Utilizing the Adaptive Defense Model Against Information Stealers

Trellix Global Defenders: Utilizing the Adaptive Defense Model Against Information Stealers By Taylor Mullins · May 23, 2022 Trellix is continuing to observe the continued growth in usage and general availability of Information Stealers that have the functionality to collect passwords, cookies,...

5G: The Final Frontier

5G: The Final Frontier This story was written by Kevin Mcgrath · April 7th, 2022 Today Trellix Threat Labs is excited to announce the release of a whitepaper dedicated to 5G and its potential security concerns. As we look at the potential of 5G, we foresee it impacting nearly every facet of digit...

Ukrainian Companies Targeted by Wipers - Impact & Prevention

War, weapons, and wipers By Max Kersten · March 31, 2022 In the recent weeks, Ukrainian companies have been targeted by wipers, likely created by pro-Russian actors. There has been a lot of talk about a “cyber war” and the usage of “cyber weapons.” Whereas the digital domain is certainly abused,...

Nation-State Crosshairs: France, Germany & United Kingdom

In the Nation-State Crosshairs: France, Germany & the United Kingdom By Trellix · March 28, 2022 Today Trellix and the Center for Strategic and International Studies CSIS released a global report, In the Crosshairs: Organizations and Nation-State Cyber Threats, examining security professionals’...

McAfee ATR Thinks in Graphs | McAfee Blogs

ARCHIVED STORY McAfee ATR Thinks in Graphs By Valentine Mairet · MAR 08, 2021 · 19 MIN READ 0. Introduction John Lambert, a distinguished researcher specializing in threat intelligence at Microsoft, once said these words that changed perspectives: “Defenders think in lists. Attackers think in...

My Adventures Hacking the iParcelBox

ARCHIVED STORY My Adventures Hacking the iParcelBox By Sam Quinn · June 18, 2020 In 2019, McAfee Advanced Threat Research ATR disclosed a vulnerability in a product called BoxLock. Sometime after this, the CEO of iParcelBox, a U.K. company, reached out to us and offered to send a few of their...

CSI: Evidence Indicators for Targeted Ransomware Attacks - Part II | McAfee Blogs

CSI: Evidence Indicators for Targeted Ransomware Attacks – Part II Christiaan Beek · FEB 20, 2020 In our first article we discussed the growing pattern of targeted ransomware attacks where the first infection stage is often an info-stealer kind of malware used to gain credentials/access to...

McAfee ATR Analyzes Sodinokibi aka REvil Ransomware-as-a-Service - Crescendo

McAfee ATR Analyzes Sodinokibi aka REvil Ransomware-as-a-Service – Crescendo By Jessica Saavedra-Morales · October 20, 2019 Episode 4: Crescendo This is the final installment of the McAfee Advanced Threat Research ATR analysis of Sodinokibi and its connections to GandGrab, the most prolific...

Poor Security Exposes Medical Data to Cybercriminals

ARCHIVED STORY McAfee Researchers Find Poor Security Exposes Medical Data to Cybercriminals By Christiaan Beek · March 11, 2018 The nonperishable nature of medical data makes an irresistible target for cybercriminals. The art of hacking requires significant time and effort, encouraging experience...

Taiwan Bank Heist and the Role of Pseudo Ransomware

ARCHIVED STORY Taiwan Bank Heist and the Role of Pseudo Ransomware By Trellix · October 12, 2017 Widespread reports claim the Far Eastern International Bank in Taiwan has become a victim of hacking. The attacks demonstrate the global nature of cybercrime, with the cybercriminals attempting to wir...

From Digital Innovation to Patient Harm: Why Healthcare Cybersecurity Is Now a C-Suite Imperative

From Digital Innovation to Patient Harm: Why Healthcare Cybersecurity Is Now a C-Suite Imperative By John Fokker · January 27, 2026 For decades, healthcare systems were designed with one core principle: patient safety. Clinical devices operated in largely closed environments, disconnected from th...

Today’s threat landscape demands a proactive OT security strategy

Today’s threat landscape demands a proactive OT security strategy By John Fokker and Mo Cashman · November 18, 2025 Overview: The operational technology OT security landscape is undergoing rapid transformation, marked by an escalation in advanced threats. As reported in Trellix’s November...

Managing Risk During the CrowdStrike Global Tech Outage

Managing Risk During the CrowdStrike Global Tech Outage By Mo Cashman & Trellix Advanced Research Center · July 19, 2024 Updated: July 25, 2024 How it Happened A defective content update provided by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused Microsoft Windows systems to crash, disrupting airline trave...

China-Taiwan Tensions Spark Surge in Cyberattacks on Taiwan

China-Taiwan Tensions Spark Surge in Cyberattacks on Taiwan By Daksh Kapur, Leandro Velasco · May 17, 2023 Figure 1 image from freepik.com “In the past few years, we noticed that geopolitical conflicts are one of the main drivers for cyber-attacks on a variety of industries and institutions...

ChatGPT: A tool for offensive cyber operations?! Not so fast!

ChatGPT: A tool for offensive cyber operations?! Not so fast! By Trellix · March 09, 2023 This story was also written by John Rodriguez. To ChatGPT or to not ChatGPT? That is a predominant question in the cyber landscape these days. It’s no surprise that AI bots have taken society by storm. On th...

We Don’t Just Patch – We Hack

We Don’t Just Patch – We Hack By Trellix · February 1, 2023 This blog was written by Douglas McKee If you have read any security advisories, technology news articles or even our very own Bug Report, you have continually been bombarded with the message to patch, patch, patch! Patching is critical ...

Get to Know Steve Povolny

Meet Steve Povolny Head of Advanced Threat Research for Trellix Threat Labs By Michael Alicea · May 17, 2022 At Trellix, we celebrate and champion our people. This week, I sat down with Steve Povolny, Head of Advanced Threat Research for Trellix Threat Labs. As he is one of the leading...

Detection of ‘Leave Behinds’ From Nation-State Actors

Who left the backdoor open? By Trellix · March 28, 2022 In our recent report, In the Crosshairs: Companies and Nation-State Cyber Threats, over 800 IT decision makers from around the world were interviewed on their experiences with nation-state cyber attacks. One of the questions sought to...

Babuk: Biting off More than they Could Chew by Aiming to Encrypt VM and *nix Systems? | McAfee Blogs

Babuk: Biting off More than they Could Chew by Aiming to Encrypt VM and nix Systems? Thibault Seret · JUL 28, 2021 Co-written with Northwave’s Noël Keijzer. Executive Summary For a long time, ransomware gangs were mostly focused on Microsoft Windows operating systems. Yes, we observed the...

A New Program for Your Peloton – Whether You Like It or Not | McAfee Blogs

ARCHIVED STORY A New Program for Your Peloton – Whether You Like It or Not Sam Quinn · JUN 15, 2021 Executive Summary For those that are not familiar with Peloton, it is a brand that has combined high end exercise equipment with cutting-edge technology. Its products are equipped with a large tabl...

The Cloning of The Ring – Who Can Unlock Your Door?

ARCHIVED STORY The Cloning of The Ring - Who Can Unlock Your Door? By Eoin Carroll · January 06, 2020 Steve Povolny contributed to this report. The Cloning of The Ring McAfee’s Advanced Threat Research team performs security analysis of products and technologies across nearly every industry...

Gandcrab Ransomware Puts Pinch On Victims

ARCHIVED STORY GandCrab Ransomware Puts the Pinch on Victims By Alexandre Mundo · July 31, 2018 Update: On August 9 we added our analysis of Versions 4.2.1 and 4.3. The GandCrab ransomware first appeared in January and has been updated rapidly during its short life. It is the leading ransomware...

DDoS Attacks in the Netherlands Reveal Teen Gamers on Troublesome Path

ARCHIVED STORY DDoS Attacks in the Netherlands Reveal Teen Gamers on Troublesome Path By John Fokker · Febraury 22, 2018 At the end of January, the Netherlands was plagued by distributed denial of service DDoS attacks targeting various financial institutions, tech sites, and the Dutch tax...

McAfee Labs Advanced Threat Research Aids Arrest of Suspected Cybercrime Gang Linked to Top Malware CTB Locker

ARCHIVED STORY McAfee Labs Advanced Threat Research Aids Arrest of Suspected Cybercrime Gang Linked to Top Malware CTB Locker By Trellix · December 20, 2017 In our recent research, we interviewed the actors behind ransomware campaigns. One of the interesting findings was cybercriminals seemed to...

Additional Analysis into the SUNBURST Backdoor | McAfee Blogs

ARCHIVED STORY Additional Analysis into the SUNBURST Backdoor Christiaan Beek · DEC 17, 2020 Executive Summary There has been considerable focus on the recent disclosures associated with SolarWinds, and while existing analysis on the broader campaign has resulted in detection against specific IoC...

What’s in the Box?

ARCHIVED STORY What’s in the Box? By Sam Quinn · February 25, 2019 2018 was another record-setting year in the continuing trend for consumer online shopping. With an increase in technology and efficiency, and a decrease in cost and shipping time, consumers have clearly made a statement that...

Organizations Leave Backdoors Open to Cheap Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks

ARCHIVED STORY Organizations Leave Backdoors Open to Cheap Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks By John Fokker · July 11, 2018 Thanks to my colleague Christiaan Beek for his advice and contributions. While researching underground hacker marketplaces, the McAfee Advanced Threat Research team has...

Organizations Leave Backdoors Open to Cheap Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks

ARCHIVED STORY Organizations Leave Backdoors Open to Cheap Remote Desktop Protocol Attacks By John Fokker · July 11, 2018 Thanks to my colleague Christiaan Beek for his advice and contributions. While researching underground hacker marketplaces, the McAfee Advanced Threat Research team has...

Detecting and Visualizing Lateral Movement Attacks with Trellix Helix Connect

Detecting and Visualizing Lateral Movement Attacks with Trellix Helix Connect By Maulik Maheta and Adithya Chandra · July 17, 2025 Executive summary This blog marks the third installment in our series on detecting and visualizing lateral movement attacks with Trellix Helix Connect. A lateral...

Cyber Threats Targeting the US Government During the Democratic National Convention

Cyber Threats Targeting the US Government During the Democratic National Convention By Anne An · October 2, 2024 Introduction Trellix global sensors detected increased threat activities during the days that the Democratic National Convention DNC was held in August 2024, culminating into a massive...

2022 Election Phishing Attacks Target Election Workers

2022 Election Phishing Attacks Target Election Workers By Rohan Shah · October 12, 2022 This blog was written by Patrick Flynn and Fred House Highly publicized campaign and political party breaches during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign raised election security as a critical issue among U.S...

The Sound of Malware

The Sound of Malware By Trellix · June 23, 2022 Do, a debugger, you often use Re, a reverse engineer Mi, a name, I call myself Anyways…. By now, you must be very thankful I reminded you of this famous song; I am sure it will be stuck in your head the rest of the day. You’re welcome! Confused on h...

Executive Summary: Organizations and Nation-State Cyber Threats

Executive Summary: Organizations and Nation-State Cyber Threats By John Fokker · March 28, 2022 Traditionally when we talk about threat actors, we first need to make the split between cybercrime and nation-state sponsored operations. Where cybercrime is mostly focused on financial gain,...

Breaking the Security Barrier of a Globally Deployed Infusion Pump

ARCHIVED STORY Overmedicated: Breaking the Security Barrier of a Globally Deployed Infusion Pump By Douglas McKee, Steve Povolny and Philippe Laulheret · August 24, 2021 Cyberattacks on medical centers are one of the most despicable forms of cyber threat there is. For instance, on October 28th,...

Additional Analysis into the SUNBURST Backdoor | McAfee Blogs

ARCHIVED STORY Additional Analysis into the SUNBURST Backdoor Christiaan Beek · DEC 17, 2020 Executive Summary There has been considerable focus on the recent disclosures associated with SolarWinds, and while existing analysis on the broader campaign has resulted in detection against specific IoC...

Six Hundred Million Reasons to Celebrate: No More Ransom Turns FOUR!!

ARCHIVED STORY Six Hundred Million Reasons to Celebrate: No More Ransom Turns FOUR!! By John Fokker · July 27, 2020 Happy Birthday! Today we mark the fourth anniversary of the NoMoreRansom initiative with over 4.2 million visitors, from 188 countries, stopping an estimated $632 million in ransom...

Ransomware Maze

ARCHIVED STORY Ransomware Maze Alexandre Mundo · MAR 26, 2020 Overview The Maze ransomware, previously known in the community as “ChaCha ransomware”, was discovered on May the 29th 2019 by Jerome Segura1. The main goal of the ransomware is to crypt all files that it can in an infected system and...

Iran Cyber Threat Update

ARCHIVED STORY Iran Cyber Threat Update By Trellix · January 08, 2020 Recent political tensions in the Middle East region have led to significant speculation of increased cyber-related activities. McAfee is on a heightened state of alert to monitor the evolving threats and rapidly implement...

Mr. Coffee with WeMo: Double Roast

ARCHIVED STORY Mr. Coffee with WeMo: Double Roast By Sam Quinn · May 30, 2019 McAfee Advanced Threat Research recently released a blog detailing a vulnerability in the Mr. Coffee Coffee Maker with WeMo. Please refer to the earlier blog to catch up with the processes and techniques I used to...

IoT Devices: The Gift that Keeps on Giving… to Hackers

ARCHIVED STORY IoT Devices: The Gift that Keeps on Giving… to Hackers By Tim Hux · November 16, 2017 McAfee Advanced Threat Research on Most Hackable Gifts You’ve probably noticed the recent increase in Internet connected drones, digital assistants, toys, appliances and other devices hitting the...

No Privileges, No Lockout, No Trace: Kerberoasting with SPN Misconfigurations

No Privileges, No Lockout, No Trace: Kerberoasting with SPN Misconfigurations By Maulik Maheta and Henry Bernabe · August 27, 2026 Executive Summary Active Directory misconfigurations are vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit before defenders notice them. This blog exposes a stealthier...

Cyber Threat Landscape Q&A with Trellix Head of Threat Intelligence John Fokker

Cyber Threat Landscape Q&A with Trellix Head of Threat Intelligence John Fokker By Trellix · January 27, 2025 As we step into 2025, it's time to reflect on the seismic changes that shaped the cybersecurity landscape in 2024 and anticipate what's on the horizon for 2025. The past year saw...

When Guardians Become Predators: How Malware Corrupts the Protectors

When Guardians Become Predators: How Malware Corrupts the Protectors By Trellix · November 20, 2024 This blog was also written by Trishaan Kalra Introduction We often trust our security software to stand as an unbreakable wall against malware and attacks, but what happens when that very wall is...

Feeding Gophers to Ghidra

Feeding Gophers to Ghidra By Max Kersten · June 6, 2023 The scripts discussed in the article are based on the magnificent work of Dorka Palotay from CUJOai. Golang malware is becoming increasingly prevalent, requiring analysts to know how to effectively analyze these files without diving into a...

Detecting and Visualizing Lateral Movement Attacks with Trellix Helix Connect - Part 2

Detecting and Visualizing Lateral Movement Attacks with Trellix Helix Connect - Part 2 By Maulik Maheta · May 21, 2023 This blog was also written by Chintan Shah Executive summary In the part 1 of this series we discussed in depth about the known Lateral movement attacks like abusing weak service...

Cyberattacks Rise Targeting Infrastructure and Geo Tensions

Trellix Threat Labs Research Report: Cyberattacks Targeting Critical Infrastructure Rise Along with Geopolitical Tensions By Trellix · April 27, 2022 The release of our Trellix Threat Labs Research Report: April 2022 examines cybercriminal behavior and activity related to cyber threats in the...

Operation North Star: Summary Of Our Latest Analysis | McAfee Blogs

Operation North Star: Summary Of Our Latest Analysis By Trellix · NOV 05, 2020 McAfee’s Advanced Threat Research ATR today released research that uncovers previously undiscovered information on how Operation North Star evaluated its prospective victims and launched attacks on organizations in...

Model Hacking ADAS to Pave Safer Roads for Autonomous Vehicles

ARCHIVED STORY Model Hacking ADAS to Pave Safer Roads for Autonomous Vehicles Steve Povolny · FEB 19, 2020 The last several years have been fascinating for those of us who have been eagerly observing the steady move towards autonomous driving. While semi-autonomous vehicles have existed for many...

Your Smart Coffee Maker is Brewing Up Trouble

ARCHIVED STORY Your Smart Coffee Maker is Brewing Up Trouble By Sam Quinn · Febraury 25, 2019 IOT devices are notoriously insecure and this claim can be backed up with a laundry list of examples. With more devices “needing” to connect to the internet, the possibility of your WiFi enabled toaster...

IoT Devices: The Gift that Keeps on Giving… to Hackers

ARCHIVED STORY IoT Devices: The Gift that Keeps on Giving… to Hackers By Tim Hux · November 16, 2017 McAfee Advanced Threat Research onMost Hackable Gifts You’ve probably noticed the recent increase in Internet connected drones, digital assistants, toys, appliances and other devices hitting the...