In a watering hole attack, threat actors usually have to follow a series of steps. First, they need to research the target and make sure they know the type of website the potential victim frequents. Then, they attempt to infect it with malicious code so that when the victim visits it, the website exploits a vulnerability in the browser or convinces them to download a file that compromises the user device.
Adversaries continue to find new and innovative ways to penetrate an organization’s defenses. Defenders who focus on plugging these holes can find themselves exhausted and frustrated. Hunting for adversarial defense evasion for the purpose of data exfiltration and command-and-control (C2), however, remains a good strategy. Many adversaries leverage tooling to establish C2 or to enable successful data exfiltration, all while evading an organization’s defenses.
Today, the number and diversity of connected devices continue to grow in enterprises, no matter which sector they operate in. This has created a new challenge for organizations as they need to understand and manage the risks they are exposed to. We keep saying that the attack surface is expanding, and that's because it now spans IT, IoT, and OT for most enterprises, with the addition of IoMT in healthcare.
MSPs are becoming critically important. The difficulty of finding security specialists and the high costs of managing their own security have led medium-sized companies to hire MSPs to keep their digital security up to date while they focus on their business. Growth in the MSP market means buyers are now showing interest. We are frequently seeing large and small MSPs being acquired by other larger managed services companies or private equity firms.
