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Threat Hub

The Proofpoint threat research team has access to the one of the largest, most diverse data sets in all of cybersecurity. We’re bringing you the highlights every week, right here at the Threat Hub.

| Weekly Brief

Why cyber criminals love Bitcoin and Bored Apes. Highlights and insights from the Human Factor webinar. And U.S. authorities issue unpatched router warning.

This week on The Threat Hub: Bitcoin is experiencing significant volatility at the moment, but that hasn’t diminished cyber criminal enthusiasm for cryptocurrency. In a new blog post, we break down the characteristics that make cryptocurrencies such an appealing target. While record-breaking thefts from crypto exchanges have made headlines recently, there is also a growing amount of phishing and commodity malware activity aimed at consumers. From harvesting crypto wallet credentials, to soliciting Bitcoin transfers, to malware stealers configured to look for crypto assets, threat actors are exploiting these opportunities with ingenuity and determination. Check out the blog for more details, including several examples of real-world campaigns encountered by our researchers.

Following on from the release of our annual Human Factor report, Proofpoint VP of Threat Research and Detection Sherrod DeGrippo and Threat Research Manager Daniel Blackford recently hosted a webinar discussing insights from the report and answering questions from our customers. Across a 45 minute session, Sherrod and Daniel cover telephone-oriented attacks, the return of Emotet, Conti chaos and more. If you weren’t able to attend, the recording is available to watch on demand.

And on this week’s Five-Minute Forecast, Ukraine warns of Follina attacks, a massive Facebook phishing scheme is revealed, and senior threat researcher Jared Peck explains the intersection between cryptocurrency and cyber crime.

Insights Chart of the Week
Tordal Takes the Title

When Emotet abruptly left the scene in January of last year, a spot opened up at the top of the malware tree. Data from our Human Factor report reveals Tordal as the new 2021 champ. Can it hold on to the title this year? (Spoiler: it's unlikely).

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Podcast
2022 Human Factor Report: Reviewing a Year of Headline-Making Threats

Proofpoint VP of Threat Research and Detection Sherrod DeGrippo gives her perspective on the biggest insights from this year's report.

Podcast
Voice of the CISO: Insights from 1,400 CISOs around the globe

Proofpoint Global Resident CISO Lucia Milică discusses this year's Voice of the CISO report with cybersecurity evangelist Brian Reed.

Researcher POV
What Can Intelligence Analysts Learn from the Civil War?

Senior threat intelligence analyst Selena Larson explores how lessons from the life of pioneering spymaster Allan Pinkerton can be applied to information security.

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REPORTS
Threat Report
The Human Factor 2025

Cyberattackers target people. They exploit people. Ultimately, they are people. That’s why the Human Factor report focuses on how technology and psychology combine to make people so susceptible to modern cyber threats. In this first volume, we take a closer look at attacks that rely on social engineering, including business email compromise (BEC) threats, email fraud and phishing.

REPORTS
Threat Report
Fall / Winter 2021 Threat Update: Ransomware, BEC and Evolving Tools and Techniques

In 2021 the spotlight of global attention fell on cyber criminals like never before. In our first semiannual threat update, we explore new techniques and old tricks in a rundown of the year's biggest themes and schemes.

About The Threat Research Team

Our threat researchers are responsible for tracking shifts in the cybersecurity landscape, identifying new attacks as they emerge, and monitoring how threat actor tactics, techniques and procedures change over time. The threats they detect and the signatures they write feed into our platforms and are keystones in a system that analyzes more than 2.6 billion emails, 49 billion URLs and 1.9 billion attachments every single day.

By studying what cyber criminals are doing now, our threat researchers are better able to anticipate what they’ll do next. Every day, their work keeps our customers protected—not just from today’s attacks, but tomorrow’s threats as they evolve.

Threat Hub Chart of the Week
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