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,...

Impact of data breaches is fueling scam campaigns

Data breaches have become one of the most crucial threats to organizations across the globe, and theyve only become more prevalent and serious over time. A data breach occurs when unauthorized individuals gain access to sensitive, protected or confidential data. This stolen data can include...

15 vulnerabilities discovered in software development kit for wireless routers

Cisco Talos Vulnerability Research team recently discovered 15 vulnerabilities in the Realtek rtl819x Jungle software development kit used in some small and home office wireless routers. This SDK uses the discontinued, open-source Boa as its web server. Talos researchers discovered these...

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...

Inside the ransomware playbook: Analyzing attack chains and mapping common TTPs

Given the recent slate of massive ransomware attacks that have disrupted everything from hospitals to car dealerships, Cisco Talos wanted to take a renewed look at the top ransomware players to see where the current landscape stands. Based on a comprehensive review of more than a dozen prominent...

Largest Patch Tuesday in 3 months includes 5 critical vulnerabilities

Microsoft released its monthly security update on Tuesday, disclosing 142 vulnerabilities across its suite of products and software. Of those, there are five critical vulnerabilities, and every other security issue disclosed this month is considered "important." This is the largest Patch Tuesday...

How do cryptocurrency drainer phishing scams work?

By Teoderick Contreras and Jose Hernandez of Splunk, with contributions from the Splunk Threat Research Team. Cryptodrainer scams have emerged as a significant threat in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, targeting unsuspecting individuals with the promise of easy profits while covertly siphoning thei...

We’re not talking about cryptocurrency as much as we used to, but there are still plenty of scammers out there

AI has since replaced "cryptocurrency" and "blockchain" as the cybersecurity buzzwords everyone wants to hear. Were not getting as many headlines about cryptocurrency miners, the security risks or promises of the blockchain, or non-fungible tokens being referenced on "Saturday Night Live." A repo...

Snowflake isn’t an outlier, it’s the canary in the coal mine

By Nick Biasini with contributions from Kendall McKay and Guilherme Venere Headlines continue to roll in about the many implications and follow-on attacks originating from leaked and/or stolen credentials for the Snowflake cloud data platform. Adversaries obtained stolen login credentials for...

Multiple vulnerabilities in TP-Link Omada system could lead to root access

The TP-Link Omada system is a software-defined networking solution for small to medium-sized businesses. It touts cloud-managed devices and local management for all Omada devices. The supported devices in this ecosystem vary greatly but include wireless access points, routers, switches, VPN devic...

Unveiling SpiceRAT: SneakyChef's latest tool targeting EMEA and Asia

Cisco Talos discovered a new remote access trojan RAT dubbed SpiceRAT, used by the threat actor SneakyChef in a recent campaign targeting government agencies in EMEA and Asia. We observed that SneakyChef launched a phishing campaign, sending emails delivering SugarGh0st and SpiceRAT with the same...

SneakyChef espionage group targets government agencies with SugarGh0st and more infection techniques

Cisco Talos recently discovered an ongoing campaign from SneakyChef, a newly discovered threat actor using SugarGh0st malware, as early as August 2023. In the newly discovered campaign, we observed a wider scope of targets spread across countries in EMEA and Asia, compared with previous...

Tabletop exercises are headed to the next frontier: Space

I think we can all agree that tabletop exercises are a good thing. They allow organizations of all sizes to test their incident response plans without the potentially devastating effects of a real-world cyber attack or intrusion. As part of my role at Talos, Ive read hundreds of tabletop exercise...

Exploring malicious Windows drivers (Part 2): the I/O system, IRPs, stack locations, IOCTLs and more

This blog post is part of a multi-part series, and it is highly recommended to read the first entry here before continuing. As the second entry in our "Exploring malicious Windows drivers" series, we will continue where the first left off: Discussing the I/O system and IRPs. We will expand on the...

How are attackers trying to bypass MFA?

In the latest Cisco Talos Incident Response Quarterly Trends report, instances related to multi-factor authentication MFA were involved in nearly half of all security incidents that our team responded to in the first quarter of 2024. In 25% of engagements, the underlying cause was users accepting...

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,"...

Operation Celestial Force employs mobile and desktop malware to target Indian entities

By Gi7w0rm, Asheer Malhotra and Vitor Ventura. Cisco Talos is disclosing a new malware campaign called "Operation Celestial Force" running since at least 2018. It is still active today, employing the use of GravityRAT, an Android-based malware, along with a Windows-based malware loader we track a...

Only one critical issue disclosed as part of Microsoft Patch Tuesday

Microsoft released its monthly security update Tuesday, disclosing 49 vulnerabilities across its suite of products and software. Of those there is only one critical vulnerability. Every other security issues disclosed this month is considered "important." The lone critical security issue is...

The sliding doors of misinformation that come with AI-generated search results

As someone who used to think that his entire livelihood would come from writing, Ive long wondered if any sort of computer or AI could replace my essential functions at work. For now, it seems there are enough holes in AI-generated language that my ability to write down a complete, accurate and...

DarkGate switches up its tactics with new payload, email templates

This post was authored by Kalpesh Mantri. Cisco Talos is actively tracking a recent increase in activity from malicious email campaigns containing a suspicious Microsoft Excel attachment that, when opened, infected the victims system with the DarkGate malware. These campaigns, active since the...

New banking trojan “CarnavalHeist” targets Brazil with overlay attacks

Since February 2024, Cisco Talos has been observing an active campaign targeting Brazilian users with a new banking trojan called "CarnavalHeist." Many of the observed tactics, techniques and procedures TTPs are common among other banking trojans coming out of Brazil. This family has also been...

Attackers are impersonating a road toll payment processor across the U.S. in phishing attacks

My wife no stranger to weird types of scams recently received a fake text message from someone claiming to be New Jerseys E-ZPass program saying that she had an outstanding balance from highway tolls that she owed, prompting her to visit a site so she could pay and avoid additional fines. There w...

LilacSquid: The stealthy trilogy of PurpleInk, InkBox and InkLoader

By Anna Bennett, Nicole Hoffman, Asheer Malhotra, Sean Taylor and Brandon White. Cisco Talos is disclosing a new suspected data theft campaign, active since at least 2021, we attribute to an advanced persistent threat actor APT were calling "LilacSquid." LilacSquids victimology includes a diverse...

New Generative AI category added to Talos reputation services

Cisco Talos is preparing to release the first in a series of changes to our Web Categorization system, which is designed to simplify the verbiage we use. In mid-June, were adding a new "Generative AI" category that will apply to certain websites. The "Content Category" appears whenever a user...

Out-of-bounds reads in Adobe Acrobat; Foxit PDF Reader contains vulnerability that could lead to SYSTEM-level privileges

Cisco Talos Vulnerability Research team has helped to disclose and patch more than 20 vulnerabilities over the past three weeks, including two in the popular Adobe Acrobat Reader software. Acrobat, one of the most popular PDF readers currently available, contains two out-of-bounds read...

Apple and Google are taking steps to curb the abuse of location-tracking devices — but what about others?

Since the advent of products like the Tile and Apple AirTag, both used to keep track of easily lost items like wallets, keys and purses, bad actors and criminals have found ways to abuse them. These adversaries can range from criminals just looking to do something illegal for a range of reasons,...

From trust to trickery: Brand impersonation over the email attack vector

Cisco recently developed and released a new feature to detect brand impersonation in emails when adversaries pretend to be a legitimate corporation. Talos has discovered a wide range of techniques threat actors use to embed and deliver brand logos via emails to their victims. Talos is providing n...

Rounding up some of the major headlines from RSA

While I one day wish to make it to the RSA Conference in person, Ive never had the pleasure of making the trek to San Francisco for one of the largest security conferences in the U.S. Instead, I had to watch from afar and catch up on the internet every day like the common folk. This at least give...

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...

Only one critical vulnerability included in May’s Microsoft Patch Tuesday; One other zero-day in DWN Core

After a relatively hefty Microsoft Patch Tuesday in April, this months security update from the company only included one critical vulnerability across its massive suite of products and services. In all, Mays slate of vulnerabilities disclosed by Microsoft included 59 total CVEs, most of which ar...

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...

A new alert system from CISA seems to be effective — now we just need companies to sign up

One of the great cybersecurity challenges organizations currently face, especially smaller ones, is that they dont know what they dont know. Its tough to have your eyes on everything all the time, especially with so many pieces of software running and IoT devices extending the reach of networks...

Talos discloses multiple zero-day vulnerabilities, two of which could lead to code execution

Cisco Talos Vulnerability Research team recently disclosed three zero-day vulnerabilities that are still unpatched as of Wednesday, May 8. Two vulnerabilities in this group -- one in the Tinyroxy HTTP proxy daemon and another in the stbvorbis.c file library -- could lead to arbitrary code...

What can we learn from the passwords used in brute-force attacks?

Brute force attacks are one of the most elementary cyber threats out there. Technically, anyone with a keyboard and some free time could launch one of them -- just try a bunch of different username and password combinations on the website of your choice until you get blocked. Nick Biasini and I...

Vulnerabilities in employee management system could lead to remote code execution, login credential theft

Cisco Talos Vulnerability Research team has disclosed more than a dozen vulnerabilities over the past three weeks, five in a device that allows employees to check in and out of their shifts, and another that exists in an open-source library used in medical device imaging files. The Peplink Smart...

Cisco Talos at RSAC 2024

With RSAC just a week away, Cisco Talos is gearing up for another year of heading to San Francisco to share in some of the latest major cybersecurity announcements, research and news. Weve pulled together the highlights, so you dont miss out on all things Talos. Tuesday, May 7 Joe Marshall will b...

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 private sector probably isn’t coming to save the NVD

I wrote last week about the problems arising from the massive backlog of vulnerabilities at the U.S. National Vulnerability Database. Thousands of CVEs are still without analysis data, and the once-reliable database of every single vulnerability thats disclosed and/or patched is now so far behind...

Talos IR trends: BEC attacks surge, while weaknesses in MFA persist

Business email compromise BEC was the top threat observed by Cisco Talos Incident Response Talos IR in the first quarter of 2024, accounting for nearly half of engagements, which is more than double what was observed in the previous quarter. The most observed means of gaining initial access was t...

ArcaneDoor - New espionage-focused campaign found targeting perimeter network devices

Updated 2024-04-25 16:57 GMT with minor wording corrections regarding the targeting of other vendors. ArcaneDoor is a campaign that is the latest example of state-sponsored actors targeting perimeter network devices from multiple vendors. Coveted by these actors, perimeter network devices are the...

Suspected CoralRaider continues to expand victimology using three information stealers

By Joey Chen, Chetan Raghuprasad and Alex Karkins. Cisco Talos discovered a new ongoing campaign since at least February 2024, operated by a threat actor distributing three famous infostealer malware, including Cryptbot, LummaC2 and Rhadamanthys. Talos also discovered a new PowerShell command-lin...

What’s the deal with the massive backlog of vulnerabilities at the NVD?

The National Vulnerability Database is usually the single source of truth for all things related to security vulnerabilities. But now, theyre facing an uphill battle against a massive backlog of vulnerabilities, some of which are still waiting to be analyzed, and others that still have an...

Could the Brazilian Supreme Court finally hold people accountable for sharing disinformation?

If youre a regular reader of this newsletter, you already know about how strongly I feel about the dangers of spreading fake news, disinformation and misinformation. And honestly, if youre reading this newsletter, I probably shouldnt have to tell you about that either. But one of the things that...

OfflRouter virus causes Ukrainian users to upload confidential documents to VirusTotal

During a threat-hunting exercise, Cisco Talos discovered documents with potentially confidential information originating from Ukraine. The documents contained malicious VBA code, indicating they may be used as lures to infect organizations. The results of the investigation have shown that the...

Large-scale brute-force activity targeting VPNs, SSH services with commonly used login credentials

Cisco Talos would like to acknowledge Anna Bennett and Brandon White of Cisco Talos and Phillip Schafer, Mike Moran, and Becca Lynch of the Duo Security Research team for their research that led to the identification of these attacks. Cisco Talos is actively monitoring a global increase in...

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...

Vulnerability in some TP-Link routers could lead to factory reset

Cisco Talos Vulnerability Research team has disclosed 10 vulnerabilities over the past three weeks, including four in a line of TP-Link routers, one of which could allow an attacker to reset the devices settings back to the factory default. A popular open-source software for internet-of-things Io...

April’s Patch Tuesday includes 150 vulnerabilities, 60 which could lead to remote code execution

In one of the largest Patch Tuesdays in years, Microsoft disclosed 150 vulnerabilities across its software and product portfolio this week, including more than 60 that could lead to remote code execution. Though Aprils monthly security update from Microsoft is the largest since at least the start...

Starry Addax targets human rights defenders in North Africa with new malware

Cisco Talos is disclosing a new threat actor we deemed "Starry Addax" targeting mostly human rights activists associated with the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic SADR cause with a novel mobile malware. Starry Addax conducts phishing attacks tricking their targets into installing malicious Androi...

There are plenty of ways to improve cybersecurity that don’t involve making workers return to a physical office

As my manager knows, Im not the biggest fan of working in a physical office. Im a picky worker -- I like my workspace to be borderline frigid, I hate dark mode on any software, and I want any and all lighting cranked all the way up. So, know that Im biased going into this, but I also cant get ove...