Talos Takes

Ransomware is 35 years old this month, which isn’t exactly something to celebrate. But in any case, do join Hazel and special guest Martin Lee to discuss what happened in the very first ransomware incident in December 1989 and why IT “wasn’t ready”. They then discuss how ransomware evolved to become the criminal entity it is today, which involves looking back on the likes of SamSam, Maze and the emergence of crypto currencies. Plus, learn why Martin says we shouldn’t feel powerless in the face of ransomware.

Chetan Raghuprasad is our guest today as he breaks down the relatively new Interlock ransomware attack. Cisco Talos Incident Response recently observed this attacker conducting big-game hunting and double extortion attacks. Chetan talks about the initial access tactics, deployment of the ransomware encryptor, and how Interlock communicates with its victims using their “Worldwide Secrets Blog”.For the full analysis, head to https://blog.talosintelligence.com/emerging-interlock-ransomware/

What happens when two sets of threat researchers from Talos and Splunk’s SURGe team meet? Aside from some highly controversial opinions and omissions about the best horror movie, the team discuss what security trends are FUD, and what’s actually fearful/ most challenging at the moment. Also, what is the security industry not aware of enough, and also too aware of? Plus some thoughts on cybersecurity awareness training and how we can do better. This is a great conversation facilitated by SURGe’s Mick Baccio, with Joe Marshall and Nick Biasini from Talos, and Tamara Chacon and Audra Streetman from SURGe.Catch up on all the latest and greatest threat research from our friends at SURGe at https://www.splunk.com/en_us/surge.html

The Talos IR Quarterly Trends Q3 2024 is out now! In this episode Hazel Burton, Craig Jackson and Bill Largent discuss three big themes: some new ransomware players, the ‘Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver’ trend, and why password spray attacks are making a comeback. Check out the full report at https://blog.talosintelligence.com/incident-response-trends-q3-2024/

Hazel Burton steps in as guest host this week to talk to Brad Garnett, the head of Cisco Talos Incident Response, and JK Lialias, the head of cybersecurity product marketing for Splunk. Brad and JK share two exciting in which Talos is being incorporated into Splunk now, and what that means for the ways we can keep users more secure. They also talk about what better visibility into attacker trends means for the end user and defenders.

James Nutland from Talos’ Threat Intelligence team joins the show this week to talk to Jon about his report on the BlackByte ransomware group. They cover why this group is actually more active than we initially thought, and check on the general state of ransomware at this point in 2024. 

It’s quite the gang for Talos Takes this week with Joe Marshall, Nick Biasini and Mick Baccio (from Splunk’s SURGe team) joining Jon this week to recap Black Hat and DEF CON. They share all the conversations and talking points they heard around AI, and the renewed importance of a software bill of goods for industrial control system environments. 

He’s been here since the beginning, and now he’s ready to reflect on the past 10 years of Cisco Talos. Matt Watchinski, the Vice President of Talos for Cisco, joins Jon this week to talk about Talos’ recently celebrated 10th birthday and talk about the company’s origins, how we’ve managed to balance growth and culture, and his favorite memories from the past 10 years. 

People who maintain, create and update open-source software are the unsung heroes of the internet. Their work keeps much of our networks running on a daily basis, and the vast majority of them do it for free! While there are some security pitfalls that can come with using OS software, Martin Lee and Jon get together to discuss what (if anything) we can be doing to better support OS software, and how to make our networks more resilient against vulnerabilities that can arise in these tools.  

Hazel Burton guest hosts this week to recap the top threats observed by Cisco Talos Incident Response (Talos IR) in the second quarter of 2024. She’s then joined by Talos’ Joe Marshall and Craig Jackson to pick out some of the most interesting stories from the report.