Written by: JP Glab, Tufail Ahmed, Josh Kelley, Muhammad Umair Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) identified a multistage intrusion campaign by a newly tracked threat group, UNC6692, that leveraged persistent social engineering, a custom modular malware suite, and deft…
Tag: Threat Intelligence
Defending Your Enterprise When AI Models Can Find Vulnerabilities Faster Than Ever
Introduction Advances in AI model-powered exploitation have demonstrated that general-purpose AI models can excel at vulnerability discovery, even without being purpose-built for the task. Eventually, capabilities such as these will be integrated directly into the development cycle, and code will…
The German Cyber Criminal Überfall: Shifts in Europe’s Data Leak Landscape
Written by: Jamie Collier, Robin Grunewald Germany has reclaimed its position as a primary focus for cyber extortion in Europe. While data leak site (DLS) posts rose almost 50% globally in 2025, Google Threat Intelligence (GTI) data shows that the…
vSphere and BRICKSTORM Malware: A Defender’s Guide
Written by: Stuart Carrera Introduction Building on recent BRICKSTORM research from Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), this post explores the evolving threats facing virtualized environments. These operations directly target the VMware vSphere ecosystem, specifically the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) and…
North Korea-Nexus Threat Actor Compromises Widely Used Axios NPM Package in Supply Chain Attack
Written by: Austin Larsen, Dima Lenz, Adrian Hernandez, Tyler McLellan, Christopher Gardner, Ashley Zaya, Michael Rudden Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) is tracking an active software supply chain attack targeting the popular Node Package Manager (NPM) package “axios.” Between…
M-Trends 2026: Data, Insights, and Strategies From the Frontlines
Every year, the cyber threat landscape forces defenders to adapt to evolving adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). In 2025, Mandiant observed a clear divergence in adversary pacing that closely aligns with the trends we have been documenting for defenders…
The Proliferation of DarkSword: iOS Exploit Chain Adopted by Multiple Threat Actors
Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has identified a new iOS full-chain exploit that leveraged multiple zero-day vulnerabilities to fully compromise devices. Based on toolmarks in recovered payloads, we believe the exploit chain to be called DarkSword. Since at least…
Ransomware Under Pressure: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures in a Shifting Threat Landscape
Written by: Bavi Sadayappan, Zach Riddle, Ioana Teaca, Kimberly Goody, Genevieve Stark Introduction Since 2018, when many financially motivated threat actors began shifting their monetization strategy to post-compromise ransomware deployments, ransomware has become one of the most pervasive threats to…
Proactive Preparation and Hardening Against Destructive Attacks: 2026 Edition
Written by: Matthew McWhirt, Bhavesh Dhake, Emilio Oropeza, Gautam Krishnan, Stuart Carrera, Greg Blaum, Michael Rudden Background Threat actors leverage destructive malware to destroy data, eliminate evidence of malicious activity, or manipulate systems in a way that renders them inoperable.…
Look What You Made Us Patch: 2025 Zero-Days in Review
Written by: Casey Charrier, James Sadowski, Zander Work, Clement Lecigne, Benoît Sevens, Fred Plan Executive Summary Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) tracked 90 zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in-the-wild in 2025. Although that volume of zero-days is lower than the record high…
Coruna: The Mysterious Journey of a Powerful iOS Exploit Kit
Introduction Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has identified a new and powerful exploit kit targeting Apple iPhone models running iOS version 13.0 (released in September 2019) up to version 17.2.1 (released in December 2023). The exploit kit, named “Coruna” by…
Exposing the Undercurrent: Disrupting the GRIDTIDE Global Cyber Espionage Campaign
Introduction Last week, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), Mandiant, and partners took action to disrupt a global espionage campaign targeting telecommunications and government organizations in dozens of nations across four continents. The threat actor, UNC2814, is a suspected People’s Republic…
From BRICKSTORM to GRIMBOLT: UNC6201 Exploiting a Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines Zero-Day
Written by: Peter Ukhanov, Daniel Sislo, Nick Harbour, John Scarbrough, Fernando Tomlinson, Jr., Rich Reece Introduction Mandiant and Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) have identified the zero-day exploitation of a high-risk vulnerability in Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines, tracked as…
GTIG AI Threat Tracker: Distillation, Experimentation, and (Continued) Integration of AI for Adversarial Use
Introduction In the final quarter of 2025, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) observed threat actors increasingly integrating artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate the attack lifecycle, achieving productivity gains in reconnaissance, social engineering, and malware development. This report serves as an…
Beyond the Battlefield: Threats to the Defense Industrial Base
Introduction In modern warfare, the front lines are no longer confined to the battlefield; they extend directly into the servers and supply chains of the industry that safeguards the nation. Today, the defense sector faces a relentless barrage of cyber…
UNC1069 Targets Cryptocurrency Sector with New Tooling and AI-Enabled Social Engineering
Written by: Ross Inman, Adrian Hernandez Introduction North Korean threat actors continue to evolve their tradecraft to target the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) verticals. Mandiant recently investigated an intrusion targeting a FinTech entity within this sector, attributed to UNC1069,…
Guidance from the Frontlines: Proactive Defense Against ShinyHunters-Branded Data Theft Targeting SaaS
Introduction Mandiant is tracking a significant expansion and escalation in the operations of threat clusters associated with ShinyHunters-branded extortion. As detailed in our companion report, ‘Vishing for Access: Tracking the Expansion of ShinyHunters-Branded SaaS Data Theft’, these campaigns leverage evolved…
Vishing for Access: Tracking the Expansion of ShinyHunters-Branded SaaS Data Theft
Introduction Mandiant has identified an expansion in threat activity that uses tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) consistent with prior ShinyHunters-branded extortion operations. These operations primarily leverage sophisticated voice phishing (vishing) and victim-branded credential harvesting sites to gain initial access to…
No Place Like Home Network: Disrupting the World’s Largest Residential Proxy Network
Introduction This week Google and partners took action to disrupt what we believe is one of the largest residential proxy networks in the world, the IPIDEA proxy network. IPIDEA’s proxy infrastructure is a little-known component of the digital ecosystem leveraged…
Diverse Threat Actors Exploiting Critical WinRAR Vulnerability CVE-2025-8088
Introduction The Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) has identified widespread, active exploitation of the critical vulnerability CVE-2025-8088 in WinRAR, a popular file archiver tool for Windows, to establish initial access and deliver diverse payloads. Discovered and patched in July 2025,…