Talos releases new macOS open-source fuzzer

Cisco Talos has developed a fuzzer that enables us to test macOS software on commodity hardware. Fuzzer utilizes a snapshot-based fuzzing approach and is based on WhatTheFuzz framework. Support for VM state extraction was implemented and WhatTheFuzz was extended to support the loading of VMWare...

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...

ICS protocol coverage using Snort 3 service inspectors

With more devices on operational technology OT networks now getting connected to wide-reaching IT networks, it is more important than ever to have effective detection capabilities for ICS protocols. However, there are a few issues that usually arise when creating detection for ICS protocol traffi...

Malicious campaigns target government, military and civilian entities in Ukraine, Poland

Cisco Talos has discovered a threat actor conducting several campaigns against government entities, military organizations and civilian users in Ukraine and Poland. We judge that these operations are very likely aimed at stealing information and gaining persistent remote access. The activity we...

The growth of commercial spyware based intelligence providers without legal or ethical supervision

Attackers have long used commercial products developed by legitimate companies to compromise targeted devices. These products are known as commercial spyware. Commercial spyware operations mainly target mobile platforms with zero- or one-click zero-day exploits to deliver spyware. This threat...

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...

Threat Source newsletter (Jan. 19, 2023): Talent retention and institutional knowledge

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Talent retention and institutional knowledge go hand in hand. Both are critical to ensuring the security of your network environment. To that end, I want to talk briefly about why talent retention isnt just about money. So I am going ...

Threat Roundup for October 7 to October 14

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

Threat Roundup for September 30 to October 7

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Sept. 30 and Oct. 7. 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...

Insider Threats: Your employees are being used against you

By Nick Biasini. Insider threats are becoming an increasingly common part of the attack chain, with malicious insiders and unwitting assets playing key roles in incidents over the past year. Social engineering should be part of any organization’s policies and procedures and a key area for user...

Talos EMEA Monthly Threat Update: How do you know if cyber insurance is right for you?

On September's edition of the Monthly EMEA Threat Update, Hazel Burton and Martin Lee break down cyber insurance. Although many businesses and organizations will think insurance will only help them in a worst-case scenario, that worst-case scenario comes for us all eventually. Martin and Hazel...

0xCC'd

We spend a lot of time preparing for Blackhat, and as part of putting together content for the show, one of our best, Lurene Grenier, submitted an unexpected piece of content: a poem. Now this poem isn't our regular security research or a shiny piece of corporate correspondence which we would nev...

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: Critical F5 BIG-IP Vulnerability

Summary A recently disclosed vulnerability in F5 Networks' BIG-IP could allow an unauthenticated attacker to access the BIG-IP system to execute arbitrary system commands, create and delete files, disable services and could lead to additional malicious activity. This vulnerability, tracked as...

Threat Roundup for March 25 to April 1

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between March 25 and April 1. 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...

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...

Downtime on Talos Intelligence

TalosIntelligence.com will be down for a short time on Sept. 17 around 10 a.m. ET while we perform some routine maintenance on the site. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We expect the interruption will only last for about 30 minutes. This is only the beginning! Please visit the...

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...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple vulnerabilities in AT&T Labs’ Xmill utility

Carl Hurd of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in AT&T Labs’ Xmill utility. An attacker could take advantage of these issues to carry out a variety of malicious actions, including corrupting the... This is...

Threat Roundup for June 4 to June 11

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between June 4 and June 11. 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...

Cisco Talos Advisory on Adversaries Targeting the Healthcare and Public Health Sector

BackgroundCisco Talos has become aware that an adversary is leveraging Trickbot banking trojan and Ryuk ransomware to target U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers at an increasing rate. Security journalists reported on October 28, 2020 that the adversary was preparing to encrypt systems at...

Threat Roundup for October 23 to October 30

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between Oct. 23 and Oct. 30. 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: Information leak vulnerability in Google Chrome WebGL

Marcin Towalski of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. The Google Chrome web browser contains a vulnerability that could be exploited by an adversary to carry out a range of malicious actions. Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers currently available to users...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Remote code execution vulnerabilities in LEADTOOLS 20

Cory Duplantis of Cisco Talos discovered this vulnerability. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered a remote code execution vulnerability in the LEADTOOLS line of imaging toolkits. LEADTOOLS is a collection of toolkits designed to perform a variety of functions aimed at integrating...

Beers with Talos Ep. #85: The In-Between, Vol. 5

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast episode No. 85 is now available. Download this episode and subscribe to Beers with Talos:Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Stitcher If iTunes and Google Play aren't your thing, click here. By Mitch Neff. Recorded May 29, 2020 Prod. Note: Things are a hot mess rig...

Threat Roundup for June 5 to June 12

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between June 5 and June 12. 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. #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...

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...

Threat Roundup for April 10 to April 17

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we've observed between April 10 and April 17. 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...

Vulnerability Spotlight: Multiple vulnerabilities in LEADTOOLS software

Marcin Towalski and Cory Duplantis of Cisco Talos discovered these vulnerabilities. Blog by Jon Munshaw. Cisco Talos recently discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the LEADTOOLS line of imaging toolkits. LEADTOOLS is a collection of toolkits designed to perform a variety of functions aimed at...

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...

Talos Threat Research Summit at Cisco Live US 2018

Cisco Talos presents a conference by Defenders, for Defenders. Talos had one goal in mind when creating a brand new conference: Make something that we'd want to attend ourselves. As such, the Talos Threat Research Summit is aimed at being a one-day conference by defenders, for defenders. This...

Beers with Talos EP 18: Kitties in My Blockchain, Obfuscating Pronunciations, and Other Security Stuff

Beers with Talos BWT Podcast Episode 18 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 EP18 Show Notes: It’s the last full episode of the year! Thanks to you and the diligent work of Matt’s...

The safety penalty: Reclaiming operational sovereignty in the age of AI

As frontier models advance in cyber capability, their guardrails also become more restrictive. Defenders relying on these models to power core SOC processes cannot afford to pay the "safety penalty" of being blocked by these safeguards. Organizations should monitor model refusal rates and use the...

Martin Lee: Running through the Arctic (and the threat landscape)

Ever wonder how someone goes from studying human viruses to leading cybersecurity teams? In this Humans of Talos, we're joined by Martin Lee, EMEA Lead, to talk about his journey into the industry. Martin takes us back to the early days of the internet, explaining how he made the leap from academ...

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...

Hypotheses, telemetry, and human judgment: Inside Cisco Talos Threat Hunting

By Ron Scott-Adams Most security tools operate on a simple principle: If a known-bad pattern appears, fire an alert. This works well enough for many threats, but it fails against adversaries who closely study detection thresholds and deliberately stay under them. Cisco Talos Threat Hunting operat...

The Trojan horse of cybercrime: Weaponizing SaaS notification pipelines

By Diana Brown Cisco Talos has recently observed an increase in activity that is leveraging notification pipelines in popular collaboration platforms to deliver spam and phishing emails. These emails are transmitted using the legitimate mail delivery infrastructure associated with GitHub and Jira...

Brushstrokes and breaches with Terryn Valikodath

Cisco Talos is kicking off the new year with a behind-the-scenes look at incident response through the eyes of Terryn Valikodath, Senior Incident Response Consultant at Talos. In this episode, Amy sits down with Terryn to explore the realities of a job that blends technical know-how with...

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

The Patch Tuesday for December of 2025 includes 57 vulnerabilities, including two that Microsoft marked as "critical." The remaining vulnerabilities listed are classified as "important." Microsoft assessed that exploitation of the two "critical" vulnerabilities is "less likely." CVE ‑2025‑62562 i...

New in Snort3: Enhanced rule grouping for greater flexibility and control

Today, Cisco Talos is introducing new capabilities for Snort3 users within Cisco Secure Firewall. These enhancements are designed to give you greater flexibility in how you manage, organize, and prioritize detection rules. They also make it easier to align SNORT® rules with your organization's...

IR Trends Q3 2025: ToolShell attacks dominate, highlighting criticality of segmentation and rapid response

Threat actors predominately exploited public-facing applications for initial access this quarter, with this tactic appearing in over 60 percent of Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR engagements - a notable increase from less than 10 percent last quarter. This spike is largely attributable to ...

Defining a new methodology for modeling and tracking compartmentalized threats

In the evolving cyberthreat landscape, Cisco Talos is witnessing a significant shift towards compartmentalized attack kill chains, where distinct stages -- such as initial compromise and subsequent exploitation -- are executed by multiple threat actors. This trend complicates traditional threat...

Small praise for modern compilers - A case of Ubuntu printing vulnerability that wasn’t

By Aleksandar Nikolich Earlier this year, we conducted code audits of the macOS printing subsystem, which is heavily based on the open-source CUPS package. During this investigation, IPP-USB protocol caught our attention. IPP over USB specification defines how printers that are available over USB...

Bidirectional communication via polyrhythms and shuffles: Without Jon the beat must go on

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Bidirectional communication is foundational to a well-built team regardless of environment. It's critical in information security to be able to drive a conversation up the ladder and down and not lose the critical elements. One of th...

We can try to bridge the cybersecurity skills gap, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more jobs for defenders

I have written about the dreaded " cybersecurity skills gap" more times than I can remember in this newsletter, but I feel like it's time to revisit this topic again. That's because the White House announced a new initiative last week for the U.S. government called the " Service for America"...

Hidden between the tags: Insights into spammers’ evasion techniques in HTML Smuggling

Cisco Talos has spotted several malicious email campaigns over the past few months that disguise JavaScript code within HTML email attachments, a technique commonly known as "HTML Smuggling." Cisco Talos has noticed that some industry verticals were targeted more than others by email threats usin...