Ransomware attacks and how victims respond

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. I count myself fortunate that I have never been on the receiving end of a ransomware attack. My experiences have been from research and response, never as a victim. It's a tough scenario: One day you are working or minding your own...

BeaverTail and OtterCookie evolve with a new Javascript module

Cisco Talos has uncovered a new attack linked to Famous Chollima, a threat group aligned with North Korea DPRK. This group is known for impersonating hiring organizations to target job seekers, tricking them into installing information-stealing malware to obtain cryptocurrency and user credential...

Laura Faria: Empathy on the front lines

What does it take to lead through chaos and keep organizations safe in the digital age? This week, Amy sat down with Laura Faria, an incident commander at Cisco Talos Incident Response, to explore a career built on empathy, collaboration, and a passion for cybersecurity. Laura opens up about her...

Open PLC and Planet vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Discovery & Research team recently disclosed one vulnerability in the OpenPLC logic controller and four vulnerabilities in the Planet WGR-500 router. For Snort coverage that can detect the exploitation of these vulnerabilities, download the latest rule sets from...

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

Microsoft has released its monthly security update for October 2025, addressing 175 Microsoft CVEs and 21 non-Microsoft CVEs. Among these, 17 vulnerabilities are considered critical and 11 are flagged as important and considered more likely to be exploited. Current intelligence shows that three o...

Why don’t we sit around this computer console and have a sing-along?

Harnessing fire is one of mankind's earliest technological advances. A controlled, tame fire offers us warmth, light and succulent cooked food. Yet, allow the controlled fire to burn too fiercely and it risks becoming an uncontained fire. The unexpected smell of smoke or the sight of tall flames...

Velociraptor leveraged in ransomware attacks

Cisco Talos has confirmed that ransomware operators are leveraging Velociraptor, an open-source digital forensics and incident response DFIR tool that had not previously been definitively tied to ransomware incidents. We assess with moderate confidence that this activity can be attributed to thre...

What to do when you click on a suspicious link

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and as the tech-savvy friend or family member, people probably come to you for advice. One of the most common questions is: "I clicked a suspicious link. What do I do now?" Don't worry -- panic won't help, but a calm, step-by-step response will. Share thi...

Too salty to handle: Exposing cases of CSS abuse for hidden text salting

Cisco Talos has been closely monitoring the abuse of cascading style sheets CSS properties to include irrelevant content or salt in different parts of messages, a technique known as hidden text salting. This blog is a follow-up to our previous reports in January and March 2025 on CSS abuse in...

Family group chats: Your (very last) line of cyber defense

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter, and happy Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Like everyone under the age of 35 who has at least one father, my dad sends me advice on online safety at least once a week. Does he work in information security? No. He's a recently retired...

UAT-8099: Chinese-speaking cybercrime group targets high-value IIS for SEO fraud

Cisco Talos is disclosing details on UAT-8099, a Chinese-speaking cybercrime group mainly involved in search engine optimization SEO fraud and theft of high-value credentials, configuration files, and certificate data. Cisco's file census and DNS analysis show affected Internet Information Servic...

Nvidia and Adobe vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Discovery & Research team recently disclosed five vulnerabilities in Nvidia and one in Adobe Acrobat. The vulnerabilities mentioned in this blog post have been patched by their respective vendors, all in adherence to Cisco 's third-party vulnerability disclosure policy...

Great Scott, I’m tired

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. "Back to the Future" is 40 years old this year, and at the risk of giving away sensitive information to an audience of hackers… so am I. I don't really know what 40 is supposed to feel like. Honestly, I don't feel all that different...

What happens when you engage Cisco Talos Incident Response?

In today's world, cybersecurity incidents are not a matter of if, but when and how. From ransomware attacks to data breaches exposing sensitive information, organizations face a changing threat landscape. As a result of cybersecurity attacks, organizations can experience downtime, financial losse...

How RainyDay, Turian and a new PlugX variant abuse DLL search order hijacking

Cisco Talos discovered a new campaign active since 2022, targeting the telecommunications and manufacturing sectors in Central and South Asian countries, delivering a new variant of PlugX. Talos discovered that the new variant's features overlap with both the RainyDay and Turian backdoors,...

Put together an IR playbook — for your personal mental health and wellbeing

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. This is gonna be a tough read. I'm sorry. Believe it or not, it's even tougher for me to write. I want to talk about what it costs to be in the cybersecurity profession. Not money or time, but potentially your health, both mentally a...

Alex Ryan: From zero chill to quiet confidence

Welcome to another episode of Humans of Talos, our ongoing video interview series that celebrates the people powering Cisco's threat intelligence efforts. In each episode, we dive deep into the personal journeys, motivations and lessons learned from the team members who help keep the internet saf...

Why a Cisco Talos Incident Response Retainer is a game-changer

In today's hyper-connected world, cyber attacks are not a matter of if but when. Ransomware, phishing and data breaches dominate headlines. For any organization, the stakes are high and the impact can be wide. A cybersecurity breach can impact your organization's ability to conduct normal busines...

Beaches and breaches

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. I took a two-week vacation thanks to Bill for covering my author shift last week and made the deliberate choice to leave my laptop behind. No emails, IMs, no IT at all. Thank you, European work culture! It was a complete break. Well,...

Maturing the cyber threat intelligence program

The Cyber Threat Intelligence Capability Maturity Model CTI-CMM helps organizations assess and improve their threat intelligence programs by outlining 11 key areas and specific missions where CTI can support decision-making. The model describes four levels of maturity, guiding teams from basic, a...

Microsoft Patch Tuesday for September 2025 – Snort rules and prominent vulnerabilities

Microsoft has released its monthly security update for September 2025, which includes 86 vulnerabilities affecting a range of products. In this month's release, Microsoft observed none of the included vulnerabilities being exploited in the wild. However, there are eight vulnerabilities where...

Stopping ransomware before it starts: Lessons from Cisco Talos Incident Response

Over the past two and a half years January 2023 through June 2025, Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR has responded to numerous engagements that we classified as pre-ransomware incidents. Talos looked back to analyze what key security measures were credited with deterring ransomware deploymen...

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...

Link up, lift up, level up

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. As summer retreats into the rear-view mirror, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on one of my favorite things about the cybersecurity profession: the community. Earlier this month, I attended Black Hat USA 2025 and DEF CON 33 in...

Libbiosig, Tenda, SAIL, PDF XChange, Foxit vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Discovery & Research team recently disclosed ten vulnerabilities in BioSig Libbiosig, nine in Tenda AC6 Router, eight in SAIL, two in PDF-XChange Editor, and one in a Foxit PDF Reader. The vulnerabilities mentioned in this blog post have been patched by their respective...

Cherry pie, Douglas firs and the last trip of the summer

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Diane, 2:01 p.m., August 21st. I've just returned from a remarkable journey through Seattle and the misty roads of the Olympic Peninsula. If you ever find yourself driving beneath those towering Douglas firs or dragged by your partne...

Russian state-sponsored espionage group Static Tundra compromises unpatched end-of-life network devices

Static Tundra is a Russian state-sponsored cyber espionage group linked to the FSB's Center 16 unit that has been operating for over a decade, specializing in compromising network devices for long-term intelligence gathering operations. The group actively exploits a seven-year-old vulnerability...

Ransomware incidents in Japan during the first half of 2025

In the first half of 2025, the number of ransomware attacks in Japan increased by approximately 1.4 times compared to the previous year. Ransomware attackers continue to primarily target small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan. The most affected industry remains manufacturing, unchanged from...

JJ Cummings: The art of controlling information

Welcome to the second episode of Humans of Talos, our ongoing video interview series that celebrates the people powering Cisco's threat intelligence efforts. In each episode, we dive deep into the personal journeys, motivations and lessons learned from the team members who help keep the internet...

UAT-7237 targets Taiwanese web hosting infrastructure

Cisco Talos discovered UAT-7237, a Chinese-speaking advanced persistent threat APT group active since at least 2022, which has significant overlaps with UAT-5918. UAT-7237 conducted a recent intrusion targeting web infrastructure entities within Taiwan and relies heavily on the use of open-source...

What happened in Vegas (that you actually want to know about)

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Last week I flew 5,000 miles to Las Vegas for Black Hat USA. After navigating the casino carpet labyrinth and finding the only venue in Nevada that serves a proper English breakfast tea with milk lifesaver, I've decided Black Hat fee...

Malvertising campaign leads to PS1Bot, a multi-stage malware framework

Cisco Talos has observed an ongoing malware campaign that seeks to infect victims with a multi-stage malware framework, implemented in PowerShell and C, which we are referring to as "PS1Bot." PS1Bot features a modular design, with several modules delivered used to perform a variety of malicious...

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...

ReVault! When your SoC turns against you… deep dive edition

For a high-level overview of this research, you can refer to our Vulnerability Spotlight. This is the in-depth version that shares many more technical details. In this post, we'll be covering the entire research process as well as providing technical explanations of the exploits behind the attack...

AI wrote my code and all I got was this broken prototype

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Vulnerabilities within software are a persistent challenge. Software engineers inadvertently tend to make the same mistakes repeatedly, with the same entries appearing in the annual top 25 list of Common Weakness Enumerations each...

WWBN, MedDream, Eclipse vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Discovery & Research team recently disclosed seven vulnerabilities in WWBN AVideo, four in MedDream, and one in an Eclipse ThreadX module. The vulnerabilities mentioned in this blog post have been patched by their respective vendors, all in adherence to Cisco 's...

ReVault! When your SoC turns against you…

Talos reported 5 vulnerabilities to Broadcom and Dell affecting both the ControlVault3 Firmware and its associated Windows APIs that we are calling "ReVault". 100+ models of Dell Laptops are affected by this vulnerability if left unpatched. The ReVault attack can be used as a post-compromise...

Backdoors & Breaches: How Talos is helping humanitarian aid NGOs prepare for cyber attacks

In 2023, Talos collaborated with NetHope and Cisco Crisis Response to create a customized Backdoors & Breaches expansion deck for international humanitarian organizations, addressing their unique cybersecurity challenges. The new expansion deck helps NGOs with constrained budgets improve proactiv...

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...

Using LLMs as a reverse engineering sidekick

This research explores how large language models LLMs can complement, rather than replace, the efforts of malware analysts in the complex field of reverse engineering. LLMs may serve as powerful assistants to streamline workflows, enhance efficiency, and provide actionable insights during malware...

IR Trends Q2 2025: Phishing attacks persist as actors leverage compromised valid accounts to enhance legitimacy

Phishing remained the top method of initial access this quarter, appearing in a third of all engagements - a decrease from 50 percent last quarter. Threat actors largely leveraged compromised internal or trusted business partner email accounts to deploy malicious emails, bypassing security contro...

Cisco Talos at Black Hat 2025: Briefings, booth talks and what to expect

Cisco Talos is back at Black Hat with new research, threat detection overviews and opportunities to connect with our team. Whether you're interested in what we're seeing in the threat landscape, detection engineering or real-world incident response, here's where and how to find us: Visit us at th...

Insights from Talos IR: Navigating NIS2 technical implementation

When the NIS2 Directive arrived in 2023, organizations across Europe began preparing for enhanced cybersecurity requirements. Many focused on obligations such as rapid incident notifications and comprehensive security policies. However, while the directive provided the "what," it left the "how"...

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...

Bloomberg Comdb2 null pointer dereference and denial-of-service vulnerabilities

Cisco Talos' Vulnerability Discovery & Research team recently disclosed five vulnerabilities in Bloomberg Comdb2. Comdb2 is an open source, high-availability database developed by Bloomberg. It supports features such as clustering, transactions, snapshots, and isolation. The implementation of the...

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,...

Meet Hazel Burton

Welcome to the first episode of Humans of Talos, a new video interview series that shines a spotlight on team members across Talos. Featuring their personal stories, career journeys and unique perspectives, you'll get an inside look into what it's like to work in our organization and the people w...

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...

This is your sign to step away from the keyboard

Welcome to this week's edition of the Threat Source newsletter. Burnout is a real issue for people in cybersecurity. We protect the systems that allow modern life to function. Our hours are long, our sense of responsibility real and occasionally heavy. Everyone notices when we have a bad day and ...

MaaS operation using Emmenhtal and Amadey linked to threats against Ukrainian entities

In April 2025 Cisco Talos identified a Malware-as-a-Service MaaS operation that utilized Amadey to deliver payloads. The MaaS operators used fake GitHub accounts to host payloads, tools and Amadey plug-ins, likely as an attempt to bypass web filtering and for ease of use. Several operator tactics...