The Fine Art of Frustrating the Adversary
What really frustrates an adversary? Eight Cisco Talos researchers share practical ways to make their next move slower and riskier. From deception and behavioral detection to breaking attack dependencies and resisting manufactured urgency.
Give yourself room to be human
In this week’s edition, Amy reflects on the importance of prioritizing family and personal well-being over the pressure to remain constantly productive.
China-nexus UAT-11587 targets government and policy organizations across Asia with Antino backdoor
Cisco Talos uncovered a cluster of activity we track as UAT-11587 targeting government and policy organizations across Asia, including in Taiwan, India, the Philippines, and Cambodia, to deliver a previously undocumented backdoor referred to as “Antino” in developer artifacts.
Securing the keys to the kingdom: Announcing Executive Threat Detection
This new proactive service joins the suite of retainer offerings to provide dedicated, intelligence-led hunting specifically for your organization’s most high-value IT assets.
Trust and the enticing consultancy offer
In this week’s newsletter Martin muses over a very suspicious elicitation over social media and the true value of trust within the cyber ecosystem. Hubris might be the real vulnerability that the cyber industry must worry about.
The Closed Quorum: Inside the first reported autonomous AI C2 implant
CLOSEDQUORUM, a malware binary discovered through Cisco Talos’ CAIRN project, exhibits fully autonomous command and control (C2). It represents a shift in effort displacement for attackers, in which expanding portions of the attack chain can be executed without operator involvement.
Introducing CAIRN: Frontier tracking for AI-integrated malware
Talos is releasing CAIRN, a research toolkit for hunting, classifying, and tracking emerging AI-integrated malware.
Should you care about an “AI slowdown?”
In this week's Threat Source, David talks about why focusing on your security basics is still your best bet, even in a world with rapid AI advancements.
Ransomware incidents in Japan in the first half of 2026: Investigation of The Gentlemen’s infrastructure and evidence of Qilin's AI use
Ransomware incidents in Japan rose 4.7% year over year. The Gentlemen was the most active group, with leak-site listings more than doubling from January to July. Qilin ranked second and appeared to use AI, while SMEs with capital under JPY 1 billion represented 80% of victims.