Marcus White

Deployment

Security

Technical

Marcus is a Specops cybersecurity specialist based in the UK, with 8+ years experience in the tech and cyber sectors. He writes about authentication, password security, password management, and compliance.

Articles written by Marcus White

Jul

11

Hackers’ 5 top password cracking techniques

Cyber-attacks come in many forms and continue to evolve, but there’s one tried and trusted unauthorized entry method that’s stood the test of time – cracking a user’s password. Despite this, too many organizations still rely on outdated advice and…
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Jul

10

NHS cybersecurity experts talk passwords and Specops

NHS organizations have a challenge on their hands when it comes to cybersecurity. They have to defend sprawling, heterogeneous IT environments against relentless cyber‑threats, all while keeping their number one priority in mind: patient care. On a recent Specops webinar,…
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Jun

30

Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack guide & defense tips

Imagine you’re overseeing your organization’s network security when suddenly you notice an unusual traffic pattern: packets flowing through a server that shouldn’t be there. What you’re witnessing could be a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack in action, where an adversary stealthily intercepts…
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Jun

24

[Analysis] 16 billion passwords leaked – how much is recycled data?

Researchers recently uncovered a (seemingly) unprecedented aggregation of roughly 16 billion username–password pairs. However, there’s been some debate around how much of this is recycled data versus new. Similarly to the Rockyou2024 password list and ALIENTXTBASE data dump, our own…
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Jun

11

Securing the service desk: Interview with an OffSec expert

Securing the service desk has become a priority for many organizations, especially after the spate of social engineering attacks in the UK linked to Scattered Spider. Attackers know the service desk can be an easy way to bypass MFA and…
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Jun

05

SIM-swap fraud: Scam prevention guide

SIM-swapping is quickly becoming a favorite form of attack for cybercriminals. According to the National Fraud Database, SIM-swap fraud jumped by over 1,000% in 2024. Hackers port a victim’s number onto a rogue SIM, so they can intercept SMS-based two-factor…
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May

13

[New research] FTP ports under attack: Which passwords are hackers using?

The Specops research team has analyzed passwords being used to attack FTP ports over the past 30 days, in live attacks happening against real networks. Our team have found the most common passwords being used in brute force attacks, as…
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May

09

DragonForce: Inside the Ransomware-as-a-Service group

The popularity of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has exploded over the past decade. The benefits for organizations are obvious – SaaS is scalable, cost-effective, and doesn’t need complex installation or maintenance. Gartner expects global spending on SaaS to reach $3 billion in…
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May

07

Scattered Spider service desk attacks: How to defend your organization

Scattered Spider is a disparate hacking collective that has surged to prominence by using sophisticated social engineering tactics. One of their key tactics is exploiting people – specifically, corporate service desks. They recently hit the headlines by allegedly carrying out…
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Apr

30

M&S ransomware hack: Service Desk & Active Directory security lessons

M&S (Marks and Spencers) are a cornerstone of British retail with over 64,000 employees – so it was a shock for many to see them laid low by a ransomware attack in April 2025. The retail giant fell victim to…
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