There are plenty of ways to improve cybersecurity that don’t involve making workers return to a physical office

As my manager knows, Im not the biggest fan of working in a physical office. Im a picky worker -- I like my workspace to be borderline frigid, I hate dark mode on any software, and I want any and all lighting cranked all the way up. So, know that Im biased going into this, but I also cant get ove...

CoralRaider targets victims’ data and social media accounts

Cisco Talos discovered a new threat actor were calling "CoralRaider" that we believe is of Vietnamese origin and financially motivated. CoralRaider has been operating since at least 2023, targeting victims in several Asian and Southeast Asian countries. This group focuses on stealing victims...

Threat Roundup for November 3 to November 10

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats weve observed between Nov. 3 and Nov. 10. As with previous roundups, this post isnt meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats weve observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics,...

Threat Roundup for October 27 to November 3

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats weve observed between Oct. 27 and Nov. 3. As with previous roundups, this post isnt meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats weve observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics,...

Kazakhstan-associated YoroTrooper disguises origin of attacks as Azerbaijan

Cisco Talos assesses with high confidence that YoroTrooper, an espionage-focused threat actor first active in June 2022, likely consists of individuals from Kazakhstan based on their use of Kazakh currency and fluency in Kazakh and Russian. The actor also appears to have a defensive interest in t...

What Cisco Talos knows about the Rhysida ransomware

Cisco Talos is aware of the recent advisory published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services HHS warning the healthcare industry about Rhysida ransomware activity. As weve discussed recently, there has been huge growth in the ransomware and extortion space, potentially linked to the...

Threat Advisory: HermeticWiper

Update: March 1, 2022 Cisco Talos is aware of reporting related to additional components discovered to be associated with ongoing HermeticWiper attacks. These additional components include:HermeticWizard, which allows HermeticWiper to be propagated to and deployed on additional systems within...

Threat Advisory: Critical Apache Log4j vulnerability being exploited in the wild

Update History Date Description of UpdatesDec. 20, 2021Additional coverage and IOCs; additional detection capabilities for customers via Cisco Global Threat Alerts. Dec. 18, 2021Additional mitigation guidance; updated coverage information. Dec. 17, 2021Added additional vulnerability and... This i...

Threat Roundup for August 6 to August 13

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Aug. 6 and Aug. 13. As with previous roundups, this post isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we've observed by highlighting key behavioral...

Talos Incident Response quarterly threat report — The top malware families and TTPs used in Q2 2021

By David Liebenberg and Caitlin Huey. Last quarter, ransomware was not the most dominant threat for the first time since we began compiling these reports. We theorized that this was due to a huge uptick in Microsoft Exchange exploitation, which temporarily became a primary focus for Cisco... This...

Threat Source newsletter (June 17, 2021)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw.Good afternoon, Talos readers. Although the Colonial Pipeline attack is largely behind us now, its potential repercussions are not. This was just the latest in a string of attacks against American critical infrastructure over the past few years, and we... This i...

Talos Takes Ep. #55: How Transparent Tribe could evolve in the future

By Jon Munshaw. The latest episode of Talos Takes is available now. Download this episode and subscribe to Talos Takes using the buttons below, or visit the Talos Takes page. We recently covered how the Transparent Tribe APT added another RAT to its arsenal. Where might they go from here? In...

Case Study: Incident Response is a relationship-driven business

Proof that incident response is "the ultimate team sport" By Brad Garnett. Introduction As a seasoned incident responder, and now IR business leader here at Cisco Talos Incident Response CTIR, I have always said that incident response is the ultimate team sport. People are... This is only the...

Transparent Tribe APT expands its Windows malware arsenal

By Asheer Malhotra, Justin Thattil and Kendall McKay. Transparent Tribe, also known as APT36 and Mythic Leopard, continues to create fake domains mimicking legitimate military and defense organizations as a core component of their operations. Cisco Talos' previous research has mainly linked this...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple vulnerabilities in Synology DiskStation Manager

Claudio Bozzato of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in Synology DiskStation Manager. DSM is the Linux-based operating system for every Synology network-attached storage device NAS. The... This is only the...

Threat Source newsletter (Jan. 28, 2021)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Good afternoon, Talos readers. Unfortunately, I don’t have any stock tips to give you to help you get rich overnight. But I do have two Vulnerability Spotlights you should read so your network can stay safer. We disclosed multiple vulnerabilities in phpGACL and...

Threat Roundup for December 11 to December 18

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Dec. 11 and Dec. 18. As with previous roundups, this post isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we've observed by highlighting key behavioral characteristics...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Microsoft issues security update for Azure Sphere

Claudio Bozzato, Lilith and Dave McDaniel of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos researchers recently discovered seven vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Azure Sphere, a cloud-connected SoC platform designed specifically with IoT application security in mind...

Threat Source (April 4)

Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. If you haven’t yet, there’s still time to register for this year’s Talos Threat Research Summit — our second annual conference by defenders, for defenders. This year’s Summ...

Blocking Cryptocurrency Mining Using Cisco Security Products

Cisco Talos is releasing a whitepaper addressing Cryptocurrency mining and all the ways to block it using Cisco Security products. The value of cryptocurrencies has fluctuated wildly, but the value is still high enough to garner a lot of attention, both legitimate and malicious. Most of the...

Beers with Talos EP29 - This is a PSA: Stop Clicking. There is No Prince.

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Episode 29 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing: www.talosintelligence.com/podcast EP29 Show Notes: Recorded May 11, 2018 - First and foremost, we recorded this episode one day before ou...

Beers with Talos EP 25: WE'LL DO IT LIVE!!!

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Episode 25 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing: www.talosintelligence.com/podcast EP25 Show Notes: Recorded 3/13/18 - LIVE from San Jose, California. First of all – we still have a...

Threat Round Up for January 5 - 12

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between January 05 and January 12. As with previous round-ups, this post isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we've observed by highlighting key behavior...

“Cyber Conflict” Decoy Document Used In Real Cyber Conflict

This post was authored by Warren Mercer, Paul Rascagneres and Vitor VenturaUpdate 10/23: CCDCOE released a statement today on their websiteIntroductionCisco Talos discovered a new malicious campaign from the well known actor Group 74 aka Tsar Team, Sofacy, APT28, Fancy Bear…. Ironically the decoy...

CloudZ RAT potentially steals OTP messages using Pheno plugin

Cisco Talos discovered an intrusion, active since at least January 2026, where an unknown attacker implanted a CloudZ remote access tool RAT and a previously undocumented plugin called "Pheno." According to the functionalities of the CloudZ RAT and Pheno plugin, this was with the intention of...

Microsoft Patch Tuesday for May 2025 — Snort rules and prominent vulnerabilities

Microsoft has released its monthly security update for May of 2025 which includes 78 vulnerabilities affecting a range of products, including 11 that Microsoft marked as "critical". Microsoft noted five vulnerabilities that have been observed to be exploited in the wild. CVE-2025-30397 is a remot...

Whatsup Gold, Observium and Offis vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Research team recently disclosed three vulnerabilities in Observium, three vulnerabilities in Offis, and four vulnerabilities in Whatsup Gold. These vulnerabilities exist in Observium, a network observation and monitoring system; Offis DCMTK, a collection of libraries a...

Acrobat out-of-bounds and Foxit use-after-free PDF reader vulnerabilities found

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Research team recently disclosed three out-of-bounds read vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat Reader, and two use-after-free vulnerabilities in Foxit Reader. These vulnerabilities exist in Adobe Acrobat Reader and Foxit Reader, two of the most popular and feature-rich PDF...

MC LR Router and GoCast unpatched vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Research team recently discovered two vulnerabilities in MC Technologies LR Router and three vulnerabilities in the GoCast service. These vulnerabilities have not been patched at time of this posting. For Snort coverage that can detect the exploitation of these...

November Patch Tuesday release contains three critical remote code execution vulnerabilities

The Patch Tuesday for November of 2024 includes 89 vulnerabilities, including four that Microsoft marked as "critical." The remaining vulnerabilities listed are classified as "important." Microsoft assessed that exploitation of the four "critical" vulnerabilities is "less likely." CVE-2024-43639 ...

We’re not talking about cryptocurrency as much as we used to, but there are still plenty of scammers out there

AI has since replaced "cryptocurrency" and "blockchain" as the cybersecurity buzzwords everyone wants to hear. Were not getting as many headlines about cryptocurrency miners, the security risks or promises of the blockchain, or non-fungible tokens being referenced on "Saturday Night Live." A repo...

Two remote code execution vulnerabilities disclosed in Microsoft Excel

Cisco Talos recently discovered two vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet management software that could allow a malicious actor to execute arbitrary code on the targeted machine. Microsoft disclosed these issues and patched them as part of Junes monthly security release for the...

What is a web shell?

Editors note: The Need to Know is a new series from Talos, which focuses on cybersecurity terms, threats, tools and tactics that are discussed in our broader threat research. Think of this as a living encyclopedia of security terms and trends. Cisco Talos Incident Response recently released our...

Talos Takes Ep. #64: Back 2 Skool edition

By Jon Munshaw. The latest episode of Talos Takes is available now. Download this episode and subscribe to Talos Takes using the buttons below, or visit the Talos Takes page. There's no shortage of complications leading into this new school year. Students, parents, teachers and admins alike... Th...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Denial-of-service vulnerability in Rockwell Automation RSLinx

Alexander Perez-Palma of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw.Cisco Talos recently discovered a denial-of-service vulnerability in the Ethernet/IP server functionality of Rockwell Automation RSLinx Classic. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending the targ...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Remote code execution vulnerabilities in Schneider Electric EcoStruxure

Alexander Perez-Palma and Jared Rittle of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw.Cisco Talos recently discovered two code execution vulnerabilities in Schneider Electric EcoStruxure. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by sending the victim a specially crafted...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Authentication bypass vulnerability in some Epson projectors

Yuri Kramarz of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. The Epson EB-1470UI Projector contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in its web control functionality. This projector allows users to control it over the web. However, an adversary could trick a user into...

Beers with Talos Ep. #80: Working securely in a new (not yet) normal

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 80 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. Recorded April 24, 2020 Matt isn’t with us today, but the rest of the crew discusses some current security issues in our...

Beers with Talos Ep. #70: Semper Vigilantes - Strategic Defense in a Cyber Conflict

By Mitch Neff. Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 70 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. Recorded Jan. 6, 2020 There is a looming cyber conflict on the horizon between the U.S. and Iran. We use a...

The sights and sounds of Cisco Talos at RSA 2019

An estimated 45,000 people attended this year’s RSA Conference in San Francisco to hear talks from some of the greatest minds in security. As always, Cisco and Talos had a massive presence at the conference, topping off the week with a keynote address featuring Matt Watchinski, the vice president...

Cisco, Talos tout importance of IoT security at RSA keynote

--- Matt Watchinski, the vice president of Cisco Talos, delivers a keynote address at the RSA Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. By Jonathan Munshaw of Cisco Talos and Liza Meak of The Network, Cisco’s technology news site. By 2020, Gartner predicts 20 billion connected devices will be onlin...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple privilege escalation vulnerabilities in CleanMyMac X

Tyler Bohan of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Executive summary Today, Cisco Talos is disclosing several vulnerabilities in MacPaw’s CleanMyMac X software. CleanMyMac X is a cleanup application for Mac operating systems that allows users to free up extra space on their machines by...

Vulnerability Spotlight: TALOS-2018-0535 - Ocularis Recorder VMS_VA Denial of Service Vulnerability

Vulnerabilities discovered by Carlos Pacho from Talos Overview Talos is disclosing a denial-of-service vulnerability in the Ocularis Recorder. Ocularis is a video management software VMS platform used in a variety of settings, from convenience stores, to city-wide deployments. An attacker can...

Threat Round Up for Dec 01 - Dec 08

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between December 01 and December 08. As with previous round-ups, this post isn't meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we've observed by highlighting key behavior...

Disassembler and Runtime Analysis

This post was authored by Paul Rascagneres.IntroductionIn the CCleaner 64bit stage 2 previously described in our blog, we explained that the attacker modified a legitimate executable that is part of "Symantec Endpoint". This file is named EFACli64.dll. The modification is performed in the runtime...

ClearML and Nvidia vulns

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Discovery & Research team recently disclosed two vulnerabilities in ClearML and four vulnerabilities in Nvidia. The vulnerabilities mentioned in this blog post have been patched by their respective vendors, all in adherence to Cisco 's third-party vulnerability disclosu...

New banking trojan “CarnavalHeist” targets Brazil with overlay attacks

Since February 2024, Cisco Talos has been observing an active campaign targeting Brazilian users with a new banking trojan called "CarnavalHeist." Many of the observed tactics, techniques and procedures TTPs are common among other banking trojans coming out of Brazil. This family has also been...

LilacSquid: The stealthy trilogy of PurpleInk, InkBox and InkLoader

By Anna Bennett, Nicole Hoffman, Asheer Malhotra, Sean Taylor and Brandon White. Cisco Talos is disclosing a new suspected data theft campaign, active since at least 2021, we attribute to an advanced persistent threat actor APT were calling "LilacSquid." LilacSquids victimology includes a diverse...

New Zardoor backdoor used in long-term cyber espionage operation targeting an Islamic organization

By Jungsoo An, Wayne Lee and Vanja Svajcer. Cisco Talos discovered a new, stealthy espionage campaign that has likely persisted since at least March 2021. The observed activity affects an Islamic non-profit organization using backdoors for a previously unreported malware family we have named...

Threat Source newsletter (Jan. 12, 2023): Did ChatGPT write our newsletter?

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. We tried to get ChatGPT to write this weeks newsletter but it was at capacity, so youll have to stick with us for another week. Or maybe thats just what the robots want you to think, you be the judge. The one big thing This week Talos...