Intellexa and Cytrox: From fixer-upper to Intel Agency-grade spyware

By Mike Gentile, Asheer Malhotra and Vitor Ventura. Editors note: This blog post is a public version of a talk presented at LabsCon 2023 on Sept. 22, 2023. You can watch a recording of the talk here. Some of the intelligence presented at LabsCon was later confirmed by an Amnesty International blo...

Year in Malware 2023: Recapping the major cybersecurity stories of the past year

If there is anything the cybersecurity world learned in 2023, its that you can never count any bad guy out. Botnets kept coming back from the dead, ransomware actors found new ways to make money through data theft extortion and threat actors and malware who have been around for more than a decade...

A personal Year in Review to round out 2023

As youve probably seen by now, Talos released our 2023 Year in Review report last week. Its an extremely comprehensive look at the top threats, attacker trends and malware families from the past year with never-before-seen Cisco Talos telemetry. We have podcasts, long-form videos and even Reddit...

Recommendations that defenders can use from Talos’ Year in Review Report

The Talos Year in Review is available now and contains a wealth of insights about how the threat landscape has shifted in 2023. With new ransomware strains emerging from leaked source code, commodity loaders adding more reconnaissance measures to their belts, and geopolitical events influencing A...

Microsoft releases lightest Patch Tuesday in three years, no zero-days disclosed

Microsofts monthly security update released Tuesday is the companys lightest in four years, including only 33 vulnerabilities. Perhaps more notable is that there are no zero-day vulnerabilities included in Decembers Patch Tuesday, a rarity for Microsoft this year. The companys regular set of...

Operation Blacksmith: Lazarus targets organizations worldwide using novel Telegram-based malware written in DLang

Cisco Talos recently discovered a new campaign conducted by the Lazarus Group were calling "Operation Blacksmith," employing at least three new DLang-based malware families, two of which are remote access trojans RATs, where one of these uses Telegram bots and channels as a medium of command and...

Video: Talos 2023 Year in Review highlights

In this video, experts from across Cisco Talos came together to discuss the 2023 Talos Year in Review. We chat about whats new, whats stayed the same, and how the geopolitical environment has affected the threat landscape. This video was recorded live on social media: Read the 2023 Cisco Talos Ye...

Cybersecurity considerations to have when shopping for holiday gifts

As I wrote about last week, there are holiday shopping-related scams already popping up all over the place. But another aspect of security that many shoppers dont consider this time of year is the security of the products theyre buying, even through a legitimate online marketplace. This is a...

Remote code execution vulnerabilities found in Buildroot, Foxit PDF Reader

Cisco Talos has disclosed 10 vulnerabilities over the past two weeks, including nine that exist in a popular online PDF reader that offers a browser plugin. Attackers could exploit these vulnerabilities in the Foxit PDF Reader to carry out a variety of malicious actions, but most notably could ga...

Beers with Talos episode 141: The TurkeyLurkey Man wants YOU to read Talos' Year in Review report

In this episode the Beers with Talos team, led by special guest Dave Liebenberg, set out to save Thanksgiving. The TurkeyLurkey man is the hero that everybody needs, but perhaps dont deserve. For fans and opposers of Daves Ranksgiving list, youll be pleased to know hes back with a whole new order...

The malware, attacker trends and more that shaped the threat landscape in 2023

The 2023 Cisco Talos Year in Review is now available to download. Once again, the Talos team has meticulously combed through a massive amount of data to analyze the major trends that have shaped the threat landscape in 2023. Global conflict influenced a lot of these trends, altering the tactics a...

Project PowerUp – Helping to keep the lights on in Ukraine in the face of electronic warfare

As Russias invasion of Ukraine entered its first winter in late 2022, nearly half of Ukraines energy infrastructure had been destroyed, leaving millions without power. The resulting energy deficit has exacerbated something that hasnt had much media attention: The effects of electronic GPS jammers...

$19 Stanely cups, fake Amazon Prime memberships all part of holiday shopping scams circulating

I know Im a little late to the party to hit the prime SEO for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and holiday shopping. But if I know the readers of this newsletter, everyone is far from done with their holiday shopping already after a few days. I also know Im far from the only person to warn consumers...

New SugarGh0st RAT targets Uzbekistan government and South Korea

Cisco Talos recently discovered a malicious campaign that likely started as early as August 2023, delivering a new remote access trojan RAT we dubbed "SugarGh0st." We found evidence suggesting the threat actor is targeting the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and users in South Korea. We...

What is threat hunting?

Many organizations are curious about the idea of threat hunting, but what does this really entail? What should you be hunting for? And what do you need to put in place to threat hunt properly? Four experienced security professionals from across Cisco recently sat down to discuss the basics of...

Vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Excel could lead to arbitrary code execution

Cisco Talos Vulnerability Research team recently worked with Adobe and Microsoft to patch multiple vulnerabilities in the Acrobat and Excel software, respectively, that could lead to arbitrary code execution. Talos also disclosed six vulnerabilities in the Weston Embedded µC-HTTP HTTP server...

A deep dive into Phobos ransomware, recently deployed by 8Base group

Cisco Talos has recently observed an increase in activity conducted by 8Base, a ransomware group that uses a variant of the Phobos ransomware and other publicly available tools to facilitate their operations. Most of the groups Phobos variants are distributed by SmokeLoader, a backdoor trojan. Th...

Understanding the Phobos affiliate structure and activity

Cisco Talos recently identified the most prolific Phobos variants, common affiliate tactics, techniques and procedures TTPs, and characteristics of the Phobos affiliate structure, based on observed Phobos activity and analysis of over 1,000 Phobos samples from VirusTotal dating back to 2019. We...

We all just need to agree that ad blockers are good

I dont think this is a particularly bold take -- but Im not afraid to say that ad blockers are good! Ever since I started using one sometime in 2016, my experience of using the internet has improved exponentially. I can finally easily find a recipe for dinner on a random influencers blog, get a...

7 common mistakes companies make when creating an incident response plan and how to avoid them

Cisco Talos recently covered the basics of NIS2, a new set of requirements for cybersecurity and security incident disclosures set to take effect next year in the European Union. As part of these new guidelines, organizations with operations in the EU must have up-to-date "incident handling"...

Microsoft discloses only three critical vulnerabilities in November’s Patch Tuesday update, three other zero-days

Microsofts monthly security update released Tuesday only includes three critical vulnerabilities, an unusually small number based on previous months Patch Tuesdays. In all, this set of vulnerabilities Microsoft patched includes 57 vulnerabilities, 54 of which are considered "important." This is t...

A new video series, Google Forms spam and the various gray areas of cyber attacks

I found the juxtaposition of stories on the Talos blog over the past week-plus kind of funny. On one hand, we had a massive story about Arid Viper, a Middle Eastern threat actor spreading spyware, one of the most dangerous types of malware out there right now, operating out of Gaza no less. Then,...

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,...

Spammers abuse Google Forms’ quiz to deliver scams

Spammers are exploiting the "Release scores" feature of Google Forms quizzes to deliver email. The emails originate from Googles own servers and consequently may have an easier time bypassing anti-spam protections and finding the victims inbox. Volumes of these messages hovered near noise levels...

What is NIS2, and how can you best prepare for the new cybersecurity requirements in the EU?

NIS2 is a European directive that includes new measures to ensure that organizations operating in the European Union EU have a high common level of network and infrastructure security. The "directive" outlines the goals all EU member states must achieve. However, each country will implement it in...

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,...

You’d be surprised to know what devices are still using Windows CE

Windows CE -- an operating system that, despite being out for 27 years, never had an official explanation for why it was called "CE" -- finally reached its official end-of-life period this week. This was Microsofts first operating system for embedded and pocket devices, making an appearance on...

Attackers use JavaScript URLs, API forms and more to scam users in popular online game “Roblox”

Online video games often make use of in-game virtual currency and give players the ability to purchase, trade or sell items. While these features are often selling points for players and potential revenue streams for the companies that make them, they also inevitably draw bad actors and scams. On...

Arid Viper disguising mobile spyware as updates for non-malicious Android applications

Since April 2022, Cisco Talos has been tracking a malicious campaign operated by the espionage-motivated Arid Viper advanced persistent threat APT group targeting Arabic-speaking Android users. In this campaign, the actors leverage custom mobile malware, also known as Android Package files APKs, ...

How helpful are estimates about how much cyber attacks cost?

Coming from the newspaper and media industry, Im no stranger to wanting to write catchy headlines. Im certainly at fault for throwing together a story about so-and-sos house sold for X million dollars. But recently Ive been wondering if those "big numbers" for cybersecurity are helpful at all, ev...

9 vulnerabilities found in VPN software, including 1 critical issue that could lead to remote code execution

Cisco Talos has disclosed 17 vulnerabilities over the past two weeks, including nine that exist in a popular VPN software. Attackers could exploit these vulnerabilities in the SoftEther VPN solution for individual and enterprise users to force users to drop their connections or execute arbitrary...

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...

Attacks on web applications spike in third quarter, new Talos IR data shows

Quarterly threat report: Telecommunications and education are most-targeted verticals There was a notable increase in threats to web applications, accounting for 30 percent of the engagements Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR responded to in the third quarter of 2023, compared to 8 percent t...

Threat Roundup for October 13 to October 20

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats weve observed between Oct. 13 and Oct. 20. 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,...

More helpful resources for users of all skill levels to help you Take a Security Action

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. I continue to be saddened by all the conflict in Israel and Gaza thats still ongoing. Ill be back with a "normal" newsletter next week, as unfortunately, there doesnt seem to be a peaceful solution coming any time soon. In the meantim...

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...

Why logging is one of the most overlooked aspects of incident response, and how Cisco Talos IR can help

By Rami Altalhi and David Roman. Logs are fundamental to strengthening an organizations digital defenses. Many logs within an organization contain records related to computer security. These computer security logs are generated by many sources, including security software, workstations, servers,...

Snapshot fuzzing direct composition with WTF

Cisco Talos has developed a custom fuzzer using the popular snapshot fuzzer "WTF" which targets Direct Composition in Windows. Talos vulnerability research team used Protocol Buffers developed by Google to serialize and deserialize test cases. The Bochscpu backend of WTF was patched and other...

Active exploitation of Cisco IOS XE Software Web Management User Interface vulnerabilities

Updates Nov. 02: Identified a third version of the BadCandy implant. Added expected response from the new version of the implant against one of the HTTP requests used to check for infected device. Nov. 1: Observed increase in exploitation attempts since the publication of the proofs-of-concept PO...

Top resources for Cybersecurity Awareness Month

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. I didnt feel like I wanted to write anything special or witty this week given the current events in Israel and the Gaza Strip, but I will certainly advocate for any assistance readers would like to provide to the various organizations...

What to know about the HTTP/2 Rapid Reset DDoS attacks

Cisco Talos is actively tracking the novel distributed denial-of-service DDoS attacks cloud services provider Cloudflare disclosed earlier this week. The techniques described in Cloudflares blog post resulted in a record-breaking DDoS attack and could facilitate much larger attacks in the future...

10 zero-day vulnerabilities in industrial cell router could lead to code execution, buffer overflows

Cisco Talos recently disclosed 11 vulnerabilities, 10 of which are zero-days without a patch in an industrial cellular router. Attackers could exploit these vulnerabilities in the Yifan YF325 to carry out a variety of attacks, in some cases gaining the ability to execute arbitrary shell commands ...

Microsoft patches 12 critical vulnerabilities, nine of which are in Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol

Microsoft disclosed 104 vulnerabilities in its extensive range of software and services, the most in a single Patch Tuesday since July. What is most notable is that this batch of vulnerabilities includes 12 that are considered "critical," nine of which are remote code execution vulnerabilities in...

How looking at decades of spam led Jaeson Schultz from Y2K to the metaverse and cryptocurrency

At this point in his career, Jaeson Schultz has seen nearly every type of online scam there is to see. From fake bomb threats at schools, to "sextortion" campaigns, cryptocurrency mining, metaverse and more of the 2010s, to the earliest type of spam emails in the 1990s that promised to protect...

Is it bad to have a major security incident on your résumé? (Seriously I don’t know)

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Its Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which means its time to hug your nearest defender -- theyre probably tired, could be facing burnout or just have had too much coffee today. What makes the cybersecurity landscape even more fraught...

Qakbot-affiliated actors distribute Ransom Knight malware despite infrastructure takedown

The threat actors behind the Qakbot malware have been conducting a campaign since early August 2023 in which they have been distributing Ransom Knight ransomware and the Remcos backdoor via phishing emails. Notably, this activity appeared to begin before the FBI seized Qakbot infrastructure in la...

What is the dark web?

Most users interact with the internet through the web, and many of the threat actors we write about operate on the "dark web." Broadly speaking, the dark web is a small portion of the "deep web," where the deep web represents most of the Web. We know, its confusing -- lets walk through an example...

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,...

The security pitfalls of social media sites offering ID-based authentication

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Since Elon Musk first started talking about purchasing Twitter/X around this time last year, one of his main sticking points has been how many bot accounts are on the platform and how that potentially affects advertising revenue and...

10 new vulnerabilities disclosed by Talos, including use-after-free issue in Google Chrome

Cisco Talos disclosed 10 vulnerabilities over the past two weeks affecting a range of software, including the popular Google Chrome web browser. Attackers could exploit these vulnerabilities to carry out a variety of attacks, in some cases gaining the ability to execute remote code on the targete...