This is your sign to step away from the keyboard

Thursday, July 17, 2025 14:00

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Threat Source newsletter.

Burnout is a real issue for people in cybersecurity. We protect the systems that allow modern life to function. Our hours are long, our sense of responsibility real and occasionally heavy. Everyone notices when we have a bad day and an attack evades our protections, but nobody notices our best days when complex threats are detected and neutralized. Our failures are very visible, while our successes are imperceptible to others. This, coupled with a professional propensity to always consider negative outcomes, is a recipe for poor mental health – not to mention that we most of our waking hours sitting in front of screens, engaging with machines.

Making a difference and stopping the bad guys means being in cybersecurity for the long haul. Experience is built with each new deployment and each resolved incident. Sometimes the worst incidents are in retrospect the best learning experiences. Professional experience is gained through many years of struggle. Losing a team member through burnout or being unable to continue with a career in the domain is a personal tragedy and a loss of experience to the entire cybersecurity community.

Various factors contribute to the high stress loads felt by cybersecurity teams. Many of these, such as the nature and frequency of attacks, are outside of our control. Others, such as budget approval or the appropriate prioritisation of projects, often appear close to being under control before somehow getting derailed.

We might not be able to control external factors, but we can manage our own responses to the stress that we face. Firstly, set boundaries and stick to them. Once your shift is over, stop working – and that includes thinking about it. This is easier said than done, but unless there is a real emergency, practice stepping away from work at the end of the day. Leaving work at work allows you to destress during your free time.

Second, prioritize fun activities that don’t involve work or computers. Set aside time during your week to do something that you enjoy. Having many different activities and pastimes in your life helps provide balance. If one aspect of your life is particularly tough, then balance that with another part of your life which is going well. Personally, I find joy and escape in trail running. Finding myself deep in the countryside as far away from computer screens as possible provides me with time to recharge and recover.

Detecting threats and stopping the bad guys requires more than technical prowess. We must be committed to looking after ourselves, and each other, and to disconnecting from our passion for the work to continue doing it for years to come.

**The one big thing  **

Cisco Talos identified a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) operation in early 2025 that used the Emmenhtal loader and Amadey malware to deliver malicious payloads targeting Ukrainian entities, often via public GitHub repositories. Talos worked with GitHub to remove these malicious accounts and recommends security solutions to prevent similar threats.

**Why do I care?  **

This operation shows how easily adversaries can use trusted platforms like GitHub to deliver malware, making it more difficult for organizations to detect and block threats — especially if GitHub access is required for legitimate purposes.

So now what?

Organizations should review their security policies around GitHub access, deploy advanced security controls and remain vigilant for phishing campaigns and malware leveraging public repositories to minimize the risk of compromise.

**Top security headlines of the week  **

Four arrested in connection with M&S and Co-op cyber-attacks
The National Crime Agency (NCA) says a 20-year-old woman was arrested in Staffordshire, and three males - aged between 17 and 19 - were detained in London and the West Midlands. (BBC)

Patch immediately: CVE-2025-25257 PoC enables remote code execution on Fortinet FortiWeb
The flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to execute remote code by writing malicious files to the server’s filesystem, potentially leading to full remote code execution. (Security Affairs)

Train brakes can be hacked over radio — and the industry knew for 20 years
“Successful exploitation… could allow an attacker to send their own brake control commands to the end-of-train device, causing a sudden stoppage of the train which may lead to a disruption of operations, or induce brake failure,” CISA said. (SecurityWeek)

Episource is notifying millions of people that their health data was stolen
The breach affects more than 5.4 million people, making it one of the largest healthcare breaches of the year so far. The attacker stole personal information and protected health data. (TechCrunch)

**Can’t get enough Talos? **

The significance of timeliness in incident response
Cisco Talos IR compares two real-world ransomware engagements and shares how the organizations’ response times made all the difference in the outcome of an attack.

Talos Takes: Why attackers love your remote access tools
Attackers are increasingly abusing the same remote access tools that IT teams rely on every day. In this episode, Hazel sits down with Talos security researcher Pierre Cadieux to unpack why these legitimate tools have become such an effective tactic for adversaries.

TTP: The next phase of LLM abuse
Talos researcher Jaeson Schultz explores how cybercriminals are starting to integrate LLMs into full attack workflows, and even experiment with manipulating the data these models rely on.

**Upcoming events where you can find Talos  **

• NIRMA (July 28 – 30) St. Augustine, FL
• Black Hat USA (Aug. 2 – 7) Las Vegas, NV

**Most prevalent malware files from Talos telemetry over the past week   **

SHA 256: 9f1f11a708d393e0a4109ae189bc64f1f3e312653dcf317a2bd406f18ffcc507
MD5: 2915b3f8b703eb744fc54c81f4a9c67f
VirusTotal: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/9f1f11a708d393e0a4109ae189bc64f1f3e312653dcf317a2bd406f18ffcc507
Typical Filename: VID001.exe
Claimed Product: N/A
Detection Name: Win.Worm.Coinminer::1201

SHA 256: a31f222fc283227f5e7988d1ad9c0aecd66d58bb7b4d8518ae23e110308dbf91
MD5: 7bdbd180c081fa63ca94f9c22c457376
VirusTotal: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/a31f222fc283227f5e7988d1ad9c0aecd66d58bb7b4d8518ae23e110308dbf91/details
Typical Filename: IMG001.exe
Claimed Product: N/A
Detection Name: Simple_Custom_Detection

SHA256: 47ecaab5cd6b26fe18d9759a9392bce81ba379817c53a3a468fe9060a076f8ca
MD5: 71fea034b422e4a17ebb06022532fdde
VirusTotal: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/47ecaab5cd6b26fe18d9759a9392bce81ba379817c53a3a468fe9060a076f8ca/details
Typical Filename: VID001.exe
Claimed Product: N/A
Detection Name: Coinminer:MBT.26mw.in14.Talos