Research Saturday

Every Saturday, we sit down with cybersecurity researchers to talk shop about the latest threats, vulnerabilities, and technical discoveries.

Episodes

Beyond the smoke screen.

August 23, 2025 • 22 mins

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 ...

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The CVE countdown clock.

August 16, 2025 • 29 mins

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 whi...

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When malware plays pretend.

August 9, 2025 • 20 mins

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 Di...

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nOAuth-ing to see here.

August 2, 2025 • 23 mins

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 a...

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Muddled Libra: From Spraying to Preying in 2025 [Threat Vector]

July 26, 2025 • 36 mins

Please enjoy this Special Edition episode of the Threat Vector podcast with an update on our previous Muddled Libra coverage. Muddled Libra is back and more dangerous than ever. In this episode of Threat Vector, David Moulton speaks with Sam Rubin and Kristopher Russo from Unit 42 about the resurgence of the threat group also known as Scattered Spider. They break down the group’s shift to destructive extortion, modular attack t...

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Creeping like a spider.

July 19, 2025 • 17 mins

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...

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Click here to steal.

July 12, 2025 • 25 mins

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 ...

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Botnet’s back, tell a friend.

July 5, 2025 • 19 mins

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 effo...

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A tale of two botnets.

June 28, 2025 • 21 mins

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 th...

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Signed, sealed, exploitable.

June 21, 2025 • 16 mins

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 offic...

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Hiding in plain sight with vibe coding.

June 14, 2025 • 21 mins

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...

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A new stealer hiding behind AI hype.

June 7, 2025 • 22 mins

This week, we are joined by Michael Gorelik, Chief Technology Officer from Morphisec, discussing their work on "New Noodlophile Stealer Distributes Via Fake AI Video Generation Platforms." A new threat dubbed Noodlophile Stealer is exploiting the popularity of AI-powered content tools by posing as fake AI video generation platforms, luring users into uploading media in exchange for malware-laced downloads. Distributed through con...

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Triofox and the key to disaster.

May 31, 2025 • 19 mins

This week, we are joined by John Hammond, Principal Security Researcher at Huntress, who is sharing his PoC and research on "CVE-2025-30406 - Critical Gladinet CentreStack & Triofox Vulnerability Exploited In The Wild." A critical 9.0 severity vulnerability (CVE-2025-30406) in Gladinet CentreStack and Triofox is being actively exploited in the wild, allowing remote code execution via hardcoded cryptographic keys in default configur...

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Pandas with a purpose.

May 24, 2025 • 17 mins

This week, we are joined by Deepen Desai, Zscaler's Chief Security Officer and EVP of Cyber and AI Engineering, taking a dive deep into Mustang Panda’s latest campaign. Zscaler ThreatLabz uncovered new tools used by Mustang Panda, including the backdoors TONEINS, TONESHELL, PUBLOAD, and the proxy tool StarLoader, all delivered via phishing. They also discovered two custom keyloggers, PAKLOG and CorKLOG, and an EDR evasion tool, S...

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Leveling up their credential phishing tactics.

May 17, 2025 • 17 mins

This week, Dave speaks with Max Gannon of Cofense Intelligence to dive into his team's research on "The Rise of Precision-Validated Credential Theft: A New Challenge for Defenders." Threat actors continuously develop new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to bypass existing defenses. When defenders identify these methods and implement countermeasures, attackers adapt or create more sophisticated approaches. This researc...

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Hijacking wallets with malicious patches.

May 10, 2025 • 17 mins

This week, we are joined by Lucija Valentić, Software Threat Researcher from ReversingLabs, who is discussing "Atomic and Exodus crypto wallets targeted in malicious npm campaign." Threat actors have launched a malicious npm campaign targeting Atomic and Exodus crypto wallets by distributing a fake package called "pdf-to-office," which secretly patches locally installed wallet software to redirect crypto transfers to attacker-contr...

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When AI gets a to-do list.

May 3, 2025 • 21 mins

This week, we are joined by ⁠Shaked Reiner⁠, Security Principal Security Researcher at ⁠CyberArk⁠, who is discussing their research on"Agents Under Attack: Threat Modeling Agentic AI." Agentic AI empowers LLMs to take autonomous actions, like browsing the web or executing code, making them more useful—but also more dangerous. Threats like prompt injections and stolen API keys can turn agents into attack vectors. Shaked Reiner exp...

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China’s new cyber arsenal revealed.

April 26, 2025 • 22 mins

Today we are joined by Crystal Morin, Cybersecurity Strategist from Sysdig, as she is sharing their work on "UNC5174’s evolution in China’s ongoing cyber warfare: From SNOWLIGHT to VShell." UNC5174, a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor, has resurfaced with a stealthy cyber campaign using a new arsenal of customized and open-source tools, including a variant of their SNOWLIGHT malware and the VShell RAT. Sysdig researchers discov...

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Crafting malware with modern metals.

April 19, 2025 • 17 mins

This week, we are joined by Nick Cerne, Security Consultant from Bishop Fox, to discuss "Rust for Malware Development." In pursuit of simulating real adversarial tactics, this blog explores the use of Rust for malware development, contrasting it with C in terms of binary complexity, detection evasion, and reverse engineering challenges. The author demonstrates how Rust's inherent anti-analysis traits and memory safety features can...

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The new malware on the block.

April 12, 2025 • 33 mins

This week, we are sharing an episode of our monthly show, Only Malware in the Building. We invite you to join Dave Bittner and cohost Selena Larson as they explore "The new malware on the block." Welcome in! You’ve entered, Only Malware in the Building. Join us each month to sip tea and solve mysteries about today’s most interesting threats. Your host is Selena Larson, Proofpoint intelligence analyst and host of their podcast DISC...

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Research Saturday

Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Beyond the smoke screen.

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}The CVE countdown clock.

When malware plays pretend.

nOAuth-ing to see here.

Muddled Libra: From Spraying to Preying in 2025 [Threat Vector]

Creeping like a spider.

Click here to steal.

Botnet’s back, tell a friend.

A tale of two botnets.

Signed, sealed, exploitable.

Hiding in plain sight with vibe coding.

A new stealer hiding behind AI hype.

Triofox and the key to disaster.

Pandas with a purpose.

Leveling up their credential phishing tactics.

Hijacking wallets with malicious patches.

When AI gets a to-do list.

China’s new cyber arsenal revealed.

Crafting malware with modern metals.

The new malware on the block.

Popular Podcasts

Beyond the smoke screen.

The CVE countdown clock.