Brian Scott

They ask audiences direct questions and publish the answers, including those that reflect badly on the sector. Their argument: most organizations lack a basic control while believing they are broadly covered.

In a webinar titled "Cybersecurity For Associations: Questions You Should Be Asking," Scott reported that 36% of responding organizations either did no monthly phishing testing and training or did not know whether they did—a response they read as no—and that 85% of cyber incidents start with phishing.

• Asked to grade their own security culture, 50% gave a C or below and only 6% gave an A.
• They call phishing practice one of the "BIG TWO" protections.

The same webinar write-up appears in two posts with identical text, so the argument is being repeated rather than revised.

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The deeper problem, they say, is translation: technical risks are not explained in terms senior leadership uses, so security gets filed as an expense instead of a strategic investment. They point to neglected vulnerability management, outdated systems, and security duties handed to non-specialists as consequences.

Scott cites data showing that more than 50% of SMBs entrust cybersecurity duties to general IT staff rather than dedicated experts, roughly 69% lack a formal incident response plan or cyber insurance, and spending on modern security tools is insufficient. They close with a direct pointer to 501ciso.com.

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They address audiences tempted to treat AI as a new problem requiring new principles.

A session called "Cybersecurity in the AI Era," co-presented with Hector Rodriguez of AVIXA at the first ASAE Technology Professionals Advisory Council Tech Summit (two virtual days, Monday 11/2 at 1:50pm ET), covers how cybercrime has become an industry, how the attack surface has changed over the years, how AI changes infrastructure, and why the fundamentals still matter. Across posts, Scott returns to regular assessments, patching known vulnerabilities, tighter access controls, staff training, network segmentation, backups, and tabletop readiness.

The AI framing is recent, alongside rather than replacing the earlier basic-advice posts.

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Their point is that awareness without a next step changes nothing.

One post lays out global cybercrime figures for 2026: an average breach cost of $4.88 million, 1,803 data compromises in the first half of the year, 471.2 million victim notices, and 280.6 million notices from 38 supply chain attacks.

• Another summarizes Q3 2025 ransomware activity: 85 active ransomware and extortion groups, 1,590 disclosed victims across 85 leak sites, and 14 new brands launching in the quarter, with LockBit returning as version 5.0.
• Scott then names concrete responses: reassess resilience, incident response, network segmentation, backups, and tabletop readiness.

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Here, they retell someone else's experience rather than their own.

The post recounts a supply chain attack that used an accountant's compromised QuickBooks Online access and nearly cost a business $6,000 days before Thanksgiving.

• The four-minute incident turned on a forgotten email setting and a disciplined response, followed by a two-week recovery.
• The account highlights the thin margin between routine business and financial loss, and the importance of partner security.
• The promised full story links to a local file path on a personal computer; ask for an accessible copy of the document.

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Their point is that consistent, accessible publishing raises readiness across an industry, not just at client organizations.

October 2026 is described as the 100th version of the CyberRisk-365 Newsletter, called "the only cybersecurity newsletter curated specifically for the nonprofit industry."

• The milestone edition indexes every cyber resource 501CISO has made freely available and includes a recurring "Cyber Savvy AI Antics" section for levity.
• Scott says humor helps sustain difficult work.

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The practical advice is aimed at organizations that will implement it through a managed service provider.

A post covers DKIM, SPF, and DMARC: protocols that authenticate email, reduce impersonation and phishing risk, and improve delivery rates.

• It recommends deploying them with help from a managed service provider and offers a downloadable guide.
• The same approach appears in advice to run regular assessments and patch known vulnerabilities, and in the SMB post's call for vulnerability assessments and proactive remediation instead of outdated systems.

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It is a recurring method.

Posts cover an invitation to speak to ISSA members at the annual Cleanshow in Las Vegas and the ASAE Tech Summit session on AI-era cybersecurity. The Las Vegas post moves straight from the event to urging readers to run regular assessments, patch known vulnerabilities, tighten access controls, and train teams, adding that it is easier to be proactive than to recover from a breach.

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Start here if you want the single clearest view of the recurring work behind the 501CISO name.

Brian Scott marks October 2026 as the 100th edition of the CyberRisk-365 newsletter and calls it “the only cybersecurity newsletter curated specifically for the nonprofit industry.”

• The milestone edition indexes every cyber resource 501CISO has created and made freely available to the public, including a recurring “Cyber Savvy AI Antics” section added deliberately for levity.
• They credit reader feedback over the years for shaping the work.

For brands planning a campaign

A 100-issue archive and public resource library offer a ready-made content partnership: a sponsor can attach to the newsletter, an anniversary edition or a themed issue instead of asking for a one-off post.

Good starting point because it shows the method — ask an audience questions, publish the uncomfortable answers.

In a webinar titled “Cybersecurity For Associations: Questions You Should Be Asking,” Brian Scott reports that 36% of responding organizations did no monthly phishing testing and training, or didn’t know whether they did—a distinction they treat as effectively no testing.

• Asked to grade their own security culture, 50% gave it a C or below and only 6% gave it an A.
• They frame this as one of the “BIG TWO” protections and tie it to the claim that 85% of cyber incidents start with phishing.

For brands planning a campaign

The survey gives a cybersecurity vendor original, quotable industry numbers tied to a live webinar. A natural partnership would be a follow-up survey or co-branded session where the vendor’s product addresses a gap the data exposes.

Open it to see the difference between summarizing news and drawing an operational conclusion from it.

Brian Scott describes Q3 2025 as a fragmented, relentless ransomware period: 85 active ransomware and extortion groups, 1,590 disclosed victims across 85 leak sites, and 14 new ransomware brands launching in the quarter as operators reconstituted after takedowns. They note LockBit’s reappearance with version 5.0 as a possible return to centralization, then recommend resilience, incident response, network segmentation, backups and tabletop readiness.

For brands planning a campaign

This is a template for a recurring threat brief: quarterly numbers plus a short remediation checklist. A partner selling backup, segmentation or tabletop services can align with the recommended actions without changing the editorial voice.

Start here if you want the recurring argument behind most of the other posts.

Drawing on Guardz research, Brian Scott lists SMB failures: underinvestment in cybersecurity, neglected vulnerability management, technical risks that never reach senior leadership—leaving security a cost center—reliance on outdated systems, and more than 50% of SMBs assigning security duties to underqualified general IT staff.

• Roughly 69% of SMBs have no formal incident response plan or cyber insurance.
• They point readers to 501ciso.com.

For brands planning a campaign

The framing of “security as a cost center, not a strategic investment” speaks to a vendor’s budget-holder audience rather than technicians, making it useful for co-branded research or a leadership-facing webinar.

Shows the speaking channel and the exact session outline.

Brian Scott announces “Cybersecurity in the AI Era,” a session with Hector Rodriguez of AVIXA at the first ASAE Technology Professionals Advisory Council Tech Summit.

• The two virtual days are scheduled for Monday 11/2, with the session at 1:50pm ET.
• The outline covers cybercrime as an industry, how the attack surface has moved, how AI changes infrastructure and why the fundamentals still matter.

For brands planning a campaign

A named conference session with a published outline is a concrete co-branded asset: a sponsor can support the session, co-host a parallel webinar or license the outline as a follow-up piece for association technology leaders.

Open it to judge the storytelling style that a campaign would inherit.

Brian Scott summarizes a true account of a cybersecurity expert who narrowly avoided a $6,000 loss after a supply chain attack exploited an accountant’s compromised QuickBooks Online access days before Thanksgiving.

• The write-up stresses a four-minute incident, a hidden email setting, disciplined response and a two-week recovery.
• The promised full story is linked to a local file path on a personal computer; ask for a reachable copy of the source document.

For brands planning a campaign

Short incident narratives are the most portable format here — a partner can provide its own incident or customer story for the same treatment. Before pitching this specific piece, note that the referenced download is not publicly reachable, so any reuse requires a fresh copy of the source document.

The same focus runs across formats: a webinar on what nonprofit leaders should ask about security; a post after speaking to industry members in Las Vegas urging regular assessments, patching, tighter access controls, and staff training; and a newsletter described as cybersecurity news curated for the nonprofit industry. A security-services brand targeting associations would fit the account’s established lane.

For brands planning a campaign

A co-branded webinar or resource on vCISO basics for associations fits the account’s existing focus, with posts and newsletters offering natural follow-up placements.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4

The webinar "Cybersecurity For Associations: Questions You Should Be Asking" reported that 36% of respondents did no monthly phishing testing or did not know whether they did; 50% graded their organization's security culture a C or below, while only 6% gave it an A.

• The webinar linked those findings to the claim that 85% of incidents begin with phishing.
• The results support an argument that nonprofits are underprepared, rather than simply describing a trend.

Runs live polls during webinars, then publishes the results in a standalone post with a call to action.

For brands planning a campaign

A co-hosted webinar with a short survey can give a sponsor original, quotable data about the association market to republish as content.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The newsletter is described as the only cybersecurity newsletter curated specifically for the nonprofit industry.

• The anniversary edition collected every cyber resource the account had made freely available and directed readers to the collection; it also retained a lighter section inviting readers to laugh at AI missteps.
• The archive offers a substantial collection of nonprofit-security material in one place.

For brands planning a campaign

Newsletter sponsorship or a guest contribution can reach an established nonprofit-focused readership, while the resource archive offers a natural home for an educational asset.

Examples: Source 1

One summarizes global cybercrime figures for 2026, including an average breach cost of $4.88 million, 1,803 data compromises in the first half of the year, and 471.2 million victim notices, crediting the source.

• Another digests Q3 2025 ransomware activity: 85 active groups, 1,590 disclosed victims, and LockBit's return with version 5.0.
• It closes with advice to reassess incident response, network segmentation, backups, and tabletop exercises.
• The format turns third-party data into plain-language risk statements and an action list.

Cites the original report, distills it into bullet-style figures, and adds a brief resilience recommendation.

For brands planning a campaign

Vendor or analyst research can supply the data for a briefing, with the account translating it for nonprofit and SMB readers.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The cited findings: more than 50% of SMBs assign security duties to general IT staff, and roughly 69% lack a formal incident response plan or cyber insurance.

For brands planning a campaign

Content focused on the cost-center argument and board-level framing suits a vendor selling to SMB decision-makers, not just practitioners.

Examples: Source 1

One post covers DKIM, SPF, and DMARC as ways to authenticate email, reduce impersonation and phishing risk, and improve delivery, and describes deploying them with a managed service provider.

• It also offers a downloadable guide.
• The same practical approach appears in advice to run regular assessments, patch known vulnerabilities, tighten access controls, and train teams, as well as in a call for SMBs to adopt vulnerability management instead of relying on outdated systems.

Short explainer post paired with a downloadable guide.

For brands planning a campaign

Email-security or MSP vendors have a ready educational format: co-brand a plain-language explainer with a gated guide and an actionable checklist.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

It highlights the narrow margin between routine business and financial loss, the importance of partner security, and a two-week recovery, then points readers to the full story. The post uses a concrete event to make an abstract risk tangible.

For brands planning a campaign

Vendor customer stories or funded incident-response research could follow this narrative format, with the account framing the lessons.

Examples: Source 1

It frames AI as a change in conditions, not a replacement for basics.

For brands planning a campaign

An AI-security angle could fit a vendor focused on AI-era risk, with an association-audience conference slot already booked.

Examples: Source 1

Posts cover an invitation to address ISSA members at its annual Cleanshow in Las Vegas and a virtual two-day Tech Summit for association technology professionals. Both use the event as a hook for security advice, not just a personal announcement.

For brands planning a campaign

Sponsoring an existing session or funding a new one reaches association technology professionals and industry members directly, with the account as presenter.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

It is product marketing rather than security education and reads as an outlier in the corpus.

This post's promotional tone sets it apart from the rest of the material, making it an outlier format rather than a cybersecurity topic.

For brands planning a campaign

Product-marketing placements for nonprofit technology tools appear acceptable, but security and risk education is the dominant and better-supported subject for a partnership.

Examples: Source 1

Brian Scott's posts direct readers to 501ciso.com for help, describe the free resources "we've built for nonprofits," and call the CyberRisk-365 newsletter "my 100th version" of a publication curated for the nonprofit industry.

View example

They cite the findings; no commercial relationship is stated.

View example

Brian Scott co-presented "Cybersecurity in the AI Era" at ASAE's TPAC Tech Summit 2026 with Hector Rodriguez of AVIXA, covering how cybercrime became an industry and how AI changes infrastructure.

View example

They tied the event's cleaning theme to clearing up unpatched vulnerabilities and other cyber gaps.

View example

One post walks through ransomware groups exploiting known Fortinet VPN vulnerabilities and argues that MFA alone is not enough.

• Another describes a group using stolen domain credentials and Active Directory Group Policy to disable controls, then asks how much damage a compromised admin account could do before anyone noticed.
• Both writers lead with a specific attack path, urge disciplined patching, identity protection and recovery readiness, and close with a question that prompts self-assessment.

Richards writes from a vendor customer-success and managed-security-provider angle, regularly drawing on an external industry discussion and arguing that disciplined vulnerability management matters more than a large security budget. Scott writes as a vCISO adviser and educator for nonprofits and associations, using peer survey results and a free sector-specific newsletter rather than service-delivery commentary.

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After addressing manufacturing councils, Boxdell set out three realities for manufacturers: downtime as existential risk, AI accelerating both operational and attacker decisions, and automated “dark” factories raising system-dependence risk.

• Boxdell closed with actions such as prioritizing operational-technology resilience and building security into automation design.
• Periodic field notes cover human distraction, trust and compliance as a competitive edge.
• Both writers use short, explicit lists of takeaways for leaders, treat AI as a change in conditions rather than a replacement for fundamentals, and stress resilience, awareness and readiness.

Boxdell’s audience is industrial and enterprise leadership; the stakes are production-line downtime, operational technology and factory automation. Scott’s audience is nonprofits, associations and smaller businesses; the stakes are member data, staff phishing habits and board-level budgeting, covered through vCISO basics rather than manufacturing operations.

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He takes Europol’s takedown of the KillSec ransomware group and Google’s finding that half of AI-discovered vulnerabilities enabled remote code execution, explains which access route or disclosure speed mattered, then reframes the issue as a question decision-makers must answer: when did we know, and what did we report? Both writers translate technical developments into plain consequences and end with a pointed question rather than a slogan.

Coraggio approaches security through law and regulation: GDPR, NIS2, DORA and CRA obligations, liability toward customers and authorities, and the evidentiary timeline an incident creates. Scott focuses on readiness and practice — phishing drills, patching, backups, tabletop exercises and nonprofit-specific education — rather than regulatory legal analysis.

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Both posts take an MSSP customer-success perspective.

• One ties a ransomware wave to known, unpatched Fortinet VPN vulnerabilities and contrasts organizations that recover fastest through disciplined vulnerability and patch management with those that buy tools but leave processes inconsistent.
• It asks a direct operational question: if a known vulnerability existed in your environment today, how confident are you that it would be identified, prioritized and remediated before attackers found it?
• The other follows the same pattern on identity, describing the PAYLOAD group using compromised domain credentials and Active Directory Group Policy to switch off security controls.
• It shifts the lesson from malware detection to privileged-account protection and recovery readiness.
• A vendor offering a remediation checklist or recovery-readiness review can co-brand the content without changing its voice.

Neither post addresses associations, nonprofits, small businesses or resource-constrained organizations—the readers a campaign targeting those groups needs to reach.

• A sponsor choosing Richards would fund a mid-market operations conversation and need separate evidence that nonprofit and association buyers overlap with that audience.
• Brian Scott already writes for those readers, using the #501c and #vciso tags, an association-specific webinar and a newsletter built for the nonprofit industry.
• The posts also anchor their arguments to a third-party newsletter and its interviewee, TechDecanter and Aida Keehner.
• A co-branded asset would need to credit that source or comment on someone else’s reporting.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Boxdell already has a conference-and-field-notes format.

• A talk to the Manufacturers Alliance Information & Cybersecurity and IS Management Councils becomes three named realities, each paired with a one-line action: downtime as existential risk, with security framed as production assurance; AI accelerating both operational and attacker decisions, with detect-and-respond replaced by predict-and-prevent; and dark factories raising system-dependence risk, with security built into automation design rather than bolted on.
• The monthly field note bundles issues raised by enterprise leaders, including distracted-insider risk, trust damage from named breaches and specific regulatory moves such as a Texas safe-harbor law for compliant small businesses and EU RED and DORA.
• It closes by asking readers what they are seeing.
• A sponsor seeking a recurring opinion-led field note or a sponsored session for industrial decision-makers gets an established format.

The posts address manufacturers and enterprise leaders across sectors, not nonprofit or association staff—the target market for a campaign aimed at those readers.

• Choosing Boxdell means funding content for a different buyer; the sponsor gets no association inventory comparable to the association webinar or the hundred-edition CyberRisk-365 newsletter.
• The field-note format also mixes third-party figures and named vendors, including KnowBe4, which a single sponsor would need to accommodate rather than own.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Both posts examine incidents through the obligations that follow.

• The first covers Europol’s dismantling of the KillSec group, roughly 1,000 suspected attacks, three arrests, five servers seized and about 110 TB of stolen data recovered.
• It focuses on access through known vulnerabilities and misconfigured cloud storage rather than sophisticated intrusion, then lists questions to address alongside the forensic investigation: when the compromise started, what data and which jurisdictions were affected, whether the organization can prove it adopted reasonable protection, whether personal data was actually accessed, and whether a preliminary notification to authorities is warranted.
• The second turns a Google Threat Intelligence finding—that half of AI-discovered vulnerabilities enable remote code execution, compared with 26% across the wider CVE ecosystem—into the same problem of establishing a timeline that later matters for GDPR, NIS2, DORA or CRA.
• Both end by asking what the reader could prove if it happened tomorrow.
• A vendor selling regulatory-readiness assessments, an incident-response retainer with legal coordination or notification support can fit within that argument.

The posts offer legal and regulatory analysis for European and compliance-driven organizations, not nonprofit or association audiences.

• They also lack the small-business resourcing and staff-education angles—such as phishing testing and training—that matter to those readers.
• Choosing Coraggio shifts the offer toward evidence, timelines and notification duties, so the sponsor’s product must map to those obligations; phishing-testing or staff-training services would not fit.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2