Research Saturday

Today we are joined by Dario Pasquini, Principal Researcher at RSAC, sharing the team's work on WhenAIOpsBecome “AI Oops”: Subverting LLM-driven IT Operations via Telemetry Manipulation. A first-of-its-kind security analysis showing that LLM-driven AIOps agents can be tricked by manipulated telemetry, turning automation itself into a new attack vector. The researchers introduce AIOpsDoom, an automated reconnaissance + fuzzing + LLM-driven telemetry-injection attack that performs “adversarial reward-hacking” to coerce agents into harmful remediations—even without prior knowledge of the target and even against some prompt-defense tools. They also present AIOpsShield, a telemetry-sanitization defense that reliably blocks these attacks without harming normal agent performance, underscoring the urgent need for security-aware AIOps design. The research can be found here: ⁠When AIOps Become “AI Oops”: Subverting LLM-driven IT Operations via Telemetry Manipulation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noam Moshe, Claroty’s Vulnerability Research Team Lead, joins Dave to discuss Team 82's work on "Turning Camera Surveillance on its Axis." Team82 disclosed four vulnerabilities in Axis.Remoting—deserialization, a MiTM “pass-the-challenge” NTLMSSP flaw, and an unauthenticated fallback HTTP endpoint—that enable pre-auth remote code execution against Axis Device Manager and Axis Camera Station. They found more than 6,500 Axis.Remoting services exposed online (over half in the U.S.), letting attackers enumerate targets, install malicious Axis packages, and hijack, view, or shut down managed camera fleets.Axis published an urgent advisory, issued patches for ADM 5.32, Camera Station 5.58 and Camera Station Pro 6.9, accepted Team82’s disclosure, and organizations are urged to update. The research can be found here: Turning Camera Surveillance on its Axis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eclypsium researchers Jesse Michael and Mickey Shkatov to share their work on "BadCam - Now Weaponizing Linux Webcams." Eclypsium researchers disclosed “BadCam,” a set of vulnerabilities in certain Lenovo USB webcams that run Linux and do not validate firmware signatures, allowing attackers to reflash the devices and turn them into BadUSB-style tools. An adversary who supplies a backdoored camera or who gains remote code execution on a host can weaponize the webcam to emulate human-interface devices, inject keystrokes, deliver payloads, and maintain persistence — even re-infecting systems after OS reinstalls. The findings were presented at DEF CON 2025, Lenovo issued updated firmware/tools in coordination with SigmaStar, and researchers warn the same vector could affect other Linux-based USB peripherals, underscoring the need for firmware signing and stronger device attestation. The research can be found here: BadCam: Now Weaponizing Linux Webcams Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Fokker, Head of Threat Intelligence at Trellix is discussing "Gang Wars: Breaking Trust Among Cyber Criminals." Trellix researchers reveal how the once-organized ransomware underworld is collapsing under its own paranoia. Once united through Ransomware-as-a-Service programs, gangs are now turning on each other — staging hacks, public feuds, and exit scams as trust evaporates. With affiliates jumping ship and rival crews sabotaging each other, the RaaS model is fracturing fast, signaling the beginning of the end for ransomware’s criminal empires. The research can be found here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Gang Wars: Breaking Trust Among Cyber Criminals Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Assaf Dahan, Director of Threat Research, Cortex XDR, at Palo Alto Networks, discussing Phantom Taurus, a new China APT uncovered by Unit 42. Unit 42 researchers have identified Phantom Taurus, a newly designated Chinese state-aligned APT conducting long-term espionage against government and telecommunications organizations across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Distinguished by its stealth, persistence, and rare tactics, the group has recently shifted from email-focused data theft to directly targeting databases and deploying a powerful new malware suite called NET-STAR, designed to compromise IIS web servers and evade detection. This suite, featuring modular, fileless backdoors and advanced evasion capabilities, marks a significant evolution in Phantom Taurus’ operations and underscores the group’s strategic intelligence-gathering objectives. The research can be found here: ⁠Phantom Taurus: A New Chinese Nexus APT and the Discovery of the NET-STAR Malware Suite Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we are joined by Martin Zugec, Technical Solutions Director from Bitdefender, sharing their work and findings on "Curly COMrades: A New Threat Actor Targeting Geopolitical Hotbeds." Bitdefender Labs has uncovered a newly identified Russian-aligned threat actor dubbed “Curly COMrades,” responsible for espionage campaigns against judicial, government, and energy organizations in Eastern Europe. The group focuses on long-term network access, credential theft, and stealthy persistence techniques — including a never-before-seen backdoor called MucorAgent that hijacks Windows CLSIDs and leverages NGEN for covert execution. By routing data through compromised websites and using tools like curl.exe and proxy relays, Curly COMrades blend malicious traffic with legitimate activity, complicating detection and signaling a highly organized, evolving operation. The research can be found here: Curly COMrades: A New Threat Actor Targeting Geopolitical Hotbeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Nati Tal, Head of Guardio Labs, discussing their work “CAPTCHAgeddon” or unmasking the viral evolution of the ClickFix browser-based threat. CAPTCHAgeddon — Shaked Chen’s deep dive into the ClickFix fake-captcha wave — reveals how a red-team trick morphed into a dominant, download-free browser threat that tricks users into pasting clipboard PowerShell/shell commands and leverages trusted infrastructure, including Google Scripts. Guardio’s DBSCAN-based payload clustering exposes distinct attacker toolkits and distribution paths — from malvertising and compromised WordPress to social posts and Git repos — and argues defenders need behavioral, intelligence-driven protections, not just signatures. The research can be found here: “CAPTCHAgeddon” Unmasking the Viral Evolution of the ClickFix Browser-Based Threat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Amanda Rousseau, Principal AI Security Researcher from Straiker, discussing their work on "The Silent Exfiltration: Zero‑Click Agentic AI Hack That Can Leak Your Google Drive with One Email." Straiker’s research found that enterprise AI agents can be silently manipulated to leak sensitive data, even without user clicks or alerts. By chaining small gaps across tools like Gmail, Google Drive, and calendars, attackers achieved zero-click exfiltration, system mapping, and even policy rewrites. The findings highlight that excessive agent autonomy creates a new attack surface, requiring least-privilege design, runtime guardrails, and continuous red-teaming to stay secure. The research can be found here: The Silent Exfiltration: Zero‑Click Agentic AI Hack That Can Leak Your Google Drive with One Email Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by ⁠Selena Larson⁠, co-host of ⁠Only Malware in the Building⁠ and Staff Threat Researcher and Lead Intelligence Analysis and Strategy at ⁠Proofpoint⁠, sharing their work on "Microsoft OAuth App Impersonation Campaign Leads to MFA Phishing." Proofpoint researchers have identified campaigns where threat actors use fake Microsoft OAuth apps to impersonate services like Adobe, DocuSign, and SharePoint, stealing credentials and bypassing MFA via attacker-in-the-middle phishing kits, mainly Tycoon. These attacks redirect users to fake Microsoft login pages to capture credentials, 2FA tokens, and session cookies, targeting nearly 3,000 Microsoft 365 accounts across 900 environments in 2025. Microsoft’s upcoming security changes and strengthened email, cloud, and web defenses, along with user education, are recommended to reduce these risks. The research can be found here: ⁠Microsoft OAuth App Impersonation Campaign Leads to MFA Phishing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we are joined by Jamie Levy, Director of Adversary Tactics at Huntress, who is discussing their work on "Active Exploitation of SonicWall VPNs." Huntress has released an urgent threat advisory on active exploitation of SonicWall VPNs, with attackers bypassing MFA, pivoting to domain controllers, and ultimately deploying Akira ransomware. The campaigns involve techniques such as disabling defenses, clearing logs, credential theft, and Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) attacks with legitimate Windows drivers. Organizations using SonicWall devices are strongly advised to disable SSL VPN access or restrict it via IP allow-listing, rotate credentials, and hunt for indicators of compromise as this remains an ongoing and evolving threat. Complete our annual ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠audience survey⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ before August 31. The research can be found here: Huntress Threat Advisory: Active Exploitation of SonicWall VPNs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we are joined by Dr. Renée Burton, VP of Infoblox Threat Intel, who is discussing their work on VexTrio, a notorious traffic distribution system (TDS) involved in digital fraud. The VexTrio investigation uncovers a massive global ad fraud and scam operation powered by just 250 virtual machines, tying it directly to named individuals and shell companies across Europe. The research exposes VexTrio’s full criminal supply chain—including fake apps, dating scams, affiliate networks, and payment processors—alongside a powerful CDN infrastructure ranked among the world’s top 10k domains. It also calls on the adtech industry to take accountability for enabling and sustaining such widespread abuse. Complete our annual ⁠⁠⁠⁠audience survey⁠⁠⁠⁠ before August 31. The research can be found here: ⁠VexTrio’s Origin Story : From Spam to Scam to Adtech Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Rudis, VP Data Science from GreyNoise, is sharing some insights into their work on "Early Warning Signals: When Attacker Behavior Precedes New Vulnerabilities." New research reveals a striking trend: in 80% of cases, spikes in malicious activity against enterprise edge technologies like VPNs and firewalls occurred weeks before related CVEs were disclosed. The report breaks down this “6-week critical window,” highlighting which vendors show the strongest early-warning patterns and offering tactical steps defenders can take when suspicious spikes emerge. These findings reveal how early attacker activity can be transformed into actionable intelligence, enabling defenders to anticipate and neutralize threats before vulnerabilities are publicly disclosed. Complete our annual ⁠⁠⁠audience survey⁠⁠⁠ before August 31. The research can be found here: Early Warning Signals: When Attacker Behavior Precedes New Vulnerabilities Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicolás Chiaraviglio, Chief Scientist from Zimperium's zLabs, joins to discuss their work on "Behind Random Words: DoubleTrouble Mobile Banking Trojan Revealed." Zimperium’s zLabs team has been tracking an evolving banker trojan dubbed DoubleTrouble, which has grown more sophisticated in both its distribution and capabilities. Initially spread via phishing sites impersonating European banks, it now uses malicious APKs hosted in Discord channels, and boasts features like screen recording, keylogging, UI overlays, and app blocking—all while heavily abusing Android’s Accessibility Services. Despite advanced obfuscation and dynamic evasion techniques, Zimperium’s on-device detection tools have successfully identified both known and previously unseen variants, helping protect users from credential theft, financial fraud, and device compromise. Complete our annual ⁠⁠audience survey⁠⁠ before August 31. The research can be found here: ⁠Behind Random Words: DoubleTrouble Mobile Banking Trojan Revealed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we are joined by Eric Woodruff, Chief Identity Architect at Semperis, discussing "nOAuth Abuse Alert: Full Account Takeover of Entra Cross-Tenant SaaS Applications". Semperis researchers identified a critical authentication flaw known as nOAuth in 9 out of 104 tested SaaS applications integrated with Microsoft Entra ID. This low-complexity but severe vulnerability allows attackers with just a user’s email address and access to an Entra tenant to impersonate users, exfiltrate data, and move laterally within affected apps—with no viable defense or detection available to customers. The findings spotlight ongoing risks tied to improper use of email claims in authentication and emphasize the urgent need for SaaS vendors to adopt secure OpenID Connect practices and remediate vulnerable applications. Complete our annual ⁠audience survey⁠ before August 31. The research can be found here: nOAuth Abuse Alert: Full Account Takeover of Entra Cross-Tenant SaaS Applications Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, we are pleased to be joined by George Glass, Associate Managing Director of Kroll's Cyber Risk business, as he is discussing their research on Scattered Spider and their targeting of insurance companies. While Scattered Spider has recently turned its attention to the airline industry, George focuses on the broader trend of the group’s industry-by-industry approach and what that means for defenders across sectors. George and Dave discuss the group’s history, their self-identification as a cartel, and their increasingly aggressive tactics, including the use of fear-based social engineering, physical threats, and the recruitment of insiders at telecom providers. They also examine how organizations—especially those with vulnerabilities similar to past targets—can proactively defend against this threat and prepare an effective response if their industry becomes the next focus. Complete our annual ⁠audience survey⁠ before August 31. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Selena Larson, Threat Researcher at Proofpoint, and co-host of Only Malware in the Building, as she discusses their work on "Amatera Stealer - Rebranded ACR Stealer With Improved Evasion, Sophistication." Proofpoint researchers have identified Amatera Stealer, a rebranded and actively developed malware-as-a-service (MaaS) variant of the former ACR Stealer, featuring advanced evasion techniques like NTSockets for stealthy C2 communication and WoW64 Syscalls to bypass user-mode defenses. Distributed via ClearFake web injects and the ClickFix technique, Amatera leverages multilayered PowerShell loaders, blockchain-based hosting, and creative social engineering to compromise victims. With enhanced capabilities to steal browser data, crypto wallets, and other sensitive files, Amatera poses a growing threat in the wake of disruptions to competing stealers like Lumma. Complete our annual audience survey before August 31. The research can be found here: Amatera Stealer: Rebranded ACR Stealer With Improved Evasion, Sophistication Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Please enjoy this encore of Research Saturday. This week we are joined by ⁠Silas Cutler⁠, Principal Security Researcher at ⁠Censys⁠, asking the important question of "Will the Real Volt Typhoon Please Stand Up?" The FBI's disruption of the KV Botnet in December 2023, attributed to the Chinese threat group Volt Typhoon, targeted infected systems but did not affect the botnet's control infrastructure. Despite law enforcement efforts and technical exposure, the botnet's infrastructure has remained largely stable, with only changes in hosting providers, raising questions about whether another party operates the botnet. Censys scanning data from 2024 shows a shift in the botnet's control servers, indicating a response to disruption attempts, while the botnet's operators have shown limited efforts to obscure their infrastructure. The research can be found here: ⁠Will the Real Volt Typhoon Please Stand Up? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we are joined by Kyle Lefton, Security Researcher from Akamai, who is diving into their work on "Two Botnets, One Flaw - Mirai Spreads Through Wazuh Vulnerability." Akamai researchers have observed active exploitation of CVE-2025-24016, a critical RCE vulnerability in Wazuh, by two Mirai-based botnets. The campaigns highlight how quickly attackers are adapting proof-of-concept exploits to spread malware, underscoring the urgency of patching vulnerable systems. One botnet appears to target Italian-speaking users, suggesting regionally tailored operations. We'd love to hear from you. We're conducting our annual audience survey to learn more about our listeners. We're collecting your insights until August 31, 2025. You can find our survey here. The research can be found here: ⁠Two Botnets, One Flaw: Mirai Spreads Through Wazuh Vulnerability Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dustin Childs, Head of Threat Awareness at Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative, joins to discuss their work on "ZDI-23-1527 and ZDI-23-1528: The Potential Impact of Overly Permissive SAS Tokens on PC Manager Supply Chains." The research explores two critical vulnerabilities (ZDI-23-1527 and ZDI-23-1528) that could have enabled attackers to hijack the Microsoft PC Manager supply chain via overly permissive SAS tokens in WinGet and official Microsoft domains. While the issues have since been resolved, the findings highlight how misconfigured cloud storage access can put trusted software distribution at risk. The post also includes detection strategies to help defenders identify and mitigate similar threats. The research can be found here: ZDI-23-1527 and ZDI-23-1528: The Potential Impact of Overly Permissive SAS Tokens on PC Manager Supply Chains Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Dave is joined by ⁠Ziv Karliner⁠, ⁠Pillar Security⁠’s Co-Founder and CTO, sharing details on their work on "New Vulnerability in GitHub Copilot and Cursor: How Hackers Can Weaponize Code Agents." Vibe Coding - where developers use AI assistants like GitHub Copilot and Cursor to generate code almost instantly - has become central to how enterprises build software today. But while it’s turbo-charging development, it’s also introducing new and largely unseen cyber threats. The team at Pillar Security identified a novel attack vector, the ⁠"Rules File Backdoor"⁠, which allows attackers to manipulate these platforms into generating malicious code. It represents a new class of supply chain attacks that weaponizes AI itself, where the malicious code suggestions blend seamlessly with legitimate ones, bypassing human review and security tools.  The research can be found here: ⁠New Vulnerability in GitHub Copilot and Cursor: How Hackers Can Weaponize Code Agents Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices