exploit kits

June 27, 2019

THREAT RESEARCH

Welcome Spelevo: New exploit kit full of old tricks

Nick Biasini authored this post with contributions from Caitlyn Hammond. Executive summary Exploit kits are an ever-present and often forgotten threat on the landscape today. Their popularity seemed to peak several years ago with the success and eventual downfall of some of the best compromise platf…

July 31, 2018

THREAT RESEARCH

Multiple Cobalt Personality Disorder

Despite the notion that modern cybersecurity protocols have stopped email-based attacks, email continues to be one of the primary attack vectors for malicious actors — both for widespread and targeted operations. Recently, Cisco Talos has observed numerous email-based attacks that are spreading malw…

March 31, 2017

THREAT RESEARCH

Threat Spotlight: Sundown Matures

This post authored by Nick Biasini with contributions from Edmund Brumaghin and Alex Chiu The last time Talos discussed Sundown it was an exploit kit in transition. Several of the large exploit kits had left the landscape and a couple of strong contenders remain. Sundown was one of the kits still ac…

November 3, 2016

THREAT RESEARCH

Take the RIG Pill: Down the Rabbit Hole

Executive Summary Talos is monitoring the big notorious Exploit Kits(EK) on an ongoing basis. Since Angler disappeared a few month ago, RIG is one EK which seems to be trying to fill the gap Angler has left. We see an ongoing development on RIG. This report gives more details about the complex infec…

October 31, 2016

THREAT RESEARCH

Sundown EK: You Better Take Care

This post was authored by Nick Biasini Over the last six months the exploit kit landscape has seen some major changes. These changes began with Nuclear ceasing operations in April/May and arrests in Russia coinciding with the end of Angler in June. Recently, Neutrino has been added to the list of e…

September 1, 2016

THREAT RESEARCH

Talos ShadowGate Take Down: Global Malvertising Campaign Thwarted

This blog authored by Nick Biasini. Exploit kits are a class of threat that indiscriminately aims to compromise all users. Talos has continued to monitor this threat over time resulting in large scale research and even resulting in a large scale takedown. The focus of this investigation is on the to…

July 7, 2016

THREAT RESEARCH

Connecting the Dots Reveals Crimeware Shake-up

This Post Authored by Nick Biasini For a couple of weeks in June the threat landscape was changed. Several high profile threats fell off the landscape, causing a shake-up that hadn’t been seen before.  For a period of three weeks the internet was safer, if only for a short time. Still to date…

May 3, 2016

THREAT RESEARCH

Angler Catches Victims Using Phish as Bait

This post authored by Nick Biasini with contributions from Erick Galinkin. Exploit kits have been a recurring threat that we’ve discussed here on this blog as a method of driving users to maliciousness.  Users typically encounter exploit kit landing pages through  compromised websites and malv…

May 3, 2016

THREAT RESEARCH

Threat Spotlight: Spin to Win…Malware

This post was authored by Nick Biasini with contributions from Tom Schoellhammer and Emmanuel Tacheau The threat landscape is ever changing and adversaries are always working to find more efficient ways to compromise users. One of the many ways that users are driven to malicious content is through m…