Research Saturday

Research Saturday

Every Saturday, we sit down with cybersecurity researchers to talk shop about the latest threats, vulnerabilities, and technical discoveries.
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Recent Episodes

Ep 353 | 11.2.24

Velvet Ant's silent invasion.

This week, we are joined by, Amnon Kushnir from Sygnia, who is sharing their work on "China-Nexus Threat Group ‘Velvet Ant’ Leverages a Zero-Day to Deploy Malware on Cisco Nexus Switches." In early 2024, Sygnia observed the ‘Velvet Ant’ threat group exploiting a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2024-20399) to infiltrate Cisco Switch appliances and operate undetected within enterprise networks. This attack enables threat actors to escape Cisco’s command interface and install malware directly on the device’s OS, bypassing standard security tools. The incident underscores the risks posed by third-party appliances and the importance of enhanced monitoring and threat detection to counter advanced persistent threats.

Ep 352 | 10.26.24

LLM security 101.

This week, we are pleased to be joined by Mick Baccio, global security advisor for Splunk SURGe, sharing their research on "LLM Security: Splunk & OWASP Top 10 for LLM-based Applications." The research dives into the rapid rise of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) that initially seem magical, but behind the scenes, they are sophisticated systems built by humans. Despite their impressive capabilities, these systems are vulnerable to numerous cyber threats. Splunk's research explores the OWASP Top 10 for LLM Applications, a framework that highlights key vulnerabilities such as prompt injection, training data poisoning, and sensitive information disclosure.

Ep 351 | 10.19.24

New targets, new tools, same threat.

This week we are joined by Chester Wisniewski, Global Field CTO from Sophos X-Ops team, to discuss their work on "Crimson Palace returns: New Tools, Tactics, and Targets." Sophos X-Ops has observed a resurgence in cyberespionage activity, tracked as Operation Crimson Palace, targeting Southeast Asian government organizations. After a brief lull, Cluster Charlie resumed operations in September 2023, using new tactics such as web shells and open-source tools to bypass detection, re-establish access, and map target network infrastructure, demonstrating ongoing efforts to exfiltrate data and expand their foothold.

Ep 350 | 10.12.24

Ransomware on repeat.

In this episode, Trevor Hilligoss, VP of SpyCloud Labs at SpyCloud, discusses the increasing threat of ransomware, emphasizing the role of infostealer malware in facilitating these attacks. He draws from SpyCloud's 2024 Malware and Ransomware Defense Report, highlighting how compromised identity data from infostealers creates opportunities for ransomware operators. With 75% of organizations experiencing multiple ransomware attacks in the past year, Trevor explores findings from over 500 security leaders in the US and UK, discussing the challenges businesses face and how they can use insights from this research to defend against ransomware and other cybercrimes.

Ep 349 | 10.5.24

Podcast bait, malware switch.

Joshua Miller from Proofpoint is discussing their work on "Best Laid Plans: TA453 Targets Religious Figure with Fake Podcast Invite Delivering New BlackSmith Malware Toolset." Proofpoint identified Iranian threat actor TA453 targeting a prominent Jewish figure with a fake podcast interview invitation, using a benign email to build trust before sending a malicious link. The attack attempted to deliver new malware called BlackSmith, containing a PowerShell trojan dubbed AnvilEcho, designed for intelligence gathering and exfiltration. This malware consolidates all of TA453's known capabilities into a single script rather than the previously used modular approach.

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Research Saturday
Host(s)
Dave Bittner
Dave Bittner is a security podcast host and one of the founders at CyberWire. He's a creator, producer, videographer, actor, experimenter, and entrepreneur. He's had a long career in the worlds of television, journalism and media production, and is one of the pioneers of non-linear editing and digital storytelling.
Schedule: Saturdays
Creator: CyberWire, Inc.
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