Blog

Blog

Cobalt Strike 4.12: Fix Up, Look Sharp!

Cobalt Strike 4.12 is now available. We are excited to introduce a new look and feel for the Cobalt Strike GUI, a REST API, User Defined Command and Control (UDC2), new process injection options, new UAC bypasses, a new BOF API BeaconDownload for in-memory buffers, and new drip loading Malleable C2 options.Additionally, we have overhauled pivot Beacons so that they now support the novel Sleepmask...
Blog

Top Ways Employees Make Their Employers Vulnerable

The people factor is still the biggest variable in cyber resilience. Firewalls, EDR, and Zero Trust help, but everyday choices shape outcomes. The top ways employees make their employer vulnerable often come down to habits formed under pressure: clicking quickly, sharing widely, and trusting implicitly. Understanding those patterns — and changing them at scale — requires focusing on human risk...
Blog

Hacking Attack Leaves Russian Car Owners Locked Out of Their Vehicles

Imagine the scene. It's a cold Monday morning in Moscow. You walk out to your car, coffee in hand, ready to face the day. You press the button to unlock your car, and ... nothing happens. You try again. Still nothing. The alarm starts blaring. You can't turn it off.Welcome to Monday 26 January, 2026, and the chaos that was caused by a cyberattack on Delta - a Russian company that provides smart...
Blog

SEO Poisoning Marketplace Topping Search Results, Impersonating Top Financial Institutions

Introduction to the HaxorSEO MarketplaceFortra Intelligence and Research Experts (FIRE) have uncovered a group of active malicious threat actors operating since 2020. The group refers to themselves as Haxor, a slang word for hackers, and their marketplace as HxSEO, or HaxorSEO. HxSEO has established its primary base of operations and marketplace on Telegram and WhatsApp. HxSEO stands out for...
Blog

Artificial Intelligence for Post-Exploitation

Post-exploitation tasks frequently require manual analysis, such as relying on an operators’ expertise to scan a target environment for sensitive information that could support in the pursuit of an objective. For example, searching file shares and internal applications for sensitive information of credentials. These tasks are often time consuming, but can be dramatically improved with the...
Blog

Fortra Secure Email Gateway 6.2: A Major Leap Forward in Threat Detection and Security

The 6.2 release of Fortra’s Secure Email Gateway marks a significant milestone in email security. This major update introduces cutting-edge enhancements powered by the Fortra Threat Brain, designed to deliver superior protection against phishing, malware, and spam.What's New in Version 6.2?At the heart of this release is the Fortra Threat Brain, a sophisticated intelligence engine that aggregates...
Blog

Fortra Patch Priority Index for December 2025

Fortra's December 2025 Patch Priority Index (PPI) brings together important vulnerabilities for Microsoft and Google.Up first on the list are patches for Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) that resolve 13 type confusion, inappropriate implementation, and use after free vulnerabilities.Next on the list are patches for Microsoft Office, Word, Access, Outlook and Excel. These patches resolve 13 remote...
Blog

BEC Global Insights Report: December 2025

This report from Fortra Intelligence & Research Experts (FIRE) outlines key BEC trends for December 2025 based on active defense engagements. Findings include a 1% increase in overall attack volume compared to November, with gift cards as the leading cash-out method (52.8%) and Apple Store cards being most requested (50%).
Blog

WEF: AI Overtakes Ransomware as Fastest-Growing Cyber Risk

We can no longer say that artificial intelligence is a "future risk", lurking somewhere on a speculative threat horizon. The truth is that it is a fast-growing cybersecurity risk that organizations are facing today.That's not just my opinion, that's also the message that comes loud and clear from the World Economic Forum's newly-published "Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2026." As the report bluntly...
Blog

6 Areas Turning Cyber Compliance from Checkboxes to Proof

A new year often brings a wave of updated cybersecurity compliance requirements. In 2026, regulators are raising the bar. “Check-the-box” compliance that may once have been sufficient to pass audits is no longer enough. Today’s mandates increasingly demand evidence: proof that controls are operating as designed, faster incident reporting, and broader disclosure obligations across vendors, systems,...
Blog

January 2026 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s Patch Tuesday Alert addresses Microsoft’s January 2026 Security Updates. The FIRE team is actively working on coverage for these vulnerabilities and expect to ship that coverage as soon as it is completed.In-The-Wild & Disclosed CVEsCVE-2026-20805A vulnerability in the Desktop Windows Manager could lead to the disclosure of user-mode memory. Microsoft has...
Blog

Human Error Meets Data Exposure: The Breach Vector No One Talks About

Human error now plays a role in 95 percent of data breaches, making it more critical than ever for security teams to treat it as the substantial threat it is. In some cases, employees intentionally expose sensitive data for personal gain. But the most pervasive insider threats aren’t malicious — they’re accidental. This challenges the notion that an organization can become invulnerable if only it...
Blog

The Autonomy Paradox: Why Smarter AI Agents Are Harder to Secure

Agentic AI systems are designed for autonomy, but autonomy changes everything. These aren’t traditional vulnerabilities or software bugs; they’re design-level weaknesses where decision logic, data context, and control boundaries collide. And after a year of watching real agents drift, loop, and improvise in production, one thing’s clear: intelligence without constraint isn’t progress, it’s risk...
Blog

The Real Cost of Data Sprawl: Why Discovery Isn’t Enough

Data sprawl, the uncontrolled proliferation of data across cloud platforms, collaboration tools, and devices, is creating unprecedented challenges for organizations. As organizations generate and store ever-increasing volumes of unstructured data, every new file, workspace, or database adds complexity, multiplies exposure points, and increases the likelihood of sensitive information slipping...
Blog

Getting to know Errol Weiss: CSO at Health-ISAC

We recently sat down with Errol Weiss, Chief Security Officer (CSO) at Health-ISAC to better understand the challenges, excitements, and concerns facing executive-level security leaders: in healthcare and across the board. We discussed subjects including prescriptively preventing burnout, the largely untapped value in sharing threat intelligence, and closing the security loop so CISOs can sleep at...
Blog

Fortra’s Top 10 Standout Moments of 2025

This year, Fortra has been pushing the security envelope on a number of different fronts, and we’re excited to stay on the forefront of cyber change.On that note, here are Fortra’s top ten highlights of 2025. Running these down at year’s end keeps us honest. It shows both our customers and us how far we’ve come, and the exciting places we’re heading toward.1. Acquiring Lookout Cloud SecurityFortra...