Microsoft Patch Tuesday for Aug. 2020 — Snort rules and prominent vulnerabilities

By Jon Munshaw. Microsoft released its monthly security update Tuesday, disclosing 120 vulnerabilities across its array of products. Sixteen of the vulnerabilities are considered “critical,” including one that Microsoft says is currently being exploited in the wild. Users of all Microsoft and...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple code execution vulnerabilities in Accusoft ImageGear

Emmanuel Tacheau of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered four code execution vulnerabilities in Accusoft ImageGear. The ImageGear library is a document-imaging developer toolkit to assist users with image conversion, creation, editing...

Beers with Talos Ep. #77: Quittin’ Time, Vol. 1 — Tigers and tales of the in-between

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 77 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 3, 2020 We’re kinda bored. We figured you are too. So we decided to get together between normal recordings...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Information disclosure in Windows 10 Kernel

Marcin Towalski of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered an information disclosure vulnerability in the Windows 10 kernel. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by tricking the victim into opening a specially crafted executable,...

Beers with Talos Ep. #41: Sex, money and malware

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Ep. 41 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. Ep. 41 show notes: Recorded Nov. 9, 2018 — We tried to make this episode last week, but thanks to some technical difficulties, we...

Cyber Threat Alliance Releases Cryptomining Whitepaper

This post is authored by Ashlee Benge. Despite the recent devaluation of some cryptocurrencies, illicit cryptocurrency miners remain a lucrative and widespread attack vector in the threat landscape. These miners are easy to deploy, and attackers see it as a quick way to steal other users'...

Forgot About Default Accounts? No Worries, GoScanSSH Didn’t

This blog post was authored by Edmund Brumaghin, Andrew Williams, and Alain Zidouemba. Executive Summary During a recent Incident Response IR engagement, Talos identified a new malware family that was being used to compromise SSH servers exposed to the internet. This malware, which we have named...

Trust and the enticing consultancy offer

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. In the cybersecurity industry, trust is the invisible currency. Every practitioner carries the implicit trust not to abuse privileged access or knowledge of vulnerabilities in each employment or engagement. This trust is valued by...

Microsoft Patch Tuesday for July 2026 — Snort rules and prominent vulnerabilities

Microsoft has released its monthly security update for July 2026, which includes 622 vulnerabilities affecting a range of products, including 57 that Microsoft marked as "critical." Microsoft notes that two of the vulnerabilities disclosed this month have been exploited in the wild. CVE-2026-5615...

TP-Link, Photoshop, OpenVPN, Norton VPN vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Discovery & Research team recently disclosed eight vulnerabilities in TP-Link, and one each in Adobe Photoshop, OpenVPN, and Gen Digital's Norton VPN. The vulnerabilities mentioned in this blog post have been patched by their respective vendors, in adherence to Cisco 's...

IR Trends Q4 2025: Exploitation remains dominant, phishing campaign targets Native American tribal organizations

Threat actors predominately exploited public-facing applications for the second quarter in a row, with this tactic appearing in nearly 40 percent of Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR engagements -- a notable decrease from over 60 percent last quarter, when engagements involving ToolShell...

UAT-9686 actively targets Cisco Secure Email Gateway and Secure Email and Web Manager

Cisco Talos recently discovered a campaign targeting Cisco AsyncOS Software for Cisco Secure Email Gateway, formerly known as Cisco Email Security Appliance ESA, and Cisco Secure Email and Web Manager, formerly known as Cisco Content Security Management Appliance SMA. We assess with moderate...

From summer camp to grind season

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper. - T.S. Eliot So this is how Summer Camp 2025 ends, not with a bang but a whimper. We've put the summer behind...

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

Microsoft has released its monthly security update for August 2025, which includes 111 vulnerabilities affecting a range of products, including 13 that Microsoft marked as "critical". In this month's release, Microsoft observed none of the included vulnerabilities being actively exploited in the...

The Booker Prize Longlist and Hacker Summer Camp

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. This week the Booker Prize Longlist was released and it featured several books I've read this year a couple that are on my TBR To Be Read, a couple that I had not heard of, and a couple that make me scratch my head and question why...

Talos IR trends Q4 2024: Web shell usage and exploitation of public-facing applications spike

Threat actors increasingly deployed web shells against vulnerable web applications and primarily exploited vulnerable or unpatched public-facing applications to gain initial access in Q4, a notable shift from previous quarters. The functionality of the web shells and targeted web applications...

Checking in on the state of cybersecurity and the Olympics

With the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony only two weeks away now, there is one thing thats an absolute guarantee of one thing happening during the traditionally unpredictable games: Cyber attacks. Every time there is a new Olympic Games, theres a renewed discussion about how threat actors,...

“Pig butchering” is an evolution of a social engineering tactic we’ve seen for years

Whether you want to call them "catfishing," "pig butchering" or just good old-fashioned "social engineering," romance scams have been around forever. I was first introduced to them through the MTV show "Catfish," but recently they seem to be making headlines as the term "pig butchering" enters th...

Exploring malicious Windows drivers (Part 1): Introduction to the kernel and drivers

Drivers have long been of interest to threat actors, whether they are exploiting vulnerable drivers or creating malicious ones. Malicious drivers are difficult to detect and successfully leveraging one can give an attacker full access to a system. Real-world examples can be found in our previous...

Cybercriminals target graphic designers with GPU miners

Cybercriminals are abusing Advanced Installer, a legitimate Windows tool used for creating software packages, to drop cryptocurrency-mining malware on infected machines. This activity has been ongoing since at least November 2021. The attacker uses Advanced Installer to package other legitimate...

Talos Year in Review 2022

This report represents an unprecedented effort within Cisco to tell a comprehensive story of our work in the past year, relying on a wide variety of data and expertise. Download the Report As a large security organization with global reach, the data we use as the basis for our research presents u...

Threat Source newsletter (Dec. 8, 2022): Your uncle clicked every link

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. As we hurtle toward the end of another year I get that tightness in my chest - that feeling that I think most, if not all, Threat Source readers get at this time of year. Thats right, its once again the time of year when no matter wha...

Microsoft Patch Tuesday for July 2022 — Snort rules and prominent vulnerabilities

By Jon Munshaw and Tiago Pereira. Microsoft released its monthly security update Tuesday, disclosing more than 80 vulnerabilities in the company’s various software, hardware and firmware offerings, including one that’s actively being exploited in the wild. July's security update... This is only t...

Threat Advisory: Atlassian Confluence zero-day vulnerability under active exploitation

Cisco Talos is monitoring reports of an actively exploited zero-day vulnerability in Confluence Data Center and Server. Confluence is a Java-based corporate Wiki employed by numerous enterprises. At this time, it is confirmed that all supported versions of Confluence are affected by this... This ...

Attackers use domain fronting technique to target Myanmar with Cobalt Strike

By Chetan Raghuprasad, Vanja Svajcer and Asheer Malhotra. News Summary Cisco Talos discovered a new malicious campaign using a leaked version of Cobalt Strike in September 2021. This shows that Cobalt Strike, although it was originally created as a legitimate tool, continues to be something... Th...

Beers with Talos Ep. #104: Supply chain has Matt hopping mad like a kangaroo

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 104 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos:Apple Podcasts Google PodcastsSpotify StitcherIf iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. By Mitch Neff. Recorded March 30,... This is only the beginning! Please vis...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Remote code execution vulnerability in WebKit WebAudio API

Marcin “Icewall” Noga of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. The WebKit browser engine contains a remote code execution vulnerability in its WebAudio API interface. A malicious web page code could trigger a use-after-free error, which could lead to arbitrary code...

Beers with Talos Ep. #101: Is security the career you really want?

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 101 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos:Apple Podcasts Google PodcastsSpotify StitcherIf iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. By Mitch Neff. Recorded Jan. 22, 2020 – We get a lot of questions in Talos...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple vulnerabilities in SoftMaker Office PlanMaker

Discovered by a Cisco Talos researcher. Blog by Jon Munshaw. SoftMaker's Office PlanMaker contains multiple vulnerabilities that could allow an adversary to cause a variety of malicious conditions in the software. SoftMaker's flagship product, SoftMaker Office, is supported on a variety of...

Threat Roundup for January 15 to January 22

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Jan. 15 and Jan. 22. 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...

Beers with Talos Ep. #96: The boogeyman and QR codes

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 96 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos:Apple Podcasts Google PodcastsSpotify StitcherIf iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. By Mitch Neff. We got delayed with Thanksgiving and PTO, but here is a...

Beers with Talos ep. #94: Nigel is marching on, victorious and glorious

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 94 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos:Apple Podcasts Google PodcastsSpotify StitcherIf iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. By Mitch Neff. Recorded Sept. 25, 2020 Today is Nigel’s last episode as a...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple vulnerabilities in Nitro Pro PDF reader

Cisco Talos researchers discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered multiple code execution vulnerabilities in the Nitro Pro PDF reader. Nitro PDF allows users to save, read, sign and edit PDFs on their computers. The software contains vulnerabilities th...

Threat Source newsletter for June 11, 2020

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Good afternoon, Talos readers. We are back this week with new content, mainly around Microsoft Patch Tuesday. We have our complete breakdown of all the vulns here, as well as in-depth information on two remote code execution vulnerabilities one of our researche...

Threat Roundup for March 6 to March 13

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between March 6 and March 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 characteristic...

Threat Source newsletter (Feb. 13, 2020)

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Welcome to this week’s Threat Source newsletter — the perfect place to get caught up on all things Talos from the past week. This month’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday was particularly hefty, with the company disclosing nearly 100 vulnerabilities — three of which Tal...

GPlayed's younger brother is a banker — and it's after Russian banks

This blog post is authored by Vitor Ventura. Introduction Cisco Talos published its findings on a new Android trojan known as "GPlayed" on Oct. 11. At the time, we wrote that the trojan seemed to be in the testing stages of development, based on the malware's code patterns, strings and telemetry...

Malicious MDM: Let's Hide This App

This blog post is authored by Warren Mercer and Paul Rascagneres with contributions from Nick Biasini Summary Since our initial discovery of a malicious mobile device management MDM platform that was loading fake applications onto smartphones, we have gained greater insight into the attacker's...

Advanced Mobile Malware Campaign in India uses Malicious MDM

This blog post is authored by Warren Mercer and Paul Rascagneres and Andrew Williams. Summary Cisco Talos has identified a highly targeted campaign against 13 iPhones which appears to be focused on India. The attacker deployed an open-source mobile device management MDM system to control enrolled...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Computerinsel Photoline Multiple Vulnerabilities

Vulnerabilities discovered by Tyler Bohan from Talos Overview Today, Cisco Talos is disclosing several vulnerabilities in Computerinsel Photoline. Photoline is an image-processing tool used to modify and edit images, as well as other graphic-related material. This product has a sizable user base...

Threat Roundup for April 6 - 13

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between April 6 and 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 characteristics,...

Critical Infrastructure at Risk: Advanced Actors Target Smart Install Client

Update: 4/9 Cisco PSIRT has released additional guidance available here. Cisco has recently become aware of specific advanced actors targeting Cisco switches by leveraging a protocol misuse issue in the Cisco Smart Install Client. Several incidents in multiple countries, including some specifical...

Beers with Talos EP 19: The "Best" of BWT

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Episode 19 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 EP19 Show Notes: Quotes intended, we think you know why. Mitch takes control to present the best of the...

Threat Round Up for Oct 20 - Oct 27

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between October 20 and October 27. 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...

Beers with Talos Podcast Now Available

The first episodes of Beers with Talos are now available on iTunes and directly on talosintelligence.com/podcasts.When Talos decided to make a threat intelligence podcast, we wanted to make it different than your typical buttoned down, subdued security podcast. The BWT crew: Craig, Joel, a...

The Fine Art of Frustrating the Adversary

For Cybersecurity Awareness Month, eight Cisco Talos researchers share practical ways defenders can frustrate adversaries at different stages of an operation. Deception techniques such as honeypot accounts, false infrastructure, and tarpits can slow adversaries down while giving defenders earlier...

Update, March 13: Talos on the developing situation in the Middle East

Update history Date | Description of updates ---|--- March 13, 2026 | Talos' assessment of the cyber attack on Stryker and the elevated threat landscape. Key findings and background on Handala, the Iranian-linked threat group. March 10, 2026 | Updated guidance and recommendations, IOCs, and...

BRB, pausing for a "Sanctuary Moon" marathon

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Yesterday, Cisco Talos debuted the first Humans of Talos episode, where I interviewed Hazel Burton, a face and voice you're probably familiar with. In our conversation, Hazel shared not just the story of how she found her way onto th...

Unmasking the new Chaos RaaS group attacks

Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR recently observed attacks by Chaos, a relatively new ransomware-as-a-service RaaS group conducting big-game hunting and double extortion attacks. Chaos RaaS actors initiated low-effort spam flooding, escalating to voice-based social engineering for access,...

ToolShell: Details of CVEs affecting SharePoint servers

Update 2025/07/22: Microsoft has released a security update for Sharepoint Enterprise Server 2016. The update, with the ID KB5002760, is available in the following link . Cisco Talos is aware of the ongoing exploitation of CVE-2025-53770 and CVE-2025-53771 in the wild. These are path traversal...