For decades, we have all been warned to be appropriately skeptical of internet search engine results. Sadly, most people are not. Most people think that what Google, Bing, or Duck Duck Go brings back is heaven sent and can be trusted. It cannot. Results often include malicious links from search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning, where the attacker has been able to trick the search engine into returning its URL when a user searches for something.

Did you know that 59% of organizations have been hit by ransomware, with Active Directory (AD) often being the primary target for attackers seeking credential theft and privilege escalation? With AD being basically the heart of enterprise IT from the permissions management and granting view, these ransomware threats automatically go against it and hence protecting them is pretty much important so to keep the organization safe.

On December 11, 2024, Cleo released patches addressing the zero-day vulnerability recently observed in attacks targeting Cleo Managed File Transfer (MFT) products. This vulnerability allowed unauthenticated threat actors to import and execute arbitrary shell commands on Windows and Linux on affected devices by exploiting default settings of the Autorun directory. The fix is included in version 5.8.0.24, and is now available for Cleo Harmony, VLTrader, and Lexicom.

In December 2024, Arctic Wolf Labs observed a mass exploitation campaign involving Cleo Managed File Transfer (MFT) products for initial access. The execution chain involved an obfuscated PowerShell stager, a Java loader, and ultimately a Java-based backdoor, which we will refer to as Cleopatra. In this article we will provide insight into the execution chain in this campaign, obfuscated malicious payloads deployed, and surrounding threat intelligence context around these activities.

Organizations face mounting pressure as their data storage needs multiply each year. The challenge lies in managing vast amounts of information that must be preserved but rarely sees active use. Cold data storage offers a smart solution for storing this infrequently accessed data while keeping costs under control. Cold storage systems excel at housing compliance archives, historical records, and backup files, all while maintaining accessibility when these assets are needed.

Chris Clements, VP of Solutions Architecture December 12, 2024.

Salt Typhoon is a Chinese-speaking threat actor that the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have tied to a series of attacks that breached and exfiltrated data from several of the world's most prominent telecommunications companies. Trustwave SpiderLabs has created a deep analysis of the threat group Salt Typhoon, detailing the group's history, techniques, tactics, and procedures (TTP), and preferred targets.