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 SaaS Risk Assessment Platforms No One Talks About ☁️
SaaS adoption is skyrocketing, but unchecked apps create hidden security and compliance risks. Luckily, there are free platforms CISOs can leverage to assess SaaS risk without a huge budget.
Here are top free SaaS risk assessment tools:
1️⃣ BitSight Free Insights – Basic SaaS risk scoring and vendor exposure overview.
🔗 https://www.bitsight.com/
2️⃣ Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) STAR Self-Assessment – Framework to evaluate cloud/SaaS provider security posture.
🔗 https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/star/
3️⃣ RiskRecon Free Tier – Provides risk ratings and supplier insights for SaaS applications.
🔗 https://www.riskrecon.com/
4️⃣ AppOmni Free Plan – SaaS security posture assessment for collaboration apps and CRMs.
🔗 https://www.appomni.com/
5️⃣ SaaS Security Alliance (SSA) Tools – Templates and guides for evaluating SaaS risk.
🔗 https://www.saassecurityalliance.org/
6️⃣ OpenPages SaaS Risk Templates – Free templates for mapping SaaS applications to risk categories.
🔗 https://www.ibm.com/products/openpages
7️⃣ CloudSploit Community Edition – Checks misconfigurations and risk in SaaS-integrated cloud services.
🔗 https://github.com/aquasecurity/cloudsploit
⚡ Takeaway: Even free tools provide visibility, scoring, and actionable recommendations that help CISOs reduce shadow IT and prevent SaaS-related breaches.
At AUMINT.io, we complement these assessments by simulating how employees interact with SaaS apps and could be manipulated, exposing hidden human risks that automated tools may miss.
🔗 Want to see where your human layer exposes SaaS risk? Book a free demo
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HR Departments Are Your Organization’s Hidden Cyber Risk
🚨 HR Departments Could Be Your Weakest Cyber Link
💡 HR teams manage sensitive employee records, payroll data, and confidential legal documents – prime targets for hackers.
⚠️ Social engineering attacks on HR staff are rising, exploiting their frequent communications with candidates and vendors to steal credentials or sensitive info.
🔥 A compromised HR account can open gateways to identity theft, financial fraud, and reputational damage across your organization.
🔍 AUMINT Trident simulates real-world social engineering attacks against HR workflows, measuring employee vulnerability and providing actionable steps to secure your teams before incidents occur.
📅 Strengthen your HR cybersecurity now: https://calendly.com/aumint/aumint-intro
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#CISO #HRTech #CyberSecurity #SocialEngineering #FraudPrevention #HumanFactor #EmployeeAwareness
🔐 Free API Security Tools Quietly Protecting Enterprises 🔐
APIs are the backbone of modern applications – and they’re a prime target for attackers. The best news? Several free tools help CISOs identify vulnerabilities, monitor traffic, and enforce security without breaking the budget.
Here are the top free API security tools every CISO should know:
1️⃣ OWASP ZAP – Open-source scanner for detecting vulnerabilities in REST and SOAP APIs.
🔗 https://www.zaproxy.org/
2️⃣ Postman (Free Tier) – Test APIs and validate security workflows during development.
🔗 https://www.postman.com/
3️⃣ Tyk Community Edition – Open-source API gateway with authentication, rate-limiting, and security policies.
🔗 https://tyk.io/open-source/
4️⃣ Kong Gateway (OSS) – API management with built-in security features and traffic monitoring.
🔗 https://konghq.com/kong/
5️⃣ WAF-FLE (ModSecurity) – Protects web-facing APIs from OWASP Top 10 attacks.
🔗 https://www.modsecurity.org/
6️⃣ APImetrics Free Plan – Monitor API performance and detect anomalies.
🔗 https://apimetrics.io/
7️⃣ Spectral (Open Source) – Linting tool for OpenAPI specs to catch insecure API definitions.
🔗 https://stoplight.io/open-source/spectral/
⚡ With these tools, CISOs can scan, monitor, and enforce security on APIs while reducing risk exposure across enterprise applications.
At AUMINT.io, we go further – simulating how attackers exploit employees via APIs, social engineering, and phishing, exposing gaps that technical tools alone may miss.
🔗 Curious about your team’s human risk exposure to API attacks? Book a free demo
#APISecurity #CISO #CyberSecurity #ThreatDetection #AUMINT