The threat hunter’s gambit

The threat hunter’s gambit

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter. 

“Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.” ― Richard Feynman  

“I had discovered that learning something, no matter how complex, wasn’t hard when I had a reason to want to know it.” ― Homer Hickam, Rocket Boys  

*looks around at – gestures – everything*  

*opens a new tab in the browser, takes in the newest news on AI, a new tab on supply chains, a new tab on vulnerability, and a new tab on active exploitation and zero-days*   

*closes tabs and throws laptop into the nearest bin, à la Ron Swanson*  

*opens other laptop, avoids the internet*  

*puts on headphones for deep work binaural audio*  

*cracks knuckles*  

I’m often asked about why I bring up board games and video games when interviewing perspective analysts or threat hunters, so I’m going to give the 8,000 foot view on my thoughts. With everything that is going on, now more than ever we need the most curious people on the planet on our side.   

What’s the very first and most important step to securing any environment? Knowing the environment, inside and out. When you play any gameyou must understand the rules: the standard opening moves of chess, or Go, or perhaps the common resource-gathering patterns in strategy games. Once you understand what “normal” play looks like, you can immediately spot when an opponent makes a move that is inefficient or unusual — an anomalous trigger that, if spotted, can lead to victory.   

When experienced players recognize patterns (a specific chess gambit, a defensive build in a strategy game, etc.), they don’t just react to the current move — they predict several moves into the future from both players, especially if they know their opponents’ tendencies. As players gain experience and play against other skilled players, they begin involving feints or decoys (false flags, if you will). A player might sacrifice a minor piece to distract you from their true objective. Learning to look past that “noise” to find the real motivation is the key to taking your experience and skill to the next level.   

Threat actors rarely follow a predictable script. They constantly evolve tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Developing the mental flexibility to handle those unexpected, non-standard behaviors is essential in identifying the unknowns.  

The transition from board games to threat hunting is rooted in the development of critical thinking and situational awareness. While board games provide a controlled environment to practice these skills, the core competency — that ability to identify the why behind a deviation — is exactly what will make you a successful threat hunter.  

“I prefer to speak in metaphor: That way, no logic can trap me, and no rule can bind me, and no fact can limit me or decide for me what’s possible.” ― Claire Oshetsky, Chouette 

The one big thing 

Cisco Talos has observed threat actors weaponizing legitimate SaaS notification pipelines, such as those in GitHub and Jira, to deliver phishing and spam emails. By leveragingthese platforms’ official infrastructure, attackers bypass traditional email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. This “Platform-as-a-Proxy” (PaaP) technique exploits the implicit trust organizations place in system-generated notifications to facilitate credential harvesting. These campaigns effectively mask malicious intent behind the reputation of trusted enterprise tools. 

Why do I care? 

Traditional email security gateways are often blind to these attacks because the emails are technically authenticated and originate from verified, trusted domains. This technique exploits “automation fatigue,” where users are conditioned to reflexively trust system-generated alerts from business-critical platforms. Consequently, attackers can bypass standard perimeter defenses, making it harder to distinguish between legitimate business communications and sophisticated phishing attempts. 

So now what? 

Transition to a Zero-Trust approach by implementing instance-level verification and cross-referencing notifications against internal SaaS directories. Security teams should ingest SaaS API logs into their SIEM to detect anomalous precursor activities, such as suspicious project creation or mass invitations. Additionally, introduce friction for high-risk interactions by requiring out-of-band verification and apply semantic intent analysis to identify notifications that deviate from a platform’s established functional baseline. 

Top security headlines of the week 

Tech giants launch AI-powered “Project Glasswing” 
Major technology companies have joined forces in an effort to use advanced artificial intelligence to identify and address security flaws in the world’s most critical software systems. (CyberScoop

Russian government hackers broke into thousands of home routers to steal passwords 
Fancy Bear, or APT 28, is known for its high-profile hacks and spying operations, including the breach of the U.S. Democratic National Committee in 2016 and the destructive hack that hit satellite provider Viasat in 2022. (TechCrunch

Storm-1175 deploys Medusa ransomware at “high velocity” 
Storm-1175 has rapidly exploited more than a dozen n-days, the most recent of which is CVE-2026-1731, a critical remote code execution flaw in BeyondTrust Remote Support and older versions of the vendor’s Privileged Remote Access. (Dark Reading

North Korean hackers pose as trading firm to steal $285M from Drift 
A group of individuals approached Drift staff at a “major crypto conference,” presenting as a professional quantitative trading firm. They went so far as to deposit $1M of their own money into a Drift Ecosystem Vault between December 2025 and January 2026. (HackRead

Telehealth giant Hims & Hers says its customer support system was hacked 
A spokesperson for Hims & Hers said the company was hit by a social engineering attack, and the stolen data “primarily included customer names and email addresses.” (TechCrunch

Can’t get enough Talos? 

New Lua-based malware observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations 
Cisco Talos uncovered a cluster of activity we track as UAT-10362 conducting spear-phishing campaigns against Taiwanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and suspected universities to deliver a newly identified malware family, “LucidRook.” 

Vulnerabilities old and new and something React2 
2025 was characterized by an unending beat-down on infrastructure that relied on older enmeshed dependencies (e.g., Log4j and PHPUnit), while React2Shell rocketed to the highest percentage of attacks for the entire year within the last three weeks of the year. 

From the field to the report and back again 
The same Year in Review report that Talos IR casework feeds into is the report that defenders should be feeding back into their own preparation cycles. Here’s how you can start. 

Talos Takes: 2025’s ransomware trends and zombie vulnerabilities 
In this episode, Amy and Pierre Cadieux unpack the ransomware and vulnerability trends that defined 2025. From the persistent ransomware threats targeting the manufacturing sector to the rise of stealthy “living off the land” tactics, we break down what these shifts mean for your defense strategy. 

Upcoming events where you can find Talos 

Most prevalent malware files from Talos telemetry over the past week 

SHA256: 9f1f11a708d393e0a4109ae189bc64f1f3e312653dcf317a2bd406f18ffcc507  
MD5: 2915b3f8b703eb744fc54c81f4a9c67f  
Talos Rep: https://talosintelligence.com/talos_file_reputation?s=9f1f11a708d393e0a4109ae189bc64f1f3e312653dcf317a2bd406f18ffcc507 
Example Filename: VID001.exe  
Detection Name: Win.Worm.Coinminer::1201 

SHA256: 90b1456cdbe6bc2779ea0b4736ed9a998a71ae37390331b6ba87e389a49d3d59 
MD5: c2efb2dcacba6d3ccc175b6ce1b7ed0a  
Talos Rep: https://talosintelligence.com/talos_file_reputation?s=90b1456cdbe6bc2779ea0b4736ed9a998a71ae37390331b6ba87e389a49d3d59 
Example Filename: APQ9305.dll  
Detection Name: Auto.90B145.282358.in02 

SHA256: 38d053135ddceaef0abb8296f3b0bf6114b25e10e6fa1bb8050aeecec4ba8f55  
MD5: 41444d7018601b599beac0c60ed1bf83  
Talos Rep: https://talosintelligence.com/talos_file_reputation?s=38d053135ddceaef0abb8296f3b0bf6114b25e10e6fa1bb8050aeecec4ba8f55 
Example Filename: content.js  
Detection Name: W32.38D053135D-95.SBX.TG 

SHA256: a31f222fc283227f5e7988d1ad9c0aecd66d58bb7b4d8518ae23e110308dbf91  
MD5: 7bdbd180c081fa63ca94f9c22c457376  
Talos Rep: https://talosintelligence.com/talos_file_reputation?s=a31f222fc283227f5e7988d1ad9c0aecd66d58bb7b4d8518ae23e110308dbf91  
Example Filename: d4aa3e7010220ad1b458fac17039c274_62_Exe.exe 
Detection Name: Win.Dropper.Miner::95.sbx.tg** 

SHA256: 96fa6a7714670823c83099ea01d24d6d3ae8fef027f01a4ddac14f123b1c9974  
MD5: aac3165ece2959f39ff98334618d10d9  
Talos Rep: https://talosintelligence.com/talos_file_reputation?s=96fa6a7714670823c83099ea01d24d6d3ae8fef027f01a4ddac14f123b1c9974 
Example Filename: d4aa3e7010220ad1b458fac17039c274_63_Exe.exe  
Detection Name: W32.Injector:Gen.21ie.1201 

SHA256: 5e6060df7e8114cb7b412260870efd1dc05979454bd907d8750c669ae6fcbcfe  
MD5: a2cf85d22a54e26794cbc7be16840bb1  
Talos Rep: https://talosintelligence.com/talos_file_reputation?s=5e6060df7e8114cb7b412260870efd1dc05979454bd907d8750c669ae6fcbcfe  
Example Filename: a2cf85d22a54e26794cbc7be16840bb1.exe  
Detection Name: W32.5E6060DF7E-100.SBX.TG

Cisco Talos Blog – ​Read More

How Phishing Is Targeting Germany’s Economy: Active Threats from Finance to Manufacturing

Germany’s economy is a precision machine: finance fuels it, manufacturing builds it, telecom connects it, IT optimizes it, and healthcare sustains it. The country sits at the crossroads of industrial power and digital transformation, making it irresistibly attractive to attackers.

In this article, we explore real-world attacks targeting five critical German industries, analyzed by ANY.RUN’s analysts using Interactive Sandbox and Threat Intelligence Lookup. Each case is not theory. It is a live wire, recently observed, carefully dissected.

Executive Summary 

  • Germany’s top industries are under coordinated pressure, not isolated attacks. 
  • Identity is the new perimeter: attackers are bypassing infrastructure defenses by hijacking sessions and abusing legitimate authentication flows. 
  • Phishing has evolved into real-time session interception, rendering traditional MFA insufficient on its own. 
  • Attackers adapt lures to business context, increasing success rates against employees. 
  • Threat intelligence is no longer optional: it is critical for reducing detection time, preventing escalation, and protecting revenue 

Germany’s Digital Landscape: A High-Value Target 

Why Germany? 

  • Largest economy in Europe with strong global ties; 
  • Highly digitized enterprise sector; 
  • Deep reliance on Microsoft 365, cloud services, and SaaS ecosystems; 
  • Critical industries interconnected across supply chains. 

Germany’s industrial backbone — the Mittelstand of small and medium-sized enterprises, alongside globally recognized corporations in chemicals, automotive, and engineering — represents a vast attack surface. These organizations often store sensitive IP, manage critical infrastructure, and handle large financial transactions, yet historically have underinvested in cybersecurity relative to their size and importance. 

Geopolitics adds fuel to the fire provoking a sharp increase in professional, often state-directed attacks by APT groups (Advanced Persistent Threats) linked to geopolitical conflicts. Germany’s role in the EU, NATO, and global trade makes it a high-value intelligence target for foreign actors. 

  • In 2024, cyberattacks caused approximately €178.6 billion in financial losses to German businesses, equivalent to 67% of all damage from corporate crime. (Bitkom). 
  • 83% of German businesses fell victim to ransomware in 2024, according to the Cyber Security Report 2025 by Schwarz Digits. 
  • The BSI’s 2024/2025 reports describe the IT security situation as “tense,” with 309,000 new malware variants appearing daily, ransomware attacks up 77%, and 22 state-sponsored APT groups active on German soil. 

Phishing remains the most prevalent attack vector. The BSI confirmed that phishing attacks expanded well beyond the financial sector in 2024, with attackers impersonating streaming services, logistics firms, government agencies, and enterprise software platforms like Microsoft 365. 

How German Companies Can Discover Industry-Specific Cyberattacks  

ANY.RUN’s Threat Intelligence Lookup, a searchable database of threat data from live malware analysis by a community of over 15K SOC teams, supports the mapping of attack indicators to specific sectors and regions.  

A local cyberthreat landscape can be revealed by combining lookups for an industry and a malware sample submission country, and by limiting the search period to see the most recent threats.   

industry:”Telecommunications” AND submissionCountry:”DE” 

Threats targeting German telecom companies

Search for a threat, country, and industry, switch to the Analyses tab in the results, and see a selection of sandbox analyses.  

industry:”Telecommunications” AND submissionCountry:”DE” AND threatName:”xworm” 

Xworm attacks dissected in the sandbox by German analysts 

Pivot your research via TI Lookup using IOCs from search results and sandbox analyses and boost triage, detection, and threat hunting in your SOC.  

Make faster security decisions with live threat context.
TI Lookup helps SOC detect and respond
before damage is done.

 



Contact sales


1. Finance: FlowerStorm Targets a German Investment Firm 

Financial organizations in Germany operate in a high-trust, high-value environment: 

  • Sensitive investment and client data; 
  • Heavy use of cloud-based collaboration tools; 
  • Strict compliance requirements 

This makes employee credentials a golden key. Microsoft 365 credential theft is a dominant threat vector in this sector. Attackers seek to compromise corporate email accounts to intercept transactions, conduct Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud, or use valid credentials as a launchpad for deeper network intrusion. 

Threat in Focus: Spearphishing with FlowerStorm 

FlowerStorm attack in ANY.RUN’s Interactive Sandbox 

Target 
A German investment company managing portfolios in private equity, real estate, and hedge funds. The attack was precision-targeted: the victim’s corporate email address was embedded directly into the phishing link, encoded in Base64. 

Email encoded in spearphishing link

Attack Type 
Spearphishing (targeted credential theft) for Microsoft 365 accounts. ANY.RUN’s sandbox classified this threat as FlowerStorm — a sophisticated phishing-as-a-service platform known for its multi-stage evasion techniques and precision targeting. 

Kill Chain 

  1. In this case, the attacks starts with a malicious URL. However, as we can see in other analysis sessions, such links are usually delivered via phishing emails containing a PDF attachment. Inside the PDF is a QR code — a deliberate choice to bypass email-based URL scanners that cannot decode visual content. 
  1. The victim scans the QR code and is taken to a landing page with a salary-related lure.  
Fake letter about a salary raise
  1. The page loads a FingerprintJS script to profile the victim’s browser before showing any phishing content. This profiling helps attackers filter out security researchers and automated scanners. 
  1. Cloudflare Turnstile CAPTCHA is activated, blocking automated analysis tools and sandbox detection attempts. 
  1. The victim is redirected to the main phishing domain, which presents a pixel-perfect replica of the Microsoft 365 sign-in page, including a full OAuth flow simulation with client_id, redirect_uri, and response_type parameters. 
  1. Credentials entered by the victim are immediately exfiltrated to attacker-controlled infrastructure. 

Why It Works 
FlowerStorm combines multiple layers of evasion (QR codes, browser fingerprinting, CAPTCHA, Base64 encoding) with surgical targeting. The salary-themed lure is psychologically effective: employees in a finance firm expect payroll-related communications, reducing suspicion. The Microsoft 365 OAuth imitation is technically convincing enough to fool even security-conscious users. 

2. Healthcare: Microsoft OAuth Abuse Targets a Research Center 

Healthcare in Germany is: 

  • Highly decentralized; 
  • Data-sensitive (patient records, research); 
  • Often underfunded in cybersecurity. 

This creates a perfect storm for authentication abuse attacks. 

Healthcare breaches carry compounded consequences: regulatory penalties under GDPR, reputational damage, potential disruption to patient care, and the loss of research data that may represent years of work and significant public investment. 

Threat in Focus: Microsoft OAuth Abuse with Fake Outlook Login 

Spearphishing attack personalized by email 

Target 
Germany’s largest medical research center. The attack was highly targeted: the victim’s corporate email appeared in plaintext in the OAuth state parameter and in Base64 in the URL fragment of the phishing page. 

Attack Type 
Phishing via Microsoft OAuth abuse combined with a fake Outlook login page. The attackers exploited Microsoft’s legitimate OAuth 2.0 authentication mechanism, substituting a malicious redirect_uri to capture credentials after the authentication handshake. 

Kill Chain 

  1. The victim receives a link that begins as a legitimate request to login.microsoftonline.com. The redirect_uri, however, points to a compromised website. The state parameter contains the victim’s email address in plaintext. 
  1. If no active Microsoft session exists, Microsoft returns an error=interaction_required response and redirects the user to the redirect_uri, the compromised WordPress site (saicares.com.au), which loads an intermediate invoice.html page. 
  1. The intermediate page pulls content from ArDrive (a decentralized storage platform), adding another layer of obfuscation and hosting that is difficult to block. 
  1. The victim is redirected to ogbarberschool[.]com — the primary phishing page. The victim’s email appears in the URL fragment both in Base64 and in plaintext, creating a personalized login experience. 
  1. The phishing page contains obfuscated JavaScript and displays a convincing fake Outlook login form.  
Forged Outlook page
  1. Credentials entered by the victim are exfiltrated via a POST request to jewbreats[.]org/rexuzo/owa/apiowa[.]php. Suricata network rules flagged this as a suspicious unencrypted POST request transmitting an email address. 
Personal data exfiltrated to attackers’ server

Why It Works 
This attack is particularly dangerous because it begins with a genuine Microsoft domain. A victim who inspects the initial link sees a legitimate login.microsoftonline.com URL, providing false reassurance. By the time the malicious redirect occurs, the victim is already engaged. The use of a compromised WordPress site and decentralized storage makes the infrastructure difficult to detect and take down quickly. 

3. Technology: Reverse Proxy Phishing Targets an IT Company 

IT companies: 

  • Manage infrastructure and credentials; 
  • Have privileged access across systems; 
  • Are often stepping stones for supply chain attacks. 

The sector’s familiarity with technology can create a paradoxical blind spot: IT professionals may be more likely to click links in emails that appear technical or work-related, assuming their technical knowledge makes them immune to social engineering. 

Threat in Focus: EvilProxy + EvilGinx2 Combined Attack 

Phishing detected by ANY.RUN Sandbox 

Target 
A German IT company. The attack targeted a specific employee, whose email was extracted from the data parameter of a Microsoft Safe Links wrapper, indicating the attacker had prior visibility into the target’s email infrastructure. 

Attack Type 
Phishing via a combination of EvilProxy and EvilGinx2: two reverse proxy tools used in tandem. EvilProxy serves as the primary credential harvesting platform, while EvilGinx2 handles session token interception. Together, they create a real-time proxy of Microsoft’s login infrastructure capable of bypassing multi-factor authentication. 

Kill Chain 

  1. The victim receives a phishing email urging them to “Review document,” a work-relevant lure that fits the daily workflow of an IT professional. 
Fake business email with call to action 
  1. The embedded link routes through a Mailchimp tracking URL (aviture[.]us7[.]list-manage[.]com), a legitimate email marketing service that lends the link apparent credibility and bypasses reputation-based URL filters. 
  1. Mailchimp redirects to larozada[.]com, a compromised WordPress site hosting an intermediate page with a Cloudflare Turnstile CAPTCHA. 
  1. After CAPTCHA verification, the victim is routed through a Cloudflare Workers serverless function, which performs additional routing to frustrate analysis and attribution. 
  1. The final destination is the main phishing domain (googlmicrozonfaceb0xfileshar3instacloud0fftkdoctormedixxqqw[.]digital) — an EvilProxy instance that reverse-proxies the real Microsoft Login page in real time. The victim sees an authentic Microsoft experience. 
  1. As the victim authenticates, EvilProxy intercepts the session cookie. The attacker now has a valid authenticated session. No password or MFA code required. 

Why It Works 
The use of legitimate services (Mailchimp, Cloudflare Workers, WordPress) at each stage of the attack chain makes it nearly impossible for conventional email filters and web gateways to block. The final EvilProxy stage defeats MFA entirely by hijacking the post-authentication session rather than attempting to steal the second factor. This is an adversary-in-the-middle attack that neutralizes one of the most commonly recommended security controls. 

Using TI Lookup, we can see that larozada[.]com is intensely correlated with this attack scenario:  
 
domainName:”larozada.com” 

Interactive Sandbox contains hundreds of malware samples using this domain 

Integrate Threat Intelligence Feeds in your security stack to have it continuously updated with a real-time stream of indicators (domains, URLs, IPs) for early detection and timely response.  

Protect revenue, reputation, and operations with enterprise-grade threat analysis and intelligence.
Reduce risk with ANY.RUN



Request a quote


4. Telecom: Phishing-as-a-Service at Scale 

Telecom companies: 

  • Sit at the heart of communications infrastructure; 
  • Handle massive volumes of user data; 
  • Operate complex, distributed environments. 

Telecom companies are targeted for multiple strategic reasons: access to customer data at scale, the potential for SIM-swapping attacks, the ability to intercept communications, and the value of internal network access for espionage or infrastructure disruption.  

Account takeover via Microsoft 365 credential theft is a priority threat for this sector, as telecom employees use cloud platforms extensively for internal communications, customer management, and operational coordination. 

Threat in Focus: EvilProxy without personalization 

Phishing page abusing Microsoft services 

Target 
An employee of a German telecommunications company. Unlike the finance and healthcare cases, this campaign used a non-personalized phishing page (no email embedded in the URL) suggesting a broader campaign that may target multiple companies simultaneously rather than a single individual. 

Attack Type 
Phishing via EvilProxy (Phishing-as-a-Service) — a commercial reverse proxy platform that proxies the real Microsoft login page in real time, intercepting session tokens and bypassing MFA without ever needing to steal a password. 

Kill Chain 

  1. The victim receives a link pointing to portfolio-hrpcjqg[.]format.com/gallery — a legitimate portfolio hosting platform (Format.com). Using a reputable platform as the first hop bypasses domain reputation filters.
Non-personalized phishing page on a legitimate website 
  1. Format.com redirects to signin[.]securedocsportal.com/cyb3rusr131 — a phishing domain crafted to resemble a secure document signing portal, a plausible context for a telecom business user. 
  1. Cloudflare Turnstile CAPTCHA filters automated scanners and security tools. 
  1. After passing CAPTCHA, the victim reaches a page mimicking Microsoft 365 OAuth authorization, complete with client_id and redirect_uri parameters pointing to office.com for added legitimacy. 
  1. EvilProxy proxies the real Microsoft Login through its own subdomains, giving the victim a fully functional Microsoft login experience. 
  1. The victim enters credentials and completes MFA. EvilProxy intercepts the session cookie in real time, granting the attacker full authenticated access to the victim’s Microsoft 365 account without needing the password or MFA token. 

Why It Works 
EvilProxy is commercially available as a service, dramatically lowering the skill threshold for attackers. The use of a legitimate portfolio platform as the initial URL makes detection by email gateways extremely difficult. The MFA bypass via session cookie theft is highly effective against organizations that believe MFA alone is sufficient protection. 

5. Manufacturing: Brand-Impersonation and Teams Lure 

Germany’s manufacturing sector: 

  • Is globally dominant; 
  • Relies on internal communication platforms; 
  • Often integrates IT and OT environments. 

Germany’s manufacturing sector is the engine of its economy, encompassing global leaders in chemicals, automotive, engineering, and consumer goods. They are also increasingly connected: Industry 4.0 technologies, IoT sensors, operational technology (OT), and cloud-integrated production systems have blurred the line between IT and physical operations. 

The consequences of a successful attack extend beyond data loss to potential operational shutdown, physical equipment damage, and supply chain disruption. 

Social engineering attacks targeting manufacturing employees are particularly effective because plant-floor and operations staff are not traditionally cybersecurity-trained, and Microsoft Teams has become a standard communication tool across these large organizations. 

Threat in Focus: Teams Voice Message Phishing 

Fake Microsoft Teams phishing attack

Target 
A large German industrial conglomerate, a global producer of chemical products and consumer goods. This attack was unusually specific: the phishing domains were registered to include the target company’s name, and the fake login page was styled to match the company’s Microsoft Teams branding — indicating advance reconnaissance. 

Attack Type 
Phishing via EvilProxy using a Microsoft Teams voice message as bait. The attack was delivered via Amazon SES, a legitimate email delivery infrastructure, making it difficult for email security tools to flag based on sender reputation. 

Kill Chain 

  1. The victim receives an email sent through Amazon SES, notifying them of a missed voice message in Microsoft Teams — a common notification that workers in large organizations receive regularly
Fake email voice message notification
  1. The link leads to voicbx[.]com, a redirect service mimicking a Teams voice notification interface. 
  1. Redirects to noncrappyandroidapps[.]com for an anti-bot verification step. 
  1. TinyURL then routes the victim to teams-ms365[.]cloud, a phishing domain mimicking Microsoft Teams infrastructure. 
  1. The victim lands on a fake Teams voice message page, styled specifically to match the target company’s branding — a degree of customization that indicates prior research into the target. 
  1. When the victim attempts to play the voice message, they are redirected to EvilProxy domains that also contain the company’s name in the URL. 
  1. The victim enters their credentials into a fake Okta authentication page and completes MFA. EvilProxy intercepts the session cookie, granting the attacker full access to the corporate Microsoft 365 environment without requiring the password or MFA factor. 

Why It Works 
The combination of a highly plausible lure (missed Teams voice message), delivery via Amazon SES (bypassing sender reputation filters), and company-branded phishing pages makes this attack unusually convincing. The use of Okta for the fake authentication page suggests the attackers were aware of the target company’s specific identity infrastructure. 

Food for Thought: What CISOs Need to Be Aware Of 

1. Five Critical German Industries Are Under Active Attack Right Now 

All five cases have been collected between January and March 2026. Finance, healthcare, IT, telecommunications, and manufacturing, the five most economically significant sectors in Germany, are not theoretical targets. They are active targets. This is systematic pressure on the German economy, not isolated incidents. 
 
ANY.RUN’s Threat Intelligence Lookup data reinforces this: searching for EvilProxy and FlowerStorm threats linked to German organizations over the past 60 days returned more than 220 analyses, confirming that these campaigns are ongoing and widespread. 

(threatName:”flowerstorm” OR threatName:”evilproxy”) and submissionCountry:”DE”

Industries targeted by modern phishing campaigns in Germany 

2. Selective Targeting Is a Growing Trend 

Several of these attacks show clear signs of advance reconnaissance. Phishing domains were registered with the target company’s name embedded, pages were styled to match corporate branding, and victim email addresses were pre-loaded into URLs. This level of preparation (particularly in the manufacturing case) goes beyond generic mass phishing and suggests attackers are investing in targeted intelligence gathering before launching campaigns. Some cases also used universal phishing pages, indicating a mix of targeted and mass-scale approaches within the same threat actor ecosystem. 

3. Social Engineering Is Being Adapted to Professional Context 

The lures used in these attacks are not generic. A salary-themed document for a finance employee, a missed Teams voice message for a manufacturing executive, a “Review document” prompt for an IT professional. Attackers appear to be selecting bait that fits the professional context of their targets, increasing click rates and reducing suspicion. This contextual adaptation of social engineering is a significant evolution in phishing tradecraft. 

4. Phishing-as-a-Service Platforms Have Democratized MFA Bypass 

EvilProxy, EvilGinx2, and FlowerStorm are not bespoke tools used by elite threat actors. They are commercially available phishing platforms sold as services. This means the barrier to launching a sophisticated, MFA-bypassing attack against a German enterprise is now accessible to a broad range of cybercriminals. These platforms proxy real Microsoft login pages in real time, intercept session cookies after successful MFA completion, and provide the attacker with a fully authenticated session — all without ever knowing the victim’s password or one-time code. 

Organizations that rely on MFA as their primary defense against credential theft need to understand that adversary-in-the-middle phishing renders standard MFA ineffective. Phishing-resistant MFA (such as FIDO2 hardware keys) and Zero Trust session validation are required to defend against these techniques. 

Protecting High-Risk Organizations: A Practical Approach for Decision-Makers 

For executives across finance, healthcare, telecom, IT, and manufacturing, cybersecurity is no longer just a technical function. It is a business continuity and risk management discipline

The attacks described in this article share a common trait: they move fast, abuse trusted services, and bypass traditional defenses. 

To counter this, organizations need more than tools. They need a workflow-driven approach, where threat intelligence and malware analysis directly improve how the SOC operates. 

Here is how this translates into measurable protection across core SOC workflows. 

1. Monitoring: Detect Earlier, Reduce Exposure 

The Challenge: 
Detection gaps, delayed visibility into new campaigns, and high volumes of low-context alerts. 

What to do: 

  • Leverage sandbox-verified indicators tied to real attack activity 
  • Continuously monitor infrastructure linked to phishing and session hijacking campaigns 

Instead of waiting for alerts, your SOC gains early visibility into attacker infrastructure, often within hours of campaign emergence 

Business impact: 

  • Higher detection rates across environments (36% DR increase); 
  • Earlier identification of threats before user interaction; 
  • Reduced likelihood of successful initial compromise. 

Executive outcome: lower probability of high-severity incidents and reduced exposure window. 

2. Triage: Increase Speed, Reduce Cost per Incident 

The Challenge: 
Slow investigations, manual enrichment, and excessive escalation to senior analysts. 

What to do: 

  • Use TI Lookup to instantly enrich indicators with behavioral and campaign context; 
  • Combine enrichment with interactive sandbox analysis for rapid validation; 
  • Enable Tier 1 analysts to resolve more alerts independently. 

Analysts move from fragmented investigation to instant, evidence-based decisions, with average detection times measured in seconds. 

Business impact: 

  • Faster MTTD and MTTR; 
  • Up to 30% fewer escalations to higher tiers; 
  • Reduced cost per investigation. 

Executive outcome: more efficient SOC operations with lower staffing pressure and faster decision cycles. 

3. Incident Response: Contain Faster, Minimize Damage 

The Challenge: 
Limited visibility into attack scope and delayed containment decisions. 

What to do: 

  • Use Interactive Sandbox to analyze full attack chains (redirects, payloads, exfiltration); 
  • Correlate findings with TI Lookup to understand spread and related infrastructure; 
  • Generate detailed reports for response and compliance. 

Incidents are no longer black boxes. Teams gain full kill-chain visibility within seconds and reduce response time significantly 

Business impact: 

  • Faster containment and remediation (90% of threats visible in 60 seconds); 
  • Reduced operational disruption; 
  • Lower likelihood of repeat incidents. 

Executive outcome: minimized financial and operational impact from active threats. 

4. Threat Hunting: Shift from Reactive to Proactive Security 

The Challenge: 
Outdated data, manual validation, and lack of prioritization based on business risk. 

What to do: 

  • Use TI Feeds to track emerging threats targeting your industry and region; 
  • Pivot with TI Lookup across related indicators and campaigns; 
  • Use sandbox insights to refine detection logic and hunt hypotheses. 

Threat hunting becomes data-driven and context-aware, leveraging live attack activity across thousands of organizations. 

Business impact: 

  • Detection of threats before alerts trigger; 
  • Reduced attacker dwell time; 
  • More precise prioritization of high-risk threats. 

Executive outcome: improved risk visibility and proactive defense posture. 

Operational Impact → Business Outcomes 

When these capabilities are aligned across workflows, the effect compounds: 

Operational gains: 

  • Faster case processing (minutes saved per investigation); 
  • Higher detection rates (up to +36%); 
  • Fewer escalations and analyst overload; 
  • Shorter incident lifecycle. 

Business outcomes: 

  • Reduced risk of breaches and account takeover; 
  • Lower cost of security operations; 
  • Minimized downtime and service disruption; 
  • Stronger compliance and audit readiness;  

The difference between a resilient organization and a vulnerable one is not whether attacks happen. It is whether your teams can see threats early, understand them instantly, and act before impact spreads. 

By combining TI Feeds (visibility), TI Lookup (context), and Interactive Sandbox (depth), you turn security operations into a measurable business advantage, not just a defensive necessity. 

Accelerate investigations and stop threats earlier.
Leverage sandbox visibility and TI to improve SOC performance.
 



Register now


Conclusion 

The five attacks documented in this report share a common thread: they are sophisticated, targeted, and actively exploiting the trust that German employees place in familiar platforms like Microsoft 365, Outlook, and Teams. They represent a new generation of phishing campaigns that have moved far beyond bulk spam — into precision-engineered operations that research their targets, customize their lures, and deploy infrastructure specifically designed to survive detection. 

The good news is that these attacks are detectable. ANY.RUN’s Interactive Sandbox can analyze suspicious URLs and files in real time, tracing every redirect, every script, every network connection in the attack chain. The Threat Intelligence Lookup provides historical context — showing how many organizations have seen the same indicators, which industries are most targeted, and what threat families are most active. 

In an economy where a single successful breach can cost billions and disrupt national supply chains, visibility and speed of response will define resilience. 

About ANY.RUN  

ANY.RUN, a leading provider of interactive malware analysis and threat intelligence solutions, helps security teams investigate threats faster and with greater clarity across modern enterprise environments.  

It allows teams to safely execute suspicious files and URLs, observe real behavior in an Interactive Sandbox, enrich indicators with immediate context through TI Lookup, and monitor emerging malicious infrastructure using Threat Intelligence Feeds. Together, these capabilities help reduce investigation uncertainty, accelerate triage, and limit unnecessary escalations across the SOC.  

ANY.RUN is trusted by thousands of organizations worldwide and meets enterprise security and compliance expectations. It is SOC 2 Type II certified, demonstrating its commitment to protecting customer data and maintaining strong security controls. 

FAQ

Why are German companies increasingly targeted by cybercriminals?

Germany’s strong economy, high digitalization, and reliance on cloud services make its organizations high-value targets with scalable attack surfaces.

What industries are most at risk?

Finance, healthcare, IT, telecom, and manufacturing show consistently high risk due to data sensitivity, operational complexity, and business impact.

What makes modern phishing attacks more dangerous?

They now use reverse proxy tools and OAuth abuse to capture authenticated sessions, allowing attackers to bypass MFA and access accounts in real time.

What is session hijacking and why does it matter?

Session hijacking allows attackers to steal active login sessions instead of credentials, granting immediate access without needing passwords again.

How does threat intelligence help prevent attacks?

It provides context, detection speed, and visibility into attacker infrastructure, enabling faster decisions and proactive defense.

What is the difference between TI Lookup and TI Feeds?

TI Lookup is used for investigating specific indicators in real time, while TI Feeds provide continuous streams of threat data for proactive blocking.

Can these attacks be stopped before impact?

Yes, with the right combination of threat intelligence, sandboxing, and fast-response workflows, organizations can detect and contain threats early.

The post How Phishing Is Targeting Germany’s Economy: Active Threats from Finance to Manufacturing appeared first on ANY.RUN’s Cybersecurity Blog.

ANY.RUN’s Cybersecurity Blog – ​Read More

Fake BTS ARIRANG tour tickets: K-pop fans being targeted by scammers | Kaspersky official blog

BTS, a global K-pop phenomenon, has recently made a comeback from an almost four-year hiatus: the members of the group were completing mandatory military service in South Korea. For this reason it comes as no surprise that cybercriminals have taken advantage of the band’s highly anticipated world-tour — ARIRANG — to launch a campaign of fake websites targeting fans eager to buy tickets.

We’ve identified at least 10 fraudulent domains that mimic the official pre‑sale pages for the band’s concerts in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, and Spain — all created in early April. We explain how the scammers operate, and how to avoid buying fake tickets.

How the fake ticket scam works

Due to the high demand for the world-tour tickets, some of the event organizers prepared additional measures to ensure there are no ticket scalpers. In Brazil, the ticketing services adopted a “pre‑booking” format: the user first makes an online reservation, and then pays in person at the box office. Although in essence a good idea, the change has caused confusion among fans and created an opportunity for criminals to commit fraud.

Scammers create pages that are nearly identical to the official ones, replicating the layout, design, and the entire purchasing journey. For ordinary users, the experience seems completely legitimate. The links to these websites are circulating on social media — mainly on Instagram.

In Brazil, victims are prompted to make payments via PIX — an instant payment system operated by the Central Bank of Brazil. In some cases, the sites even simulate a card‑payment option, but claim high demand or system errors to pressure users into choosing PIX. PIX payments are then directed to money mule accounts — making it difficult to recover the funds.

The scam is a perfect example of how social engineering works. It exploits a massive and highly engaged fanbase — leading many users to act impulsively. The fake “errors” that the website displays during payment create a sense of urgency and cause panic — the scammers are well aware of how quickly BTS tickets sell out. In addition, doubts about the new purchasing system established by the event organizers help criminals make fake websites even more convincing.

How to protect yourself from ticket scams

If you really want to get tickets to your favorite group’s concert but not fall victim to the scammers, it’s important to keep these basic cybersecurity rules in mind:

  • Access only official ticketing services, which you can find on the official page dedicated to BTS’s tour. Type the website address directly into your browser, and avoid links received via messages, social media, or email.
  • Check the domain carefully. Slight changes in the address often indicate fraud. This includes additional dashes, unusual territorial domains, and hardly-noticeable changes like replacing a lowercase “l” (L) with an uppercase “I” (i).
  • Check the website for Privacy Policy and Terms of Use pages. If they’re missing, you’re definitely visiting a fake website. But remember: their presence doesn’t guarantee that the site is legitimate. With modern AI, generating such pages takes only a few seconds.
  • Carefully check the sales format for each country. In Brazil, payment should only be made in person, so any request for online payment during the pre‑sale is a strong indication of a scam. Other countries and event organizers may offer online payments.
  • If you’ve been scammed, immediately contact your bank. If you provided bank card information to the criminals, you should reissue your card to prevent further unauthorized payments.
  • Enable banking alerts. Real-time notifications allow you to quickly identify suspicious transactions.
  • Use cybersecurity protection that detects and automatically blocks fraudulent websites. Kaspersky Premium, our robust cybersecurity solution, also shuts down phishing attempts, protects your personal data, and helps safeguard your identity.
  • Beware of “free” or “discounted” tickets. Ultimately, there’s never such a thing as a free lunch — especially when it comes to world‑famous music groups.

More on scams:

Kaspersky official blog – ​Read More

The Week in Vulnerabilities: OpenClaw, FreeBSD, F5 BIG-IP, and Critical ICS Bugs

Weekly Vulnerability Report

Cyble Research & Intelligence Labs (CRIL) weekly vulnerability report tracked 1,960 vulnerabilities last week, reflecting a continued surge in vulnerability disclosures across enterprise and cloud ecosystems.

Of these, 248 vulnerabilities have publicly available Proof-of-Concept (PoC) exploits, significantly increasing the likelihood of real-world attacks and accelerating exploitation timelines.

Additionally, at least 5 vulnerabilities were actively discussed across underground forums, indicating strong attacker interest and rapid weaponization.

A total of 214 vulnerabilitieswere rated critical under CVSS v3.1, while 57 were rated critical under CVSS v4.0.

Furthermore, CISA added 4 vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, confirming active exploitation in the wild.

On the industrial side, CISA issued 7 ICS advisories covering 10 vulnerabilities, impacting vendors such as Schneider Electric, WAGO, and PTC.

Weekly Vulnerability Report’s Top 5 CVE’s

CVE-2026-32917 — OpenClaw (Critical)

CVE-2026-32917 is a critical remote command injection vulnerability affecting OpenClaw, an AI agent framework.

The flaw occurs in the iMessage attachment staging workflow, allowing attackers to inject commands into remote systems. Successful exploitation enables arbitrary command execution, potentially leading to full system compromise.

CVE-2026-4747 — FreeBSD RPCSEC_GSS (Critical)

CVE-2026-4747 is a critical stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability in FreeBSD caused by improper bounds checking in packet handling.

Attackers can send specially crafted requests to trigger a stack overflow, resulting in remote code execution with kernel-level privileges, enabling full system takeover.

CVE-2026-31883 — FreeRDP (Critical)

CVE-2026-31883 is a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability in FreeRDP’s audio decoding components.

A malicious RDP server or man-in-the-middle attacker can exploit this flaw to execute arbitrary code, potentially compromising remote desktop clients and enterprise environments.

CVE-2026-1207 — Django (High)

CVE-2026-1207 is a SQL injection vulnerability in Django applications using PostGIS RasterField lookups.

Insufficient input validation allows attackers to inject malicious SQL queries, leading to data exposure, modification, and potential lateral movement within backend systems.

CVE-2025-53521 — F5 BIG-IP APM (Critical)

CVE-2025-53521 is a critical vulnerability in F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager, initially classified as a DoS flaw but later reclassified as unauthenticated remote code execution following active exploitation.

This vulnerability allows attackers to gain full control of access management systems, posing significant risks to enterprise networks.

Top 10 Impacted Products
Data Source: Cyble Vision

Vulnerabilities Added to CISA KEV

CISA continued expanding its KEV catalog, reflecting active exploitation trends.

Notable addition:

CVE-2025-53521 — F5 BIG-IP APM
Initially considered a denial-of-service flaw, it was reclassified as a remote code execution vulnerability after evidence of active exploitation emerged.

This shows how vulnerabilities can evolve in severity over time, reinforcing the need for continuous reassessment and monitoring.

Critical ICS Vulnerabilities

CISA issued 7 ICS advisories covering 10 vulnerabilities, with several rated critical.

CISA ICS Vendor Spotlight
Data Source: Cyble Vision

CVE-2026-2417 — Pharos Controls (Critical)

This vulnerability involves missing authentication for critical functions in Mosaic Show Controller firmware.

Attackers can exploit this flaw to gain unauthorized control over industrial systems, potentially disrupting operations.

CVE-2025-49844 — Schneider Electric Plant iT/Brewmaxx (Critical)

A use-after-free vulnerability in Schneider Electric’s industrial automation platform can lead to memory corruption and system compromise.

The presence of multiple vulnerabilities in this platform reflects systemic risk across widely deployed industrial environments.

CVE-2026-3587 — WAGO Managed Switches (Critical)

This vulnerability exposes hidden functionality in industrial switches, potentially enabling attackers to bypass controls and gain unauthorized access.

CVE-2026-4681 — PTC Windchill PDMLink (Critical)

This vulnerability involves improper control of code generation and currently has no available patch, leaving organizations exposed.

Grassroots DICOM (High, Unpatched)

A memory management flaw in Grassroots DICOM impacts healthcare imaging systems, with no vendor patch available, increasing risk to medical infrastructure.

Impacted Critical Infrastructure Sectors

Analysis shows that:

Commercial Facilities appear in 70% of ICS vulnerabilities

Critical Manufacturing and Energy each account for 60%

Healthcare, communications, and transportation sectors also face exposure.

Impacted Critical Infrastructure Sectors
Data Source: Cyble Vision

This distribution shows the strong cross-sector dependencies, where vulnerabilities in industrial platforms can cascade into multiple critical infrastructure domains.

Conclusion

This week’s findings highlight a convergence of:

  • Increasing vulnerability volume and severity
  • Rapid exploitation cycles driven by PoC availability
  • Active underground discussion and weaponization
  • Persistent weaknesses in industrial control systems

With 248 publicly available PoCs, KEV additions confirming active exploitation, and unpatched ICS vulnerabilities, organizations face significant risk across both enterprise IT and operational technology environments.

Key Recommendations

  • Prioritize vulnerabilities based on exploit availability and operational impact
  • Patch critical enterprise systems and externally exposed services immediately
  • Implement strong input validation and secure coding practices
  • Harden remote access and RDP environments
  • Segment IT and OT networks to limit lateral movement
  • Apply compensating controls for unpatched ICS vulnerabilities
  • Continuously monitor threat intelligence and underground forums
  • Conduct regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing

Cyble’s attack surface management and vulnerability intelligence solutions enable organizations to identify exposed assets, prioritize remediation, and detect early indicators of compromise. By combining threat intelligence with proactive defense strategies, organizations can effectively mitigate evolving risks across enterprise and critical infrastructure environments

The post The Week in Vulnerabilities: OpenClaw, FreeBSD, F5 BIG-IP, and Critical ICS Bugs appeared first on Cyble.

Cyble – ​Read More

From the field to the report and back again: How incident responders can use the Year in Review

From the field to the report and back again: How incident responders can use the Year in Review

Every year, Cisco Talos publishes Year in Review, a comprehensive look at the previous year’s threat landscape. It’s drawn from an enormous volume of telemetry, such as endpoint detections, network traffic, email data, and boots-on-the-ground Cisco Talos Incident Response (Talos IR) engagements

As incident responders, we see threats mid-detonation in the wreckage of an Active Directory environment, or in the lateral movement artifacts left behind by an affiliate who got in using nothing more than a valid account. The Year in Review distills those raw observations into structured intelligence, but that intelligence loop works both ways. The same report that our IR casework feeds into is the report that defenders should be feeding back into their own preparation cycles.

IR casework shapes the Year in Review, the Year in Review shapes your readiness 

When Talos IR closes out an engagement with customers, the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) we observe through forensic work and analysis are catalogued, aggregated, and analyzed alongside broader Cisco telemetry. When we track the emergence of a new exploit like React2Shell redefining attacker speed, or when we see Qilin rise to dominate the ransomware landscape while legacy groups like others maintain rare, sustained momentum, those shifts in the adversary ecosystem become the intelligence that informs what we are on the lookout for during the next investigation. When we observe patterns of behavior, they may form trend lines that span multiple years and reveal how the landscape is evolving. 

For defenders, this means the Year in Review is not a theoretical document. It is a distillation of what actually happened to organizations we respond to, investigated by the people who were in the room when things broke down. Here are some suggestions on how to operationalize these findings.

Turning findings into tabletop scenarios 

One of the most immediate and practical applications of Year in Review is raw material for tabletop exercises. The report hands you the adversary playbook. For example, the 2024 Year in Review highlighted that identity-based attacks accounted for 60% of all Talos IR cases, with Active Directory being the focal point in 44% of those incidents. Attackers were not breaking down doors with zero-days; rather, they were walking through the front door with stolen credentials, often bypassing multi-factor authentication (MFA) through push fatigue, misconfigured policies, or the simple fact that MFA was never fully enrolled in the first place for some accounts.  

The 2025 Year in Review reinforces and deepens this picture. Attacks against MFA evolved significantly, with MFA spray attacks doubling down on identity and access management (IAM) infrastructure while expanding efforts against high-value privileged accounts. Device compromise attacks saw a significant rise in activity, showing that actors increasingly value reliable, repeatable access methods over one-off exploitation. These are adversary preferences that should directly shape your exercise scenariosand cybersecurity preparedness. 

That is a ready-made tabletop scenario. Work with your team on this exact entry scenario and walk through it just as adversary would. An adversary authenticates to your VPN. MFA fires, but the user approves the push because they were already expecting a login prompt. The attacker is now inside your perimeter with legitimate access. What does your detection look like? How quickly do your analysts identify the anomaly? Who makes the call to force a password reset and revoke sessions? These are some good questions to cover in this scenario. The 2025 Year in Review found that actors tailor their MFA attack style depending on the sector, and that manufacturing was the most impacted sector for ransomware in 2025, underscoring persistent risk to repeatedly targeted industries. If you operate in manufacturing, health care, or another sector that has appeared consistently in ransomware targeting data, your tabletop should reflect the specific TTPs directed at your vertical — not a generic ransomware exercise. These are just some ideas to get started on scenarios.

Validate your detections against real-world tradecraft 

Beyond tabletops, the Year in Review provides a prioritized list of what to test your detections against. Year after year, Talos IR engagements reveal a consistent core of adversary tradecraft that organizations are still struggling to detect. Tools like PowerShell and Mimikatz appear in a significant portion of engagements. Remote services such as RDP and SSH continue to be abused for lateral movement. Ransomware operators are increasingly disabling security solutions before deploying payloads, and in 2024, they succeeded in doing so at an alarming rate. 

The 2025 Year in Review adds critical nuance to detection priorities through its vulnerability analysis. The top 10 most targeted vulnerabilities tell a story about what attackers reach for. React2Shell redefined attacker speed and targeting, compressing the window between disclosure and exploitation. ToolShell’s quick rise to the top five highlighted the sheer volume and impact of attacks exploiting development tool vulnerabilities. 

For defenders, this is a checklist. Can your endpoint detection and response (EDR) detect and alert on the disabling of its own agent? Do you have detections for credential dumping from LSASS or web shell deployment? What about a scenario where direct exploitation takes place, but no web shell is deployed? Are you monitoring for anomalous Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) sessions originating from unexpected source hosts? The Year in Review tells you what the adversary is actually doing, not what they might hypothetically do. That distinction is critical when you are prioritizing detection engineering across your organization. 

Map these findings to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, which the Talos Quarterly IR Trend Reports and the Year in Review already reference, and you have a structured way to assess your coverage gaps. If valid account abuse is the dominant initial access technique and your detections are heavily weighted toward exploit-based intrusions, you have a mismatch between your defensive posture and the actual threat landscape.

Stress-test your IR plan, not just your tooling 

The Year in Review also reveals patterns in where organizations struggle that go beyond technology. Across multiple years of IR engagements, common security weaknesses keep surfacing: incomplete asset inventories, inconsistent logging, missing or misconfigured MFA, inadequate network segmentation, and unpatched or end-of-life network devices that remain exposed. The 2024 report noted that some of the most targeted network vulnerabilities affected end-of-life devices with no available patches, yet those devices remained in production environments. The 2025 data reinforce this with even sharper clarity:  Legacy systems remain highly vulnerable to attack, CVE age distribution data highlights systemic patch delays, and a small number of vulnerabilities in network infrastructure continue to drive outsized risk. 

Two additional areas from the 2025 report deserve attention in your planning cycle. First, phishing continues to evolve. Phishing plays a key role in both initial access and post-compromise activity, with business email compromise-style and workflow-based lures remaining the primary theme. Travel and logistics lures surged, while political lures dropped off and IT-themed lures became more prominent. These shifts matter for security awareness training; if your phishing simulations are still heavily weighted toward current-events lures, they may not reflect what your users are encountering. 

Second, the AI threat landscape warrants monitoring. The 2025 observations include dedicated coverage of how AI is shaping the threat environment. While the full scope of AI-enabled threats is still emerging, defenders should consider how AI may be lowering the barrier for adversaries in areas like phishing content generation, vulnerability discovery, and social engineering at scale. Your IR plans should be tested, validated, and updated to handle the new security regime we find ourselves in. 

Build a year-round preparation cadence 

Rather than treating the Year in Review as a one-time read, consider building a recurring preparation cycle around it. When the report drops, review the top-level findings with your security leadership and identify the three or four trends most relevant to your environment. In the quieter early months, run a tabletop exercise built around the most applicable scenario. Through the middle of the year, use Quarterly IR Trend Report data to adjust detection priorities and validate coverage. Before year-end, when threat activity tends to intensify, conduct a focused review of your IR plan. 

Cisco Talos Blog – ​Read More

Building Phishing Detection That Works: 3 Steps for CISOs 

90% of attacks start with phishing. For CISOs, the real pain begins when the SOC cannot quickly tell whether a suspicious alert is just noise or the start of credential theft, account compromise, malware delivery, or wider business disruption. 

Modern phishing campaigns are designed to create exactly that uncertainty. QR codes, redirect chains, CAPTCHAs, phishing kits, and AI-generated lures can all hide the real objective until late in the attack flow.  

So what does phishing detection that actually works look like for a modern SOC or MSSP? Let’s find out. 

Why Modern Phishing Still Breaks SOC Workflows 

Phishing is still one of the most common ways attackers get into organizations, but the threat no longer follows a simple pattern. Modern phishing campaigns are built to hide their real intent, delay validation, and make investigation harder for already overloaded security teams. 

What makes today’s phishing especially disruptive is the mix of techniques now used in a single campaign. Security teams are no longer dealing with one suspicious email and one malicious link. They are dealing with layered attack flows that may include: 

  • redirect chains that hide the real destination 
  • QR codes that bypass traditional inspection 
  • CAPTCHAs that slow or block analysis
  • Phishing-as-a-Service kits that make advanced attacks easier to launch  
  • AI-generated lures and deepfake content that make phishing more convincing 

This combination puts much more pressure on SOC workflows. The challenge is understanding what actually happens next and doing it fast enough to reduce business risk. 

The numbers reflect this shift. 20% of phishing campaigns hide links in QR codes, while Tycoon2FA attacks increased by 25% between Q1 and Q3 2025. Gartner also found that 62% of companies experienced a deepfake attack in 2025. Together, these trends show that phishing is more adaptive, more evasive, and more difficult to investigate quickly. 

Numbers proving the danger of modern phishing attacks
Numbers proving the danger of modern phishing attacks

For SOC teams, this creates a dangerous workflow gap. An alert may show that something looks suspicious, but it often does not reveal whether credentials are being harvested, whether MFA is being bypassed, whether malware is delivered after the phishing stage, or how far the attack could spread if it succeeds. That lack of visibility is where delays begin. 

When visibility breaks down, the workflow usually breaks down with it: 

  • triage takes longer 
  • confidence in decisions drops 
  • more cases are escalated 
  • response slows at the exact moment speed matters most 

To make phishing detection work, CISOs need an approach that helps the SOC spot threats sooner, understand their impact earlier, and contain them before they escalate. 

Step 1: Strengthen Monitoring with Fresh Phishing Intelligence

The first step is making sure the SOC can see phishing activity early enough to act on it. If malicious domains, URLs, or campaign indicators surface too late, the team starts every investigation from behind.

Strong monitoring is not just about collecting more alerts. It is about improving what the SOC sees first and giving teams a better chance to catch phishing before it spreads further. The more current and relevant the intelligence is, the easier it becomes to recognize real threats early and prioritize them correctly.

This is where the quality and scale of threat data make a real difference. ANY.RUN’s phishing intelligence is built on first-hand investigations of active campaigns observed across 15,000 organizations and used by more than 600,000 security professionals worldwide. That gives teams access to fresh phishing indicators grounded in real attack activity, not just static or generic reputation data.

TI Feeds delivering actionable IOCs into your existing stack
TI Feeds delivering actionable IOCs into your existing stack

With this kind of monitoring in place, SOC teams can: 

  • spot malicious URLs, domains, and payloads earlier 
  • improve coverage across emerging phishing campaigns 
  • enrich detections with context tied to real investigations 
  • prioritize alerts faster and with more confidence 

A stronger monitoring layer gives the SOC a much better starting point. And when phishing is detected earlier, every step that follows becomes more effective. 

99% unique threat intel for your SOC

Catch threats early. Act with clear evidence.
 



Power your SOC now


Step 2: Improve Triage with Full Attack-Chain Visibility 

Early detection is only the starting point. Once a phishing alert reaches the SOC, the next challenge is figuring out what the attack is actually doing and whether it creates real business risk. 

This is where triage often slows down. A suspicious URL or attachment may trigger an alert, but that alone does not show whether the campaign leads to credential theft, MFA bypass, malware delivery, or a broader account takeover attempt. Without that visibility, teams spend more time validating the threat, confidence in verdicts drops, and more cases are escalated than necessary. 

Strong phishing triage should help teams quickly answer a few critical questions: 

  • Where does the attack flow actually lead? 
  • Is the user being pushed to a fake login page? 
  • Are credentials or session tokens being stolen? 
  • Does the phishing stage end in malware delivery? 

ANY.RUN helps close this gap with Interactive Sandbox analysis that exposes the full phishing chain in a safe environment. Teams can detonate suspicious URLs and files, follow redirects, open attachments, scan QR codes, and inspect CAPTCHA-protected flows to see how the attack behaves in practice.

Instead of relying on assumptions, they can validate the threat based on what actually happens. Analysts can also interact with the environment at any time, which makes it easier to investigate suspicious behavior manually when a deeper look is needed.

See how a real quishing attack can be analyzed inside ANY.RUN’s Interactive Sandbox in seconds:

Quishing attack analyzed inside ANY.RUN sandbox

This process becomes even faster with Automated Interactivity. By imitating analyst behavior inside the sandbox, it can interact with phishing pages automatically, uncover hidden links behind QR codes, solve CAPTCHAs, and continue the analysis flow without waiting for manual input. That helps teams move through evasive phishing stages faster and reach the real malicious behavior sooner.

Check sandbox analysis with Automated Interactivity 

Multi-stage phishing attack
Multi-stage phishing attack discovered inside ANY.RUN sandbox

Stronger triage reduces uncertainty, cuts wasted effort and helps teams reach conclusions faster. That means fewer unnecessary escalations, quicker containment, and less chance for phishing incidents to grow into broader operational or financial impact. 

Reduce the risk of delayed detection

Help your team investigate faster and respond earlier
 



Power up your SOC


Step 3: Speed Up Response with Clear Verdicts and Actionable Evidence 

Phishing detection does not end when the SOC confirms that something looks suspicious. The next challenge is turning that analysis into fast, confident response. 

This is where many workflows still slow down. Even after a phishing attack has been investigated, teams often need to manually collect indicators, document what happened, map behavior to known techniques, and prepare findings for escalation or response. That extra effort creates delays at exactly the moment when speed matters most. 

A strong response workflow should give teams what they need to act without friction:

  • a clear verdict on the threat 
  • extracted IOCs for blocking and investigation 
  • mapped TTPs for faster understanding 
  • structured reports for escalation and handoff 
  • evidence that helps response teams move with confidence 

ANY.RUN helps speed up this stage by turning phishing analysis into decision-ready outputs. Teams can see how the attack unfolds across redirects, phishing pages, credential theft attempts, and payload delivery, often reaching a verdict within the first 60 seconds. Clear verdicts, extracted IOCs, mapped TTPs, visual behavior details, and auto-generated reports make incidents easier to understand and faster to contain.

Auto-generated report for faster response
Auto-generated report for faster response

For CISOs, the real benefit is a faster path from investigation to containment. It helps teams contain phishing incidents sooner, make more consistent decisions under pressure, and reduce the time attackers have to turn a phishing attempt into credential theft, fraud, or wider business disruption. 

64% of Fortune 500 companies rely on ANY.RUN 

to strengthen their SOC operations



Integrate into your SOC


What SOC Teams Gain from Stronger Phishing Detection 

When SOC teams improve monitoring, sharpen triage, and speed up response, phishing becomes much harder to turn into a larger incident. Stronger phishing detection helps teams identify suspicious activity sooner, understand it more quickly, and act with greater confidence when time matters most.

SOC Teams Gain from Stronger Phishing Detection 
Mains steps for stronger phishing detection with ANY.RUN

This approach drives measurable improvements across day-to-day SOC operations: 

  • 36% higher detection rate 
  • up to 58% more threats detected 
  • 21 minutes faster MTTR per incident 
  • up to 20% lower Tier 1 workload 
  • 30% fewer Tier 1 to Tier 2 escalations 

The value goes beyond the numbers. Better phishing detection helps reduce alert fatigue by making suspicious activity easier to assess. It also helps Tier 1 handle more cases with confidence instead of pushing unclear investigations further down the workflow. 

📊Key Outcomes for CISOs:
  • Lower breach risk through earlier detection and more informed response
  • Reduce the cost of phishing incidents by containing threats faster
  • Ease alert fatigue with faster clarity on suspicious activity
  • Improve SOC efficiency with quicker, better-informed decisions
  • Reduce Tier 1 workload by helping front-line teams close more cases sooner
  • Improve consistency  in phishing investigations and response workflow
  • Avoid hardware costs by using cloud-based analysis 
  • Scale operations more easily as phishing volume grows
  • Get more value from existing teams without adding the same operational burden
  • Reduce the likelihood of wider business disruption by stopping phishing earlier

Phishing is often the first step in account compromise, fraud, malware delivery, and wider business disruption. When SOC teams can detect it earlier and respond faster, the organization is in a much stronger position to stop the attack before the damage spreads. 

About ANY.RUN 

ANY.RUN, a leading provider of interactive malware analysis and threat intelligence solutions, helps organizations detect, investigate, and respond to modern phishing attacks with greater speed and clarity.

By combining Interactive Sandbox, Threat Intelligence Lookup, and Threat Intelligence Feeds, ANY.RUN gives SOC and MSSP teams the tools to spot phishing activity sooner, investigate threats more effectively, and respond with structured findings. Its approach helps security teams expose full attack chains, investigate evasive phishing techniques, and make more confident decisions under pressure.

Trusted by more than 15,000 organizations and 600,000 security professionals worldwide, including 74% of Fortune 100 companies, ANY.RUN is built to support modern security operations with faster threat visibility, stronger investigation workflows, and more informed response. The company is SOC 2 Type II certified, reflecting its focus on strong security controls and customer data protection. 

Integrate ANY.RUN’s solution for Tier 1/2/3 in your organization → 

The post Building Phishing Detection That Works: 3 Steps for CISOs  appeared first on ANY.RUN’s Cybersecurity Blog.

ANY.RUN’s Cybersecurity Blog – ​Read More

Dual-Brain Architecture: The Cybersecurity AI Innovation That Changes Everything

agentic ai architecture

Cybersecurity has always been a race, but it is no longer a fair one. Attackers now operate at machine speed, orchestrating campaigns that evolve in seconds, while many defense teams still rely on workflows measured in hours or days. This widening gap has forced a fundamental shift in thinking. The conversation is no longer about faster response alone; it is about anticipation, autonomy, and intelligent coordination. 

Cybersecurity AI innovation built on agentic AI architecture is the new shift everyone is talking about. These systems are not passive tools waiting for instructions; they actively investigate, reason, and act. What distinguishes this evolution is the emergence of dual-brain design, a concept that blends real-time decision-making with long-term contextual understanding. 

The Dual-Brain Model: Separating Speed from Understanding 

Traditional systems struggle because they attempt to process everything, real-time signals and historical context, within a single framework. Dual-brain architecture breaks this limitation by dividing responsibilities into two complementary layers. 

The first layer, often described as neural memory, operates like a continuously evolving knowledge graph. It maps relationships across attacker behaviors, infrastructure patterns, and indicators of compromise. This is where neural memory threat intelligence becomes critical. Instead of storing static data, it builds a living model of how threats behave over time, adapting as new intelligence flows in. 

The second layer focuses on unstructured information. Security data rarely arrives neatly packaged; it exists in fragmented reports, dark web discussions, and analyst notes. This layer transforms raw, ambiguous inputs into semantic meaning. It doesn’t just match patterns; it interprets intent. 

Together, these layers create a system capable of both immediate reaction and informed reasoning. One “brain” reacts in real time; the other provides depth and memory. The result is a more balanced and capable AI cybersecurity architecture that can connect weak signals long before they become visible threats. 

From Alerts to Outcomes: Fixing Alert Fatigue 

One of the most persistent failures in cybersecurity operations is an alert overload. Analysts are inundated with notifications, many of which lack context or urgency. Critical threats often hide in plain sight, buried under noise. 

Dual-brain systems address this by shifting the focus from alerts to outcomes. Instead of generating isolated warnings, they construct a coherent narrative around a threat. Signals from endpoints, cloud systems, and external intelligence sources are correlated into a single, actionable story. 

This is where autonomous AI security becomes transformative. The system doesn’t stop detecting; it investigates, validates, and responds. Compromised systems can be isolated, malicious domains blocked, and policies enforced automatically. What once required hours of manual effort can now happen in seconds, with minimal human intervention. 

Cyble Blaze AI: Dual-Brain Architecture in Practice 

A clear example of this cybersecurity ai innovation in action can be seen in Cyble Blaze AI, a platform designed to operationalize agentic ai architecture at scale. Its implementation of dual-brain design brings together real-time detection and long-term contextual reasoning in a way that mirrors how experienced analysts think, only at machine speed. 

Cyble Blaze AI uses a neural memory layer to continuously map relationships between threat actors, attack techniques, and infrastructure patterns. This intelligence base allows it to connect early indicators, such as leaked credentials or exploit chatter, with internal vulnerabilities. Complementing this is a vector-based processing layer that interprets unstructured data, enabling deeper contextual understanding across sources like dark web forums and fragmented threat reports. 

What sets the platform apart is its ability to act on this intelligence autonomously. Built on a distributed agentic ai architecture, Cyble Blaze AI deploys specialized agents that monitor endpoints, cloud environments, and external threat landscapes simultaneously. These agents collaborate in real time, sharing insights and triggering coordinated responses across domains. 

The platform’s predictive capabilities are particularly notable. By analyzing more than 350 billion threat data points, it identifies patterns that signal where attacks are likely to emerge. In many cases, it can forecast risks up to six months in advance, turning neural memory threat intelligence into a forward-looking defense mechanism rather than a retrospective tool. 

Check out Cyble Blaze AI 

Agentic AI Architecture: A Network of Specialized Intelligence 

The real power of this approach lies in its structure. Rather than relying on a monolithic system, modern platforms use a distributed agentic ai architecture composed of specialized agents. 

Each agent has a defined role. Some continuously scan for anomalies across endpoints. Others focus on cloud environments or SaaS ecosystems. Response agents execute containment and remediation actions. What makes this effective is not just specialization, but coordination. 

When one agent detects a signal, it is immediately shared across the system. A suspicious login identified in a cloud environment can trigger endpoint containment actions without delay. This real-time collaboration enables detection, analysis, and response to occur in under two minutes in many scenarios. 

This level of orchestration marks a clear departure from traditional tools. It reflects a broader shift toward autonomous ai security, where systems operate with a high degree of independence while maintaining precision. 

Predictive Defense: Seeing Months Ahead 

Perhaps the most significant advancement in this cybersecurity ai innovation is its predictive capability. By analyzing vast datasets, often exceeding 350 billion threat data points, these systems identify patterns that indicate where future attacks are likely to emerge. 

This is not guesswork. It is a large-scale correlation across historical attacks, newly disclosed vulnerabilities, and global threat activity. Early indicators, such as leaked credentials or exploit discussions on underground forums, are linked to an organization’s environment. 

Through neural memory threat intelligence, the system recognizes trajectories. It can forecast risks up to six months in advance, giving organizations a critical window to act before an attack materializes. 

This fundamentally changes the role of cybersecurity. Defense is no longer reactive; it becomes anticipatory. 

Toward a Preventive Security Model 

Dual-brain architecture redefines cybersecurity by shifting the goal from reacting to threats to preventing them altogether. By combining agentic ai architecture, predictive analytics, and neural memory threat intelligence, platforms like Cyble Blaze AI enable autonomous ai security that anticipates attack paths, reduces exposure, and neutralizes risks before they escalate.  

This marks a fundamental evolution in AI cybersecurity architecture, where speed and context work together to deliver predictive, outcome-driven defense. To see how this cybersecurity AI innovation operates in practice, organizations can request a personalized demo for Cyble Blaze AI and explore its capabilities firsthand. 

The post Dual-Brain Architecture: The Cybersecurity AI Innovation That Changes Everything appeared first on Cyble.

Cyble – ​Read More

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations

  • Cisco Talos uncovered a cluster of activity we track as UAT-10362 conducting spear-phishing campaigns against Taiwanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and suspected universities to deliver a newly identified malware family, “LucidRook.” 
  • LucidRook is a sophisticated stager that embeds a Lua interpreter and Rust-compiled libraries within a dynamic-link library (DLL) to download and execute staged Lua bytecode payloads. The dropper “LucidPawn” uses region-specific anti-analysis checks and executes only in Traditional Chinese language environments associated with Taiwan. 
  • Talos identified two distinct infection chains used to deliver LucidRook, involving malicious LNK and EXE files disguised as antivirus software. In both cases, the actor abused an Out-of-band Application Security Testing (OAST) service and compromised FTP servers for command-and-control (C2) infrastructure. 
  • Through hunting for LucidRook, we discovered “LucidKnight,” a companion reconnaissance tool that exfiltrates system information via Gmail. Its presence alongside LucidRook suggests the actor operatesa tiered toolkit, potentially using LucidKnight to profile targets before escalating to full stager deployment. 
  • The multi-language modular design, layered anti-analysis features, stealth-focused payload handling of the malware, and reliance on compromised or public infrastructure indicate UAT-10362 is a capable threat actor with mature operational tradecraft.

Spear-phishing campaigns against Taiwanese NGOs and universities 

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations

Cisco Talos observed a spear-phishing attack delivering LucidRook, a newly identified stager that targeted a Taiwanese NGO in October 2025. The metadata in the email suggests that it was delivered via authorized mail infrastructure, which implies potential misuse of legitimate sending capabilities.

The email contained a shortened URL that leads to the download of a password protected and encrypted RAR archive. The decryption password was included in the email body. Based on this email and the collected samples, Talos observed two distinct infection chains originating from the delivered archives. 

Decoy files 

In the infection chain, the threat actor deployed a dropper that opens the decoy documents included in the bundle. One example decoy file is a letter issued by the Taiwanese government to universities in Taiwan. This document is a formal directive reminding national universities that teachers with administrative roles are legally required to obtain prior approval and file attendance records before traveling to China. An official version of this document can be found on the Taiwanese government website.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 1. Decoy file.

Two infection chains 

Talos identified two infection chains used to deploy LucidRook. Both were multi-stage and began with either an LNK or an EXE launcher. The LNK infection chain uses an initial dropper Talos tracks as LucidPawn. 

LNK-based infection chain

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 2. LNK-based infection chain.

The LNK-based infection chain was observed in both the sample targeting Taiwanese NGOs (which were distributed via spear-phishing emails) and the sample we suspect targeted Taiwanese universities. Both samples were delivered as an archive, containing an LNK file with a document file with substituted PDF file icon, as well as a hidden directory in the folder, as shown in Figure 3.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 3. LNK with substituted icon in the archive.

The hidden directory contains four layers of nested folders designed to evade analysis. The fourth-level directory contains the LucidPawn dropper sample (DismCore.dll), a legitimate EXE file (install.exe), and a decoy file. An example folder structure is shown in Figure 4.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 4. File structure of the malicious archive.

When the user clicks the LNK file, it executes the PowerShell testing framework script C:Program FilesWindowsPowerShellModulesPester3.4.0Build.bat, passing the path to binaries located in the hidden directory in order to launch the embedded malware. This is a known technique that leverages living-off-the-land binaries and scripts (LOLBAS) to evade detection.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 5. LNK target metadata.

The PowerShell process executes the following command:

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 6. PowerShell process execution command.

The index.exe file is a legitimate Windows binary associated with the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) framework. It is abused as a loader to sideload LucidPawn via DLL search order hijacking.

The LucidPawn dropper embeds two AES-encrypted binaries: a legitimate DISM executable and the LucidRook stager. Upon execution, both binaries are decrypted and written to %APPDATA%LocalMicrosoftWindowsApps, with the DISM executable renamed to msedge.exe to impersonate the Microsoft Edge browser and the LucidRook stager written as DismCore.dll. Persistence is established via a LNK file in the Startup folder that launches msedge.exe. After dropping the binaries, LucidPawn launches the DISM executable to sideload the LucidRook stager.  

The LucidPawn dropper also handles decoy documents by locating files with specific document extensions (.pdf, .docx, .doc, .xlsx) in the working directory, copying them to the first layer directory, deleting the original lure LNK file, and opening the decoy using Microsoft Edge to distract the victim.

EXE-based infection chain  

The second infection chain leverages only a malicious EXE written in the .NET framework without the LucidPawn dropper.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 7. EXE-based infection chain.

Talos observed the EXE-based infection chain in samples uploaded to public malware repositories in December 2025. The samples were distributed as password protected 7-Zip archives named “Cleanup(密碼:33665512).7z”. Based on the Traditional Chinese language used in the archive filename, the language shown in the malicious dropper, and the geographic context of the sample upload locations, we assess with moderate to high confidence that the campaign was intended to target Taiwanese entities.

The 7-Zip archive contains a single executable file named Cleanup.exe. The extracted binary masquerades as Trend Micro™ Worry-Free™ Business Security Services, using a forged application name and icon to impersonate a legitimate security product. In addition, the binary contains a compilation timestamp that is clearly falsified (2065-01-12 14:12:28 UTC).

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 8. The EXE dropper forged as Trend Micro product.

The executable is a simple dropper written with the .NET framework. It embeds three binary files as Base64-encoded data within its code and, upon execution, decodes and drops these files into the C:ProgramData directory. The dropped files include a legitimate DISM executable, the LucidRook stager, and a LNK file placed in the Startup folder to establish persistence.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 9. Decompiled code of the EXE dropper.

After execution, the program displays a decoy message box claiming that the cleanup process has completed.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 10. Decoy message box from the dropper.

LucidRook Lua-based stager 

LucidRook is a sophisticated 64-bit Windows DLL stager consisting of a Lua interpreter, embedded Rust-compiled libraries, and Lua bytecode payload. The DLL embeds a Lua 5.4.8 interpreter and retrieves a staged payload (in our sample named archive1.zip) from its C2 over FTP. After unpacking and validating the downloaded stage, the implant loads and executes the resulting Lua bytecode on the compromised host. Embedding the Lua interpreter effectively turns the native DLL into a stable execution platform while allowing the threat actor to update or tailor behavior for each target or campaigns by updating the Lua bytecode payload with a lighter and more flexible development process. This approach also improves operational security, since the Lua stage can be hosted only briefly and removed from C2 after delivery, and it can hinder post-incident reconstruction when defenders recover only the loader without the externally delivered Lua payload.  

Due to the embedded Lua interpreter and stripped Rust-compiled components, the DLL is complex to reverse engineer. The binary is approximately 1.6MB in size and contains over 3,800 functions, reflecting the amount of runtime and library code bundled into a single module. Execution is initiated via the DllGetClassObject export; however, the sample implements no COM functionality and uses the export solely as an entry point.

Upon execution, the malware’s core workflow is twofold. First, it performs host reconnaissance, collecting system information that is encrypted, packaged, and exfiltrated to the C2 infrastructure. It then retrieves an encrypted, staged Lua bytecode payload from the C2 server, which is subsequently decrypted and executed on the compromised host.

Lua interpreter embedding implementation 

LucidRook embeds a Lua 5.4.8 interpreter directly inside the DLL and uses it to execute a downloaded Lua bytecode stage. Before handing the stage to the VM, the loader verifies that the decrypted blob begins with the standard Lua bytecode magic (x1bLua), indicating the payload is a compiled Lua chunk rather than plaintext script.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 11. Code to check the Lua bytecode prefix in the downloaded blob.

The Lua runtime is also wrapped with additional controls. Notably, the malware implements a non-standard “safe mode” that disables package.loadlib (as shown by the unique error string “package.loadlibis disabled in safe mode”), which prevents Lua payloads from loading arbitrary external DLL-based modules via the standard require/loader pathway. Additionally, in the library initialization flow observed, the malware opens common standard libraries (e.g., io, os, string, math, package) but does not open the debug library, which would normally provide powerful introspection primitives; this omission is consistent with an anti-analysis hardening choice.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 12. Code in the interpreter to load the libraries.

String obfuscation scheme 

The LucidRook samples employ a sophisticated string obfuscation scheme. The obfuscation was applied to almost all the embedded strings including file extensions, internal identifiers, and C2 addresses. This transformation increases the difficulty of analysis and detection.

The deobfuscation follows a structured two-stage runtime process: 

  1. Address calculation: Rather than using direct offsets, the malware calculates the memory address of an encrypted string through a unique series of arithmetic operations for each string. This design prevents cross-referencing encrypted data blocks to their use-sites for reverse engineering.  
  2. Runtime key reconstruction and XOR decryption: Each 4-byte chunk is decrypted using XOR with a key that is not hardcoded directly. Instead, the key is reconstructed at runtime by combining a constant seed value (ending in 0x00) and a single-byte mask read from a parallel lookup table: Plaintext = Ciphertext ^ (Seed | Mask)

The use of a parallel lookup table for masks significantly complicates the creation of automated “unpacking” scripts, as the relationship between the encrypted string and its corresponding mask is obscured by the flattened control flow.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 13. Decompiled code for file extension string deobfuscation.
New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 14. Address computation for string “docx”. 

Host reconnaissance 

The malware collects several system information including user account name, computer name, driver information, user profile directory, installed applications, running process, and so on. The collected information is stored into three files (named 1.bin2.bin3.bin) with two layers of encryptions: RSA and a password-encrypted ZIP archive. The BIN files are encrypted with an embedded RSA public key (DER hash ab72813444207dba5429cf498c6ffbc69e1bd665d8007561d0973246fa7f8175) and then compressed into a ZIP file encrypted with password !,OO5*+ZEYORE%&.K1PQHxiODU^RA046. With these encryptions in place, the exfiltrated data can only be decrypted by the threat actor. The decrypted RSA public key used to encrypt exfiltrated data is:

-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY----- 
MIIBCgKCAQEA3YeM0FbZO8QB3/ctZd2+oS8weSUwmgp33c5lVJ8InJx5yJJnXF+8 
qLL+nzwcItVQyAQbZBymN9ueIgkNRBQuRJgZOxLHG2cbNIWXMImKb5zkkyIUfCz1 
hLprvBu4i2IIeWTFyTLfIpwZ/rUn+lARRmIeWTmJezOaSh5QvVaF6Oqk5qoTXk9A 
MivxKnfFiMhlBh3/V6S4+gTzqy7IwgSuPv8IL6n5LF+N8DmIvAVCck1e2KIYMu54 
UT7ef16N60LVksADJsnk+E5CSOeD4FzSTjS9G9c3sZFP/7r7xAbr5CbKvaBvJ+49 
7OlzJjaq1H+M7aOAPKaf/hyewEHIr+W1EQIDAQAB 
-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY----- 

The encrypted data is archived into a file named archive4.zip and uploaded to the C2 FTP server using authenticated credentials obfuscated and embedded in the stager. 

C2 communication 

The LucidRook stager communicates with the abused/compromised FTP servers to not only upload the collected system information but also to download and execute Lua bytecode payload to achieve remote code execution. 

FTP servers with publicly exposed credentials 

LucidRook uses plaintext FTP for both staging and exfiltration. In the observed captures, the implant authenticates with embedded credentials, switches to binary mode (TYPE I), enters passive mode (PASV), and uploads the exfiltrated information in an archive named archive4.zip via STOR before closing the session. It then establishes a second FTP session and attempts to retrieve archive1.zip (payload) via RETR.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 15. Communication with C2 server. 

The LucidRook samples connect to C2 infrastructure that appears to abuse FTP servers with exposed credentials to retrieve staged payloads. Talos identified two such C2 servers, both located in Taiwan and operated by printing companies. Initially, it was unclear why the threat actor selected this infrastructure; however, further investigation revealed that both companies publicly listed FTP credentials on their official websites as part of a “file uploading service”. We observed that this practice is common among local printing companies and effectively creates a pool of publicly accessible, low‑cost infrastructure that can be repurposed by threat actors as low-cost C2 staging servers.

Stealthy payload protections 

Besides what we previously mentioned about the encryption for the exfiltrated data, the threat actor also employed stealthy protection for the downloaded payload. The LucidRook sample Talos obtained (edb25fed9df8e9a517188f609b9d1a030682c701c01c0d1b5ce79cba9f7ac809) uses the password ?.aX$p8dpiP$+4a$x?=0LC=M>^>f6N]a to decrypt the archive when it’s protected and requires that an index.bin file be found within the ZIP archive. After decryption, it uses a different RSA private key (DER hash 7e851b73bd59088d60101109c9ebf7ef300971090c991b57393e4c793f5e2d33) embedded and encrypted inside the malware to decrypt the payload. The corresponding public key (DER hash a42ad963c53f2e0794e7cd0c3632cc75b98f131c3ffceb8f2f740241c097214a) for this private key is:

-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY----- 
MIIBIjANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQEFAAOCAQ8AMIIBCgKCAQEArQ9deG1+FiOgxT2eX78n 
3Ni/PmrV/V6iuf+bc+ii+9wD6Pyc7QyicaZODr2YlKifwJabJuDsIcANRIQGBLf2 
8j0yG3x25rP4XTnavTyPB6s+fJgNebmB9Hhgx3AY25ufJvNAelnmXnPn/xp6tZ/V 
kup72tiwKWeBVJOZYW3qYno4n5hffdNqTFIgUZDDLhqa+nT1gD6LZ6W/BidIM70O 
gn2h8ppc8aKc893FkfvNYwhgubiDFv9rgvSVvxt0uTVERtBsCyAScD1MMvswEyK6 
LrgnyTz7KwOv5wyPfE3BPs8lpMQIyi/jcIIroyk9uLarfV/XIbgTOqEYf5/9bDSs 
iQIDAQAB 
-----END PUBLIC KEY----- 

During investigation, Talos obtained a payload from a private source which matched the index.bin file structure. However, the password from the LucidRook sample we got was not able to decrypt the archive. We also obtained another version of the payload from the FTP C2 server, but this payload includes four files that does not match the version of LucidRook sample we analyzed as shown in Figure 16.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 16. The files inside the downloaded payload file.

Based on this information, we suspect that the threat actor is generating different payloads using different sets of passwords for different targets, even though they share the same C2 server. The files inside the payload also suggest it potentially leverages different modules for different capabilities for the stager. 

LucidPawn dropper 

The LucidPawn dropper shares some similarity with LucidRook, including the same COM DLL masquerade technique, obfuscation scheme, and Rust-compiled code. 

Leveraging an OAST service 

Upon execution, the LucidPawn dropper sends a DNS request to a domain “D.2fcc7078.digimg[.]store”. The domain “digimg[.]store” redirects to “dnslog[.]ink”, a public Chinese Out-of-band Application Security Testing (OAST) service. It is widely used by security researchers, penetration testers, and threat actors to verify network connectivity and vulnerability exploitation. By using this service, LucidRookoperators receive confirmation once the exploitation succeeds without setting up their own infrastructure. It is worth noting that the same service domain has been leveraged in other targeted campaigns; however, because the service is publicly accessible and can be used by any threat actor, Talos avoids making attribution based solely on this linkage.

Geo-targeting anti-analysis 

LucidPawn implements a geo-targeting anti-analysis execution gate by querying the host’s Windows UI language via the GetUserDefaultUILanguage() API. Execution continues only when the system UI language matches Traditional Chinese environments associated with Taiwan.

The implementation compares a masked LANGID against 0x0404 (zh-TW). The mask and 0xF7FF clears bit 0x0800, causing only 0x0404 (zh-TW) and 0x0C04 (zh-HK) to normalize to the same value and satisfy the check. As a result, the sample exits early on most analysis sandboxes, which commonly use 0x0409 (en-US). This control reduces exposure by limiting execution to the intended victim geography and suppressing behavior in common analyst environments.

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 17. Code for geo-targeting anti-analysis.

The LucidKnight reconnaissance tool 

While hunting for additional LucidPawn samples, we identified a variant of LucidPawn (d8bc6047fb3fd4f47b15b4058fa482690b5b72a5e3b3d324c21d7da4435c9964). This sample shares the same geo-targeting anti-analysis logic observed in other samples used to deliver LucidRook. Compared with the LucidPawn samples associated with LucidRook delivery, however, this variant omits the callback to the out-of-band interactive service domain and functions solely as a dropper, deploying the reconnaissance tool LucidKnight (aa7a3e8b59b5495f6eebc19f0654b93bb01fd2fa2932458179a8ae85fb4b8ec1) after execution.

Like other malware in the Lucid family, LucidKnight is a 64-bit Windows DLL that contains embedded Rust-compiled components to implement various functions. The malware also uses a string obfuscation scheme similar to those observed in LucidPawn and LucidRook to conceal its C2 configuration.

Upon execution, LucidKnight collects system information including the computer name, OS version, processor architecture, CPU usage, running processes, and installed software. The collected data are written to four TXT files, encrypted with an embedded RSA public key, and packaged into a password-protected ZIP archive named archive.zip using the password xZh>1<{Km1YD3[V>x]X>=1u(Da)Y=N>u. The embedded RSA public key (DER hash 852a80470536cb1fdab1a04d831923616bf00c77320a6b4656e80fc3cc722a66) is shown below:

-----BEGIN RSA PUBLIC KEY----- 
MIIBCgKCAQEAuvXyx+rPGjS/bI6cvl8LIVVatwD6JU19EvJPlBWlmPqVm/se+3QS 
9av+X8PFgwoGXJZTEanAY4JhOMXKYSbErwrLktbEY2tFi7w3/WyPPcB6/I6zD2yU 
Mqcoqy1Z3+4CsLz4D/LZtOst4alSGOgTDeKtrWKHCyigFvndfds4pdCy78KBRtQb 
kV3UUlKQZm/37tP0CPXkKwxQ1n/+DTh265gRaVrhr4+VUagNmYta1faMLsvM8O3F 
Lu2tQiOxeSZC21z6V3kcifYiBLT0khx11JqD3jTfA41OcngZfwWYHbitDBZF7rpL 
26ZSitNxMAq1O6DrXzI5wdVn0fZgSXNEbwIDAQAB 
-----END RSA PUBLIC KEY----- 

Unlike LucidRook, which uploads collected system information to a compromised FTP server, LucidKnight exfiltrates reconnaissance data via email using the embedded Rust lettre crate, which provides SMTP message creation and delivery functionality.

Specifically, the malware constructs an email with the Traditional Chinese subject “運動資訊平台” (“Sports Information Platform”) and includes the collected data as a MIME attachment. It then resolves “smtp.gmail.com”, authenticates to the Gmail account “fexopuboriw972@gmail.com” with an embedded application key, and sends the data to the temporary email address “crimsonanabel@powerscrews.com”. The following email shows an example of the content crafted by LucidKnight:

From: fexopuboriw972@gmail.com 
To: crimsonanabel@powerscrews.com 
Subject: =?utf-8?b?6YGL5YuV6LOH6KiK5bmz5Y+w?= 
MIME-Version: 1.0 
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2026 02:05:49 +0000 
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; 
 boundary="vlOcEyPfxrLCR89C5RuARsViLsqzv1brB2u8YvNd" 
--vlOcEyPfxrLCR89C5RuARsViLsqzv1brB2u8YvNd 
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 
5oKo6KqN54K65Y+w54Gj55uu5YmN5Zyo6Jed5paH5rC457qM55m85bGV55qE5pS/562W5LiK5pyJ 
5ZOq5Lqb5YW36auU55qE5oiQ5Yqf5qGI5L6L5oiW5YC85b6X5pS56YCy55qE5Zyw5pa577yf 
--vlOcEyPfxrLCR89C5RuARsViLsqzv1brB2u8YvNd 
Content-Type: application/zip 
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="archive.zip" 
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 
UEsDBDMAAQBjALgQUVwEOkfvkhkAAHEZAAAFAAsAMS50eHQBmQcAAQBBRQMIAEF/fb/F6o3HptX3 
(redacted)

New Lua-based malware “LucidRook” observed in targeted attacks against Taiwanese organizations
Figure 18. Email sent by LucidKnight malware with collected data attached.

The discovery of LucidKnight suggests that the actor maintains a modular toolkit and may select components based on the operational context of each target, rather than deploying a fixed infection chain. LucidKnight may be used independently when lightweight reconnaissance is sufficient, or as a precursor to assess targets before committing the more complex LucidRook stager. 

The bottom line 

Based on the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and the level of engineering investment observed across these infection chains, we assess with medium confidence that this activity reflects a targeted intrusion rather than broad, opportunistic malware distribution. Delivery via spearphishing, combined with LucidRook’s sophisticated design, suggests a sophisticated threat actor prioritizing flexibility, stealth, and victim-specific tasking.

Although Talos has not yet found a decryptable Lua bytecode payload executed by LucidRook, we are publishing these findings to make early detection possible and encourage community sharing, with the goal of uncovering additional indicators that may facilitate stronger clustering and attribution in the future.

Coverage 

The following ClamAV signature detects and blocks this threat:

  • Win.Backdoor.LucidRook-10059729-0  
  • Lnk.Tool.UAT-10362-10059730-0  
  • Win.Dropper.UAT-10362-10059731-0  
  • Win.Tool.CobaltStrike-10059732-0 

The following SNORT® rules cover this threat:  

  • Snort2 Rules: 66108, 66109, 66110, 66111 
  • Snort3 Rules: 301447, 301448 

Indicators of compromise (IOCs)  

IOCs for this research can also be found at our GitHub repository here.

d49761cdbea170dd17255a958214db392dc7621198f95d5eb5749859c603100a (malicious 7z) 

adf676107a6c2354d1a484c2a08c36c33d276e355a65f77770ae1ae7b7c36143 (malicious archive) 

b480092d8e5f7ca6aebdeaae676ea09281d07fc8ccf2318da2fa1c01471b818d (Forged EXE dropper that drops LucidRook) 

c2d983d3812b5b6d592b149d627b118db2debd33069efe4de4e57306ba42b5dc (Forged EXE dropper that drops LucidRook) 

6aba7b5a9b4f7ad4203f26f3fb539911369aeef502d43af23aa3646d91280ad9 (LucidPawn, DismCore.dll) 

bdc5417ffba758b6d0a359b252ba047b59aacf1d217a8b664554256b5adb071d (LucidPawn dropper, DismCore.dll) 

f279e462253f130878ffac820f5a0f9ac92dd14ad2f1e4bd21062bab7b99b839 (malicious LNK) 

166791aac8b056af8029ab6bdeec5a2626ca3f3961fdf0337d24451cfccfc05d (malicious LNK) 

11ae897d79548b6b44da75f7ab335a0585f47886ce22b371f6d340968dbed9ae (LucidRook stager, DismCore.dll) 

edb25fed9df8e9a517188f609b9d1a030682c701c01c0d1b5ce79cba9f7ac809 (LucidRook stager, DismCore.dll) 

0305e89110744077d8db8618827351a03bce5b11ef5815a72c64eea009304a34 (LucidRook stager, DismCore.dll) 

d8bc6047fb3fd4f47b15b4058fa482690b5b72a5e3b3d324c21d7da4435c9964 (LucidPawn dropper dropping LucidKnight) 

aa7a3e8b59b5495f6eebc19f0654b93bb01fd2fa2932458179a8ae85fb4b8ec1 (LucidKnight, DismCore.dll) 

fd11f419e4ac992e89cca48369e7d774b7b2e0d28d0b6a34f7ee0bc1d943c056 (archive1.zip download from C2)

1.34.253[.]131 (abused FTP server) 

59.124.71[.]242 (abused FTP server) 

D.2fcc7078.digimg[.]store (DNS beaconing domain) 

fexopuboriw972@gmail.com 

crimsonanabel@powerscrews.com 

Cisco Talos Blog – ​Read More

The dangers of telehealth: data breaches, phishing, and spam | Kaspersky official blog

April 7 marks World Health Day. The theme for 2026 is “Together for health. Stand with science” — a call to join forces in the fight for evidence-based medicine and scientific progress. Many people view telehealth as one of the crowning achievements of this progress: you can basically get a doctor’s consultation in five minutes without ever leaving your couch. But there’s a catch…

Medical data sells on the black or gray markets for dozens of times more than credit card info or social media logins. Unlike a credit card, which you can just block and replace, you can’t exactly reset your medical history. Your name, birthday, address, phone number, insurance ID, diagnoses, test results, prescriptions, and treatment plans stay relevant for years. This is a goldmine for everything from targeted marketing to blackmail, fraud, or identity theft.

And with the rise of AI, the internet is now flooded with fake websites that claim to offer medical services but are actually designed to strip-mine confidential info from unsuspecting victims. Today, we’re diving into which medical details are at risk, why hackers want them, and how you can stop them in their tracks.

More valuable than credit cards

Scammers monetize stolen medical data both in bulk and through individual sales. Their first move is usually to extort a ransom from the companies they’ve successfully hacked. (In fact, back in 2024, 91% of malware-related healthcare data leaks in the U.S. were the result of ransomware attacks.) But later, the leaked data is then used for pinpointed, personal attacks. It allows hackers to build a medical profile of a victim — what meds they buy, how often, and what they take long-term — to then sell that info to big pharma or marketers, or to use it for targeted phishing scams like pitching a fake innovative treatment. They can even blackmail a patient over a sensitive diagnosis or use the info to fraudulently score prescriptions for controlled substances. On top of that, insurance companies are also hungry for this kind of data. They analyze these details to hike up insurance premiums for patients or, in some cases, refuse to provide coverage altogether. In short, there are plenty of ways they can use it against you.

How bad is it really?

The biggest medical data breach in history went down in February 2024, when the BlackCat hacking group broke into the systems of Change Healthcare. This is a division of UnitedHealth Group, which processes around 15 billion insurance transactions a year and acts as the financial middleman between patients, healthcare providers, and insurance companies.

For nine days, the attackers roamed freely through Change Healthcare’s internal systems, siphoning off six terabytes of confidential data before finally launching their ransomware. UnitedHealth was forced to completely yank Change Healthcare datacenters offline to stop the encryptor from spreading, and they ended up paying a 22-million-dollar ransom to the extortionists. The attack effectively paralyzed the U.S. healthcare system. The number of victims was revised three times: first 100 million, then 190 million, and the final tally hit a staggering 192.7 million people, with total damages estimated at 2.9 billion dollars. And the reason (on the Change Healthcare’s side) for this massive incident — which we broke down in detail in a separate post — was simply… a lack of two-factor authentication on a remote desktop access portal.

Before that, the mental health telehealth startup Cerebral embedded third-party tracking tools directly into its website and apps. As a result, the data of 3.2 million patients — including names, medical and prescription histories, and insurance info — leaked out to LinkedIn, Snapchat, and TikTok. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission slapped the company with a 7.1-million-dollar fine, and issued an unprecedented ban on using medical data for advertising purposes. By the way, that same startup also made the headlines for sending its clients promotional postcards without envelopes, displaying patient names and phrasing that made it easy for anyone to figure out their diagnosis.

Why telehealth is so vulnerable

Let’s take a look at the main weak spots in telehealth services.

  • Ad trackers in medical apps. Trackers from Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and other tech giants are often baked right into telehealth platforms, leaking patient data to advertisers without users ever knowing.
  • Unsecured communication channels. Sometimes doctors chat with patients through regular messaging apps instead of certified medical platforms. It’s convenient, sure, but it’s illegal for the clinic and totally unsafe for the patient.
  • Platform vulnerabilities. Telemedicine platforms are prone to classic web attacks, such as SQL injections that let hackers dump entire patient databases, session hijacking, and data interception when connection encryption is weak or nonexistent.
  • Poor staff training. Our research showed that 30% of doctors have dealt with compromised patient data specifically during telehealth sessions, and 42% of medical staff don’t actually understand how their patients’ data is being protected.
  • Outdated medical devices. Many wearable medical gadgets (like heart monitors or blood pressure cuffs) use an old data transfer protocol called MQTT. It’s full of holes that could potentially allow hackers to steal sensitive info or even mess with how the device functions.

Spam and phishing in telehealth

Hackers aren’t the only ones interested in the medical field — spammers and scammers are all over it, too. They pitch “medical services” with deals that look way too good to be true, send out emails about supposed changes to your health insurance, or talk up “ancient Himalayan healing traditions”. Of course, all the links they send lead to suspicious websites offering dubious goods or services.

Should you land on such a phishing site, scammers will try to squeeze every bit of private info they can out of you: photos of your ID, insurance policy, prescriptions, and sometimes even… photos of body parts that supposedly need medical attention. From there, this data can be dumped and sold on the dark web — or used for blackmail, extortion, and follow-up phishing attacks. To learn more about how the underground data assembly line works, check out our post, What happens to data stolen using phishing?

As a rule of thumb, fake clinic sites usually skip the privacy policy section, and bombard you with “today only” deals that seem too good to be true. That said, with the help of AI, creating a professional-looking site that’s indistinguishable from the real thing is now a total breeze: you don’t even need design skills or fluency in the victim’s language. That’s exactly why we recommend using our comprehensive security suite — it’s designed to sniff out spam, scams and phishing, and warn you about fake websites before you land on them.

Safety tips for telehealth patients

  • Set up a dedicated email address for medical services. If this address leaks because a clinic gets hacked, it makes it much harder for scammers to track the rest of your digital life.
  • Avoid using Google, Apple, or social media sign-in for telehealth sites. Keeping things separate makes it way tougher to link your medical data to your personal accounts.
  • Double-check which platform is being used for your consultation. If the clinic suggests a call or chat through a standard messaging app, that’s a red flag. A secure, encrypted patient portal provided by the clinic is significantly safer.
  • Never send medical documents via chat apps or social media. Always upload lab results, scans, and records through the clinic’s official patient portal.
  • Use a unique, complex password for every account. Your government portal, clinic login, and doctor-booking app should each have a separate password. Kaspersky Password Manager can generate and store all of them for you; it also regularly scans leak databases, and alerts you if any of your accounts are compromised.
  • Turn on two-factor authentication. Do this first of all for government services and medical organizations. We recommend using an authenticator app rather than SMS codes: it’s more secure and totally anonymous. Kaspersky Password Manager can help you out here, too.
  • Share only what’s necessary. Don’t feel obligated to fill out every optional field in medical apps or on websites. The less data a service stores, the less there is to leak.
  • Be careful about sharing health info on social media or in chat apps. Scammers love to exploit people when they’re vulnerable. For instance, in 2024, hackers gained the trust of the XZ Utils developer who had publicly posted about burnout and depression. They convinced him to hand over control of his tool, which they then loaded with malicious code. Since XZ Utils is used in tons of Linux systems and affects OpenSSH (a protocol for remote server connections), the attack could have wrecked a huge chunk of the internet if it hadn’t been caught in time.
  • Don’t install telehealth apps from unknown developers. Check the reviews and take a minute to skim the privacy policy — even major platforms might be sharing your data with third parties.
  • Keep an eye on your medical records. Strange prescriptions, doctor visits you never made, or meds you’ve never heard of can all be signs that your account has been compromised.
  • Configure and regularly update your health gadgets. Fitness trackers, blood pressure monitors, smart scales, and activity trackers all send data to the web. Improper settings or unpatched vulnerabilities are an open door for data breaches.

What else you need to know about protecting your health online:

Kaspersky official blog – ​Read More

Talos Takes: 2025’s ransomware trends and zombie vulnerabilities

Talos Takes: 2025's ransomware trends and zombie vulnerabilities

Join Amy and Pierre Cadieux as they unpack the ransomware and vulnerability trends that defined 2025. From the persistent ransomware threats targeting the manufacturing sector to the rise of stealthy living-off-the-land tactics, we break down what these shifts mean for your defense strategy.

Why are attackers are increasingly targeting your management infrastructure? How do you spot the difference between a system admin and a threat actor? Tune in to hear Talos’ insights on how to move beyond reacting to threats and start building a more resilient, proactive security posture for the year ahead.

View the 2025 Year in Review here.

Cisco Talos Blog – ​Read More