Welcome to The Optery Dispatch — a newsletter delivering the latest insights on threat intelligence and proactive cybersecurity strategy. In Issue #9, published January 26, 2026, we cover: Data Privacy Week 2026: Reducing Personal Data Exposure and Preventing Exploitation Privacy should be treated as a core security control to limit attacker intelligence and prevent targetingContinue reading "Data Privacy Week Essentials, The Rising Abuse of Google Tasks SaaS Workflows, & Fake Calendar Invites Increasing the Attack Surface."

It’s Data Privacy Week 2026. To mark the occasion, we’re sharing some tips to help you stay more private and better protect yourself from the dangers of personal data exploitation. Whether it takes the form of phishing, smishing, vishing, password cracking, impersonation, identity fraud, Account Takeover (ATO), or Business Email Compromise (BEC), the weaponization of personalContinue reading "Data Privacy Week 2026: Reducing Personal Data Exposure and Preventing Exploitation"

Welcome to The Optery Dispatch — a newsletter delivering the latest insights on threat intelligence and proactive cybersecurity strategy. In Issue #7, published November 25, 2025, we cover: Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report 2025 shows social engineering techniques dominating initial access methods, accounting for 89% of observed attacks ClickFix has become a go-to initial access method which traditionalContinue reading "New Phishing Methods Evade Email Defenses as Social Engineering Dominates Initial Access"

Welcome to The Optery Dispatch — a newsletter delivering the latest insights on threat intelligence and proactive cybersecurity strategy. In Issue #6, published October 31, 2025, we cover: Comcast Business 2025 Cybersecurity Threat Report Strained defenders face AI-driven phishing, drive-by compromise, and residential proxy abuse, among other threats. Comcast Business’s newly released Cybersecurity Threat Report offers oneContinue reading "Threat Reports from Comcast and Red Canary Highlight Recurring and Emerging Phishing Tradecraft"

This year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month highlights the Core 4 habits: strong passwords, MFA, scam awareness, and software updates. Put another way: protect your passwords, protect your accounts, protect against social engineering, and protect against exploitable vulnerabilities. One of the most effective things one can do along these lines is to address exposed personal data, becauseContinue reading "Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025: Complete Your Defenses With Personal Data Removal "

  Welcome to The Optery Dispatch — a newsletter delivering the latest insights on threat intelligence and proactive cybersecurity strategy. In Issue #5, published September 30, 2025, we cover: Salesforce Attacks: FBI FLASH Alert UNC6040 and UNC6395 are breaking into Salesforce environments to steal data and extort victims. The FBI, in an alert from September 12, hasContinue reading "Salesforce Breaches, Social Engineering & Agentic AI Threats"

Palo Alto Networks’ latest Unit 42 Global Incident Response Report: Social Engineering Edition shows that social engineering remains the #1 initial access vector. Among the more than 700 cases Unit 42 investigated between May 2024 and May 2025, 36% of all incidents began with social engineering. Of those: More Stats from the Report Additional InsightsContinue reading "Unit 42 Report: Social Engineering Is the #1 Initial Access Vector "

It’s Data Privacy Week 2025! To mark this week, we’re sharing some tips to help you stay more private and better protect yourself from the dangers of personal data exploitation. Whether it takes the form of phishing, voice and messaging scams, password cracking, impersonation, identity fraud, Business Email Compromise (BEC), or other attack vectors, the weaponizationContinue reading "Data Privacy Week 2025: Protecting Yourself from Personal Data Exploitation"

In the latest installment of our Privacy Protectors Spotlight series, we are excited to feature Rachel Tobac, a renowned expert in human hacking and social engineering defense strategies. Rachel Tobac is an ethical hacker and the CEO of SocialProof Security, a company dedicated to helping businesses and individuals protect their sensitive data from cyber threats, particularlyContinue reading "Privacy Protectors Spotlight: Rachel Tobac"

As we commemorate Data Privacy Day this year, the theme “Take Control of Your Data” resonates with heightened urgency. The recent ‘Mother of all Breaches’ (MOAB) underscores the critical nature of our conversation around personal data security. In an era where both voluntary sharing and involuntary exposure of our personal information are on the rise,Continue reading "Data Privacy Day 2024: Protecting Yourself from Data Brokers and Data Breaches"