Threat Research

June 6, 2018

THREAT RESEARCH

VPNFilter Update – VPNFilter exploits endpoints, targets new devices

Introduction Cisco Talos, while working with our various intelligence partners, has discovered additional details regarding “VPNFilter.” In the days since we first published our findings on the campaign, we have seen that VPNFilter is targeting more makes/models of devices than initially…

May 23, 2018

THREAT RESEARCH

New VPNFilter malware targets at least 500K networking devices worldwide

Intro For several months, Talos has been working with public- and private-sector threat intelligence partners and law enforcement in researching an advanced, likely state-sponsored or state-affiliated actor’s widespread use of a sophisticated modular malware system we call “VPNFilter.…

May 9, 2018

THREAT RESEARCH

Gandcrab Ransomware Walks its Way onto Compromised Sites

This blog post authored by Nick Biasini with contributions from Nick Lister and Christopher Marczewski. Despite the recent decline in the prevalence of ransomware in the threat landscape, Cisco Talos has been monitoring the now widely distributed ransomware called Gandcrab. Gandcrab uses both tradit…

April 5, 2018

THREAT RESEARCH

Critical Infrastructure at Risk: Advanced Actors Target Smart Install Client

Update: 4/9 Cisco PSIRT has released additional guidance available here. Cisco has recently become aware of specific advanced actors targeting Cisco switches by leveraging a protocol misuse issue in the Cisco Smart Install Client. Several incidents in multiple countries, including some specifically…

February 12, 2018

THREAT RESEARCH

Olympic Destroyer Takes Aim At Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics this year is being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The Guardian, a UK Newspaper reported an article that suggested the Olympic computer systems suffered technical issues during the opening ceremony. Officials at the games confirmed some technical issues to non-critical systems…

October 24, 2017

THREAT RESEARCH

Threat Spotlight: Follow the Bad Rabbit

Note: This blog post discusses active research by Talos into a new threat. This information should be considered preliminary and will be updated as research continues. On October 24, 2017, Cisco Talos was alerted to a widescale ransomware campaign affecting organizations across eastern Europe and Ru…

September 20, 2017

THREAT RESEARCH

CCleaner Command and Control Causes Concern

This post was authored by Edmund Brumaghin, Earl Carter, Warren Mercer, Matthew Molyett, Matthew Olney, Paul Rascagneres and Craig Williams. Note: This blog post discusses active research by Talos into a new threat. This information should be considered preliminary and will be updated as research c…

September 15, 2017

THREAT RESEARCH

Threat Round Up for Sept 8 – Sept 15

Today, Talos is publishing a glimpse into the most prevalent threats we’ve observed between September 08 and September 15. As with previous round-ups, this post isn’t meant to be an in-depth analysis. Instead, this post will summarize the threats we’ve observed by highlighting key…

September 7, 2017

THREAT RESEARCH

Another Apache Struts Vulnerability Under Active Exploitation

This post authored by Nick Biasini with contributions from Alex Chiu. Earlier this week, a critical vulnerability in Apache Struts was publically disclosed in a security advisory. This new vulnerability, identified as CVE-2017-9805, manifests due to the way the REST plugin uses XStreamHandler with a…