms of attack to ...

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Global Utilities See Cyberattacks as Greater Threat to Operations than IT with Half Experiencing Outages

Dec 2, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Global industrial organizations are seeing and feeling the effects of cyberattacks, recognizing the material impact potential upon operations.

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Over Half of SMBs Experience Phishing and Social Engineering Attacks

Dec 2, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

The assertion that SMBs aren’t a cyber-target is officially dead. SMBs are victims of the very same attacks as enterprises in growing numbers, according to new research.

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Insurers Get Serious About Social Engineering Attacks Citing a Lack of Awareness as the Problem

Dec 2, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

With specific endorsements to protect against social engineering scams, insurers are realizing where the true risk lies in cyberattacks and make recommendations of how to mitigate it.

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Top Security Trends in Europe

Dec 2, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Defending your organization against cyber threats and phishing attacks is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Cultural differences, language barriers, regional policies and more can mean ...

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Shooting Ourselves in the Foot: The Biases We All Have

Dec 2, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Perry Carpenter

We humans like to believe that we are rational beings, fully in control of our decisions and actions. But psychologists and behavioral economists disagree. They argue that we are — by ...

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Merchant fined for failing to train employees — Former NYDFS Superintendent Vullo Talks About Cybersecurity Regs

Nov 30, 2019 1:09:56 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

Mark Harrop, Director of Communications, Corporates at Thomson Reuters made me aware of a very interesting interview with Maria Vullo, the former Superintendent of New York’s Department ...

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‘Professional’ ransomware gang targets 1,800 large organizations worldwide, Dutch investigators find

Nov 30, 2019 12:40:01 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

Filip Truta at Bitdefender blogged: "A confidential report from the Netherlands’ National Cyber Security Center warns that ransomware operators are targeting at least 1,800 large ...

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Phishing scams on the up in the Netherlands

Nov 30, 2019 12:30:08 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

Mina Solanki, an expat in Holland wrote: "After years of declining, phishing is on the up. In 2018, the (monetary) damage caused by it had almost quadrupled compared to previous years. ...

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Singapore government must realise human error also a security breach

Nov 30, 2019 12:24:04 PM By Stu Sjouwerman

Eileen Yu, for By The Way at ZDNet wrote: "A recent data breach has highlighted a need for the Singapore government to realise human errors are cybersecurity risks that need to be ...

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The Top Lesson From The Recent Louisiana 2,000-server Ransomware Infection: "User Education, User Education, User Education"

Nov 29, 2019 11:57:37 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Louisiana suffered a ransomware attack last week that took down more than two thousand of the state’s computers and servers. The ransomware apparently entered the network after a user ...

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Google Sent 12K Nation-State Phishing Warnings In Three Months

Nov 27, 2019 6:54:24 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) delivered thousands of alerts of government-backed attempts to spearphish gmail users over just a three-month period earlier this year, they reported.

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A Look at Cryptocoin Scams

Nov 27, 2019 6:28:07 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Scammers are taking advantage of the allure of new cryptocurrencies to trick people who want to get in early on the next Bitcoin, according to Naked Security. Criminals set up Initial ...

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Click Confessions of a Security Expert

Nov 26, 2019 7:00:00 AM By Perry Carpenter

As a “human security” expert, I used to take a lot of pride in my well-honed security hygiene. Yeah… that all ended back in early 2017 when I joined KnowBe4. You see, up until that time, ...

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The Bank of Hawaii early alert of scam phone calls spoofing caller ID

Nov 26, 2019 5:52:14 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

In an early-alert sign, The Bank of Hawaii is warning of a spate of scam phone calls that are spoofing the caller ID of the bank’s real call center, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. ...

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Phishing Simulations Should be Educational, not Punitive

Nov 25, 2019 10:46:55 AM By Stu Sjouwerman

Phishing training programs need to be focused on educating employees rather than on shaming them, according to David Spark and Allan Alford, co-hosts of the Defense in Depth podcast. On ...

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They Know If You've Been Bad or Good...

Nov 25, 2019 10:39:53 AM By Eric Howes

Like most of the rest of us, malicious actors the world over love the holidays. It's a prime season to run social engineering schemes on users who are already of a mind to open their ...

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Responsibility...just because they are aware, doesn’t mean that they actually care.

Nov 24, 2019 6:57:07 AM By Joanna Huisman

This blog was cowritten by Joanna Huisman, KnowBe4's new SVP Strategic Insights & Research and Aimee Laycock. They say it takes a village to raise a child. It’s similar to any ...

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