United States Reported Less Data Breaches in 2020 but with much more Expensive Successful Hacker Attacks
According to the annual report of the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), 1,108 cyber incidents were reported in 2020 and the number casualties from these incidents was close to 301 million people, a drop of 66% over the previous year.
The social engineering technique of impersonation also helped attackers reap massive profits:
The volume of business fraud and hacking by corporate e-mail systems (BECs) reported to the FBI in 2020 was US$ 1.8 Billion – a figure that reflects half of all cyber damage in monetary terms.
“The trend away from mass data breaches and toward more precise and sophisticated cyberattacks doesn’t mean businesses can relax. Just the opposite. They need to learn whole new ways of protecting their data.”
– James E. Lee, ITRC COO
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🌐 Free Botnet Tracker Sites Revealing Global Attack Trends 🌐
Botnets continue to power a huge percentage of cyberattacks worldwide, from DDoS campaigns to malware distribution. For CISOs, tracking them early is crucial – and several free resources make this possible.
Here are the top free botnet tracker sites:
1️⃣ Abuse.ch – Feodo, Zeus Tracker – Tracks active banking malware and botnets.
🔗 https://abuse.ch
2️⃣ Shadowserver Foundation – Provides free daily reports on botnet infections globally.
🔗 https://www.shadowserver.org/
3️⃣ Spamhaus Botnet Threat Feeds – Lists IPs and domains associated with botnet activity.
🔗 https://www.spamhaus.org/
4️⃣ Zeus Tracker (via Abuse.ch) – Specific tracking for Zeus botnet variants.
🔗 https://zeustracker.abuse.ch/
5️⃣ Botvrij.eu – Real-time botnet detection and reporting for European networks.
🔗 https://botvrij.eu/
6️⃣ Malwaredomainlist.com – Monitors botnet command-and-control servers and malicious domains.
🔗 https://www.malwaredomainlist.com/
7️⃣ Emerging Threats (ET Open) – Network threat intelligence including botnet activity feeds.
🔗 https://rules.emergingthreats.net/
⚡ Using these free trackers, CISOs can spot emerging threats, update defenses, and strengthen SOC responses before attacks escalate.
At AUMINT.io, we complement technical monitoring with simulations of social engineering attacks that exploit human weaknesses, revealing the full picture of organizational exposure.
🔗 Want to see how your employees respond to botnet-driven phishing or social attacks? Book a free demo
#BotnetTracking #CISO #CyberSecurity #ThreatIntelligence #AUMINT
Lazarus Turns GitHub Into a Playground for Social Engineering
🚨 Lazarus Just Hijacked GitHub Trust at Scale
😱 Over 50 fake GitHub accounts tied to Lazarus were uncovered, showing just how far attackers will go to weaponize collaboration.
👩💻 Instead of brute-forcing systems, they posed as developers and researchers, embedding themselves into trusted networks.
⚡ The danger wasn’t the code – it was the psychology. By pretending to be “one of us,” they tricked professionals into lowering their guard.
🔑 This exposes a blind spot: technical tools can’t stop employees from trusting the wrong collaborator. Awareness and simulation are the only way to prepare.
💡 AUMINT.io’s Trident platform gives organizations the power to safely experience and counter these tactics before attackers exploit them.
📅 Book your intro session here
and close the human gap in your defenses today.
#CISO #CTO #CyberSecurity #FraudPrevention #AwarenessTraining #Developers
⭐ Free Reputation Monitoring Tools CISOs Rarely Share ⭐
Corporate reputation is a critical but often overlooked attack surface. Threat actors exploit it through phishing, impersonation, and misinformation campaigns. The good news? There are free tools that give CISOs visibility into reputation risks.
Here are the top free reputation monitoring tools:
1️⃣ Google Alerts – Track brand mentions, URLs, and suspicious activity in real time.
🔗 https://www.google.com/alerts
2️⃣ BrandMentions Free Plan – Monitor social and web mentions of your company and executives.
🔗 https://brandmentions.com/
3️⃣ Talkwalker Alerts – Receive notifications about brand mentions, industry threats, or fake accounts.
🔗 https://www.talkwalker.com/alerts
4️⃣ Mention (Free Tier) – Detect unauthorized brand use, impersonation, or negative coverage.
🔗 https://mention.com/en/
5️⃣ Awario Free Plan – Monitors social and web mentions for reputation risk signals.
🔗 https://awario.com/
6️⃣ Hootsuite Free Plan – Track social accounts and emerging reputation threats.
🔗 https://hootsuite.com/
7️⃣ TweetDeck – Monitor Twitter mentions, hashtags, and suspicious user activity.
🔗 https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/
⚡ Takeaway: These free tools let CISOs detect reputation attacks early, protect executives, and mitigate brand exposure before it escalates.
At AUMINT.io, we enhance this protection by simulating social engineering attacks targeting employees and executives to see where reputation risk originates from human behavior.
🔗 Curious how your team would handle reputation-focused attacks? Book a free demo
#ReputationManagement #CISO #CyberSecurity #ThreatMonitoring #AUMINT