KrebsOnSecurity.com celebrates its 12th anniversary today! Maybe “celebrate” is too indelicate a word for a year wracked by the global pandemics of COVID-19 and ransomware. Especially since stories about both have helped to grow the audience here tremendously in 2021. But this site’s birthday also is a welcome opportunity to thank you all for your continued readership and support, which helps keep the content here free to everyone.
More than seven million unique visitors came to KrebsOnSecurity.com in 2021, generating some 12 million+ pageviews and leaving almost 8,000 comments. We also now have nearly 50,000 subscribers to our email newsletter, which is still just a text-based (non-HTML) email that goes out each time a new story is published here (~2-3 times a week).
Back when this site first began 12 years ago, I never imagined it would attract such a level of engagement. Before launching KrebsOnSecurity, I was a tech reporter for washingtonpost.com. For many years, The Post’s website was physically, financially and editorially separate from what the dot-com employees affectionately called “The Dead Tree Edition.” When the two newsrooms finally merged in 2009, my position was eliminated.
Happily, the blog I authored for four years at washingtonpost.com — Security Fix — had attracted a sizable readership, and it seemed clear that the worldwide appetite for in-depth news about computer security and cybercrime would become practically insatiable in the coming years.
Happier still, The Post offered a severance package equal to six months of my salary. Had they not thrown that lifeline, I doubt I’d have had the guts to go it alone. But at the time, my wife basically said I had six months to make this “blog thing” work, or else find a “real job.”
God bless her eternal patience with my adopted occupation, because KrebsOnSecurity has helped me avoid finding a real job for a dozen years now. And hopefully they let me keep doing this, because at this point I’m certainly unqualified to do much else.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to remind Dear Readers that advertisers do help keep the content free here to everyone. For security and privacy reasons, KrebsOnSecurity does not host any third-party content on this site — and this includes the ad creatives, which are simply images or GIFs vetted by Yours Truly and served directly from krebsonsecurity.com.
That’s a long-winded way of asking: If you regularly visit KrebsOnSecurity.com with an ad blocker, please consider adding an exception for this site.
Thanks again, Dear Readers. Please stay safe, healthy and alert in 2022. See you on the other side!
““The Dead Tree Edition.”, LOL! Some of us miss the look and feel of that edition, and it had so many secondary uses…
Thanks for all you do Brian, and thanks for keeping KoS a fun and instructive site. Happy New Year!
Thank you for your service and best wishes for your continued success!
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection
Began reading during your WaPo days and still enjoying, learning so much from your blog. Many thanks and the best to you.
Thanks to you – and your “good” wife – for having the foresight in having this great site – and invaluable advice and news – readily available to everyone. Keep up the great work!
Auguri !
Krebsonsecurity is public good.
Word!
Long may you continue with the most trusted source of security news on the planet! And any time you’ve made an enemy, it means that you’ve done your job 🙂
Let’s see: you’ve answered the doorbell and been greeted by police with heavy-duty weapons, you’ve had drugs mailed to you in an attempt to incriminate, your site has been hit by massive denial-of-service attacks, you went on vacation to Mexico and spent it tracking down criminal ATMs…and that ignores all the nastygrams. Mind you, we have nothing but praise for what you’ve been doing for the last 12 years, but if it’s not too intrusive a question, just what is your idea of ‘a real job’?
Congratulations and thank you for all you do.
Keep up with the extraordinary work
Congratulations from the other side of the world! (Philippines)
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Thanks
Always nice to see random SPAM in the comments.
Happy Birthday, then!
I do data security and compliance for a living. KrebsonSecurity is one of the sites I check daily to keep abreast of the latest threats and vulnerabilities. Thank you for providing this resource.
Brian longtime reader here I found you via the internet storm center (who I also follow) you have been invaluable as a resource and i wish you nothing but the best for 2022.
Keep on keeping on!
Congratulations on your 12 year anniversary and best wishes for many more!
Thanks for providing useful information in your articles. And I wish that the new year will bring you even greater success and popularity of your site.
Thank you Brian for your reporting. I’ve been reading since the WaPo days and recommend you highly to everyone I know. I reference your blog for concise, easy-to-understand information, especially for those outside the security/IT community. And I appreciate the in-depth investigations. You have literally stuck your neck out to expose the bad guys. I salute you, sir, and wish you a dozen more successful years doing what you do.
Thank you for the great content and for your hard work! I have learned a lot. A lot more people need to be informed about these very important topics, which will become even more prevalent in the future. Thank you for keeping us informed, and for your courage. I wish lots of success!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BRIAN!!! BIG THANKS! KEEP FIGHTING!
Happy birthday! Great blog, I love reading it and appreciate the time you spend on preparing the posts etc. The only thing that concerns me is ” global pandemics of COVID-19″ mentioned in this post. Damn, I can’t believe an investigator or an independent journalist – you name it – I mean, the person not paid off by the big pharma or their owned media (or their “fact checkers”) can believe in **** like this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FIIsFkfXEAIICRV?format=jpg&name=large
REALLY?
Happy Birthday ! And Thank You for all you do.
Congratulations, I find you site to be so useful. Thank you for you dedication.
The only person I will disable an Ad Blocker for, that must say something 🙂
Congratulations and much appreciation!
Just wanted to say – I generally allow first-party ads because I want to reward sites that advertise responsibly, like this one does.
I’ve noticed and (really) appreciated the fact this site presents ads responsibly. I may have even clicked on one here (probably the first time I’ve actually clicked on an ad in *decades*).
Hell, this page only loads two small 1st party scrips, 4 images, 1 css and 1 cookie.
The ONLY 3rd party content here at all, is one image from (well-known) w.org. for stats.
I would literally pay a subscription to a company with that kind of regard for their users own personal security.
I cant even open Edge browser without 85 separate beacons to Microsoft and seizure-inducing GIFs on MSN.
Cheers, Brian! Keep it up!
Thank you for always bringing relevant news to the table fast and for not being a clout-chasing monger. This site regularly helps me and thousands of others and I sincerely appreciate your work.
You may also want to consider signing up for the Brave Rewards Creators program so users visiting your blog using the Brave Browser will auto-contribute to you (for users who have rewards enabled)
Happy Birthday
Just to share – when I’m asked about careers in IT, or even just where to learn from, I always recommend people to read your site, to go though all the stories. It helps people understand Research (as well as specific issues). The content is unbeatable.
You avoid getting political/petty, show compassion to some youths (more than I would) who get caught up in the malicious world.
Some of the mind maps you’ve published have been the best IT research I’ve seen, it’s encouraging!
Thank you for your contributions to the world.
If you make it to DefCon this year, I will be honored to buy you a beer.
Brian,
Great to see you are doing so well. Remember when I met you at Blackhat reporting for the Washington Post, the transition to ‘your own gig’ and the overall positive impact your research has provided to the Security Community. Thank you for your words, your investigations into so many bad/crazy things and thats for the great Scotch, as we sat and chatted in the middle of the Shmoocon Dance floor.
Exception added to my ad blocker 🙂
And good job for a “no real job” !
Kudos for a “Clean Dozen,” and thanks for the information and wit over the years! Sorry for lateness. If anyone’s still keeping track here, does Privacy Badger count as an ‘adblocker?’
Happy 12th!
Has it been 12 years already?
I remember when they merged print & digital, in my mind it doesn’t seem that long ago.