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
Read more about Examples and Numbers of Social Engineering Hacker Attacks ›
Save Your Company from Social Engineering Attacks Like that
Register and Get your Personalized Free Exposure Report NOW
and See your where your Company is Exposed to Hackers
Recently Published on our Blog
Hackers Are Exploiting Help Desks to Breach Government Cyber Defenses
🚨 Help Desks Are the Hidden Cybersecurity Vulnerability
💡 Hackers are targeting government help desks to bypass even the strongest technical defenses.
⚠️ Social engineering exploits trust and urgency, turning routine support interactions into entry points for attackers.
🔍 One compromised help desk session can open doors to sensitive networks and critical data.
📊 Attackers are analyzing workflows and organizational structures to craft highly convincing schemes that evade standard IT protections.
🔥 Proactive simulations and continuous training are key to transforming help desk personnel into a robust human firewall.
👥 AUMINT Trident provides recurring, realistic social engineering simulations that reveal vulnerabilities and deliver actionable insights.
📅 Secure your agency’s frontline now – book a session: https://calendly.com/aumint/aumint-intro
.
#CISO #GovernmentSecurity #CyberSecurity #SocialEngineering #FraudPrevention #HumanFactor #RiskManagement
Executives and Celebrities Are Prime Targets for Social Engineering Attacks
🚨 Executives and Celebrities Under Targeted Attacks
💡 Hackers are exploiting public data and social media to craft highly convincing schemes.
⚠️ Personalized social engineering attacks manipulate psychology – urgency, flattery, or fear – to bypass standard security.
📊 Even top-tier executives with robust IT defenses are vulnerable because human behavior remains the weak link.
🔍 Every interaction, post, or appearance can be mined to create targeted attacks that compromise individuals and organizations alike.
🔥 Mitigation requires proactive social engineering simulations and continuous employee training.
👥 AUMINT Trident simulates real-world attacks, tracks responses, and strengthens your human firewall before breaches happen.
📅 Protect your leadership and teams now – book a session: https://calendly.com/aumint/aumint-intro
.
#CISO #ExecutiveProtection #CyberSecurity #SocialEngineering #FraudPrevention #HumanFactor #RiskManagement #LeadershipSecurity
☁️🔍 Free Cloud Misconfiguration Scanners You’ll Wish You Tried Earlier ☁️🔍
Cloud misconfigurations remain the #1 cause of breaches in 2025 – and the worst part is, most could have been avoided with the right tools. Here are some free scanners that every CISO should have in their arsenal:
1️⃣ ScoutSuite – Multi-cloud security auditing tool by NCC Group.
🔗 https://github.com/nccgroup/ScoutSuite
2️⃣ Prowler – AWS, Azure, and GCP security best practices scanner.
🔗 https://github.com/prowler-cloud/prowler
3️⃣ CloudSploit by Aqua – Continuous configuration monitoring for major cloud providers.
🔗 https://github.com/aquasecurity/cloudsploit
4️⃣ Checkov – Policy-as-code scanner for IaC (Terraform, Kubernetes, CloudFormation).
🔗 https://github.com/bridgecrewio/checkov
5️⃣ Cloud Custodian – Rules engine for governance and compliance enforcement.
🔗 https://github.com/cloud-custodian/cloud-custodian
⚡These tools highlight risky IAM roles, exposed buckets, insecure defaults, and weak policies – the same gaps attackers exploit.
At AUMINT.io, we look at the other side of the coin – simulating how attackers exploit the human misconfigurations through phishing, vishing, and social engineering. Because even a perfectly hardened cloud is vulnerable if an employee gives access away.
🔗 Curious how exposed your human layer really is? Book a free demo
#CloudSecurity #CISO #CyberSecurity #ThreatIntelligence #AUMINT