Human Risk Management Blog

Social Engineering

Latest social engineering news, analysis, tactics the bad guys are using and what you can do to defend your organization.

The Dilemma: Should you phish test during the COVID-19 pandemic?

By Perry Carpenter, KnowBe4 Chief Evangelist and Strategy Officer. There’s no question, these are challenging times. Employees and organizations around the world are doing their best to ...

Trends in Phishing, as Seen From a Mountain View

Researchers from Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) released details on recent state-sponsored phishing campaigns from around the world. The researchers said that Google’s phishing ...

Hospitality Provider the Target of an Old-School BadUSB Social Engineering Attack

In what appears to be a mix of old- and new-school social engineering, an attack spotted in the wild using a USB thumb drive offers us a view into how one company could have become the ...

Inception: Your Employee's Mind is the Scene of the Crime

I loved the movie Inception when it came out. It had everything, a stellar cast, amazing visuals, a strong plot, and a twisted end that still has me wondering whether or not they were in ...

[HEADS UP] Cybercriminals Attempt to Exploit Stimulus Package for COVID-19

In several recent blog posts we've showed you the myriad ways in which malicious actors have aggressively -- even ruthlessly -- deployed social engineering tactics to leverage the ...

An Intimate Look at a Nigerian Social Engineer

Researchers at Check Point offer a look at a Nigerian citizen who moonlights as a cybercriminal who uses social engineering techniques. The man, whom the researchers call “Dton,” ...

Just How Lucrative is Cybercrime? According to New Charges Against One Gang, $30 Million Lucrative

The recent arrest and charging of a gang of 24 U.S.-based cybercriminals in Atlanta demonstrates how easy it is to become a cybercriminal and use social engineering tactics to fool people ...

[Heads-Up] Feeding Frenzy: COVID-19 Phishing Attacks Surge as U.S. Reels from Pandemic

By Eric Howes, KnowBe4 Principal Lab Researcher. Having already published three blog pieces on the epidemic of Coronavirus-themed phishing emails and spam/scam offerings online (see HERE, ...

Organizations Need To Be Wary Of Home Worker Phishing Risks

Security experts warn that phishing attacks against home workers will rise.

The Effectiveness of Educating End Users With a Test-Out Quiz

Use a “test-out” quiz as a way to get people who are normally resistant to training to proactively take the training. They think they are taking a quiz to avoid the training, but in ...

Coronavirus-Themed Simulated Phishing Templates

The following templates were added to the console this morning:

Hackers Use Interactive Malicious COVID-19 Map to Spread Malware

Cybercriminals constantly latch on to news items that captivate the public’s attention, but usually they do so by sensationalizing the topic or spreading misinformation about it. ...

U.S. Homeland Security: "Malicious Actors Expected To Focus Attacks On Teleworkers. Secure Your VPN"

The Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity agency this week shared tips on how to properly secure enterprise virtual private networks (VPNs) seeing that a lot of organizations ...

[Heads Up] Your Exfiltrated Ransomware Data Is Now Used To Spearphish Your Business Partners

Ransomware operators are continually improving their tactics to ensure more lucrative payouts, according to Information Security Media Group (ISMG). Over the past several years, attackers ...

[Heads Up!] A Whopping 21 Percent of Phishing Attack URLs Are Not Detected As Malicious For Days After They Go Live

New data from Akamai provides insight into why phishing attacks are making it all the way to the endpoint… and why they can trick users so easily into becoming a victim.

Secret Service Warning: Exploiting the Coronavirus for Fraud and Profit.

By Eric Howes, KnowBe4 Principal Lab Researcher. On Monday of this week we published a review of the coronavirus-themed emails that had been reported to us by customers using the Phish ...

Exploiting the Coronavirus: The Spammers, the Scammers, and the Bad Guys

By Eric Howes, KnowBe4 Principal Lab Researcher. If you've been paying attention to the news over the past week or so, you've undoubtedly noticed that the majority of the stories on your ...

Use Advocates to Spread Your Security Awareness Training Program

I’ve always been a big fan of train-the-trainer programs. Even if you are a great computer security consultant and trainer, there is a limit to what you, one person or one team, can do. ...

Social Security Administration Warns of Phone Scams On March 5th "Slam The Scam Day"

The Social Security Administration in Association with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) National Consumer Protection Week, want to remind everyone that scammers are now targeting ...

Bogus Singapore Police Site Serves as a Watering Hole

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) released an advisory warning about a phishing site that’s spoofing the Force’s website, Channel News Asia reports. The bogus website informs the user that ...


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