Threat Roundup for May 28 to June 4

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between May 28 and June 4. 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,...

Threat Roundup for May 7 to May 14

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between May 7 and May 14. 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,...

Kasablanka Group's LodaRAT improves espionage capabilities on Android and Windows

By Warren Mercer, Chris Neal and Vitor Ventura. The developers of LodaRAT have added Android as a targeted platform.A new iteration of LodaRAT for Windows has been identified with improved sound recording capabilities.The operators behind LodaRAT tied to a specific campaign targeting Bangladesh,...

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...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple vulnerabilities in Foxit PDF Reader JavaScript engine

Aleksandar Nikolic of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw.Executive summary Cisco Talos recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in Foxit PDF Reader’s JavaScript engine. Foxit PDF Reader is a commonly used PDF reader that contains many features, including the...

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 July 30, 2020

Newsletter compiled by Jon Munshaw. Good afternoon, Talos readers. Adversaries love to use headlines as part of their spam campaigns. From COVID-19, to Black Lives Matter and even Black Friday every year, the bad guys are wanting to capitalize on current events. Why is this the case, and when do...

Beers with Talos Ep. #88: It’s not about the vote, it’s about trust

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 88 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 July 7, 2020 Nigel is out this week, but we have a...

Beers with Talos Ep. #84: Mid-career advancement in cyber security

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 84 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos: If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. By Mitch Neff. Recorded May 26, 2020 Prod. Note: Things are a hot mess right now and the team thinks that there are voice...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Remote code execution vulnerability in Firefox’s SharedWorkerService function

Marcin “Icewall” Noga of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. The Mozilla Firefox web browser contains a vulnerability in its SharedWorkerService function that could allow an attacker to gain the ability to remotely execute code on a target’s machine. This vulnerability...

Threat Roundup for May 29 to June 5

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between May 29 and June 5. 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: Code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Excel

Marcin “Icewall” Noga of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered a code execution vulnerability in some versions of Microsoft Excel. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by tricking the victim into opening a specially crafted Excel...

Beers with Talos Ep. #79: The In-Between vol. 2 (It's a better name than Quittin' Time)

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 79 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 22, 2020 We are renaming these episodes. “Quittin’ time” was OK and all, but “The In-between” better...

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...

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'...

Gandcrab Ransomware Walks its Way onto Compromised Sites

This blog post authored by Nick Biasini with contributions from Nick Lister and Christopher Marczewski. Despite the recent decline in the prevalence of ransomware in the threat landscape, Cisco Talos has been monitoring the now widely distributed ransomware called Gandcrab. Gandcrab uses both...

SamSam - The Evolution Continues Netting Over $325,000 in 4 Weeks

This post was written by Vitor Ventura Introduction Talos has been working in conjunction with Cisco IR Services on what we believe to be a new variant of the SamSam ransomware. This ransomware has been observed across multiple industries including Government, Healthcare and ICS. These attacks do...

Beers with Talos EP 13:A Vast CCleanup, Strutting Your Stuff, and the Ex$ploit Economy

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Episode 13 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos:If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing: a href="ht...

The Internet of Vulnerable Things

IntroductionTechnological progress is resulting in computing systems that are smaller, cheaper and consuming less power. These micro-computing systems are able to be integrated into everyday objects; when coupled with ubiquitous wireless connectivity these devices form the “Internet of Things”. T...

The Hunter's Paradox: Is it time to embrace automated threat hunting?

Should we let AI run our threat hunts? The debate usually splits into two camps. One says, "Yes, obviously! The sheer scale of our security telemetry is impossible for humans to deal with." The other says, "Absolutely not! You can't trust an AI with something this important." The thing is, I thin...

Close Encounters of the Human Kind

Welcome to this week's Threat Source newsletter. I love a Spielberg summer. His ability to imbue a sense of wonder, awe, curiosity, and connection means he's in a league of his own. Granted, I haven't felt that from him in a while, but when he hits? Oof. I feel like I need somebody to reach acros...

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

Microsoft has released its monthly security update for June 2026, which includes 206 vulnerabilities affecting a range of products, including 32 that Microsoft marked as "critical". Out of 32 "critical" entries, 28 are remote code execution RCE vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows services and...

From the field to the report and back again: How incident responders can use the Year in Review

Every year, Cisco Talos publishes Year in Review, a comprehensive look at the previous year's threat landscape. It's drawn from an enormous volume of telemetry, such as endpoint detections, network traffic, email data, and boots-on-the-ground Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR engagements. As...

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...

New TorNet backdoor seen in widespread campaign

Cisco Talos discovered an ongoing malicious campaign operated by a financially motivated threat actor since as early as July 2024 targeting users, predominantly in Poland and Germany, based on the phishing email language. The actor has delivered different payloads, including Agent Tesla, Snake...

Highlighting TA866/Asylum Ambuscade Activity Since 2021

TA866 also known as Asylum Ambuscade is a threat actor that has been conducting intrusion operations since at least 2020. TA866 has frequently relied on commodity and custom tooling to facilitate post-compromise activities. These tools often perform specific functions and are deployed and used as...

How we can separate botnets from the malware operations that rely on them

As I covered in last weeks newsletter, law enforcement agencies from around the globe have been touting recent botnet disruptions affecting the likes of some of the largest threat actors and malware families. Operation Endgame, which Europol touted as the "largest ever operation against botnets,"...

Talos joins CISA to counter cyber threats against non-profits, activists and other at-risk communities

Cisco Talos is delighted to share updates about our ongoing partnership with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA to combat cybersecurity threats facing civil society organizations. Talos has partnered with CISA on several initiatives through the Joint Cyber Defense...

James Nutland studies what makes threat actors tick, growing our understanding of the current APT landscape

If state-sponsored actors are after one thing, its to spread fear and uncertainty across the internet. Theres always money to be made targeting individual businesses and organizations, but for James Nutlands work, its always about the bigger picture. And his background in studying counterterroris...

The internet is already scary enough without April Fool’s jokes

I feel like over the past several years, the "holiday" that is April Fools Day has really died down. At this point, there are few headlines you can write that would be more ridiculous than something youd find on a news site any day of the week. And there are so many more serious issues that are...

Why Apple added protection against quantum computing when quantum computing doesn’t even exist yet

Apple released a new update for nearly all its devices that provides an all-new type of encryption for its iMessages to the point that, in theory, iMessages are now protected against attacks from quantum computers. This is a little tricky because, as weve covered before, quantum computers dont...

How are attackers using QR codes in phishing emails and lure documents?

Though QR codes were once on the verge of extinction, many consumers are used to seeing them in the wild for ordering at restaurants, or as mainstays on storefront doors informing customers how they can sign up for a newsletter or score a sweet deal. The use of QR codes saw a resurgence during th...

What is Cracktivator software?

Cisco Talos coined the term "Cracktivator software" to reference counterfeit or modified software for pirated versions of Windows applications. One of our teammates, James Nutland, led the research to look into cracked versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system and other Microsoft...

Threat Roundup for September 22 to September 29

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats weve observed between Sept. 22 and Sept. 29. 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,...

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...

Generating FLIRT signatures for Nim and other non-C programming languages

Adversaries are increasingly writing malware in programming languages such as Go, Rust, or Nim, because they present challenges to investigators using reverse-engineering tools designed to work best against the C family of languages. Its often difficult for reverse engineers examining non-C...

The rise of AI-powered criminals: Identifying threats and opportunities

AIs influence is growing across the security space, bringing with it major implications for cybercriminals and defenders. The recent adoption of AI has raised significant concerns for cybersecurity due to the many ways that criminals can use AI for disruption and profit. Defenders and law...

Previewing Talos at BlackHat 2023

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. The time has come once again for all of us well, not me specifically but lots of other Talos people to descend on Las Vegas for Hacker Summer Camp. Cisco Talos will be well-represented at BlackHat and DEF CON over the course of the ne...

It’s really OK to take a break sometimes, especially in security

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. You probably already know this by now, but May is Mental Health Awareness Month across the globe. Many people will apply this time of reflection and education to their personal lives -- its easy to discuss anxiety, depression and othe...

What Old is New Again and What's Old is Me?

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Whats old is new again and whats old is still old. The fact that we are seeing a comeback of this USB thumb drive nonsense is giving me heartburn, and a headache, and my left eye is twitching … and maybe numbness in my legs? Yes, I am...

The benefits of taking an intent-based approach to detecting Business Email Compromise

BEC is a multi-stage attack. Adversaries first identify targets, then they establish rapport with the victim before exploiting them for whatever their end goal is. In the case of BEC, a threat actor can impersonate any employee in the organization to trick targets. A policy that checks for...

The benefits of taking an intent-based approach to detecting Business Email Compromise

By Abhishek Singh. BEC is a multi-stage attack. Adversaries first identify targets, then they establish rapport with the victim before exploiting them for whatever their end goal is. In the case of BEC, a threat actor can impersonate any employee in the organization to trick targets. A policy tha...

Our current world, health care apps and your personal data

What does your autonomy mean to you? By Ashlee Benge and Jonathan Munshaw. After the recent Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the use of third-party apps to track health care has recently come under additional scrutiny for privacy implications. Many of these ap...

Transparent Tribe begins targeting education sector in latest campaign

Cisco Talos has been tracking a new malicious campaign operated by the Transparent Tribe APT group. This campaign involves the targeting of educational institutions and students in the Indian subcontinent, a deviation from the adversary's typical focus on government entities. The attacks result i...

Threat Advisory: DoubleZero

Overview The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine released an advisory on March 22, 2022 disclosing another wiper dubbed "DoubleZero" targeting Ukrainian enterprises during Russia's invasion of the country. This wiper was detected as early as March 17, 2022. DoubleZero is yet another...

Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities exploited once again for ransomware, this time with Babuk

By Chetan Raghuprasad and Vanja Svajcer, with contributions from Caitlin Huey. Cisco Talos recently discovered a malicious campaign deploying variants of the Babuk ransomware predominantly affecting users in the U.S. with smaller number of infections in U.K., Germany, Ukraine, Finland, Brazil,...

Microsoft Patch Tuesday for Oct. 2021 — Snort rules and prominent vulnerabilities

By Jon Munshaw, with contributions from Asheer Malhotra. Microsoft released its monthly security update Tuesday, disclosing 78 vulnerabilities in the company’s various software, hardware and firmware offerings. This month’s release is particularly notable because there are only... This is only th...

Talos Takes Ep. #69: Our armadillo in shining armor

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 also preach the importance of multi-factor authentication. But what happens when the bad guys start going after... This...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Information disclosure vulnerability in D-LINK DIR-3040 mesh router

Dave McDaniel of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered an exploitable information disclosure vulnerability in the D-LINK DIR-3040 smart WiFi mesh router that could allow an adversary to eventually turn off the device or remove other... Thi...

Talos Takes Ep: #65: How several RAT campaigns in Latin America are connected

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. As more people around the world start to get vaccinated against COVID-19, travel is becoming easier, especially during...