Talos Takes

Apr 21, 202628m

In this episode, we unpack state-sponsored and phishing trends from the 2025 Talos Year in Review. Amy and Martin Lee explore the alarming rise of internal phishing campaigns that bypass traditional perimeter defenses, i

Apr 7, 202622m

In this episode, Amy and Pierre Cadieux unpack the ransomware and vulnerability trends that defined 2025. From the persistent ransomware threats targeting the manufacturing sector to the rise of stealthy "living off the

Mar 26, 202631m

In this episode of Talos Takes, Amy is joined by William Largent (Cisco Talos) and Lou Stella (Splunk) for a "double-header" discussion. With the recent release of the Cisco Talos 2025 Year in Review and the Splunk Top 5

Mar 12, 202623m

In this episode of Talos Takes, David Bianco from Cisco Foundation AI joins Amy to demystify the world of proactive cyber defense. We explore the evolution of the PEAK Threat Hunting framework and talk through how securi

Feb 26, 202629m

Service providers are the backbone of modern connectivity — but why are they such attractive targets for cyber actors, and what happens when critical networks go down? In this episode, Martin Lee joins Amy to explore the

Feb 12, 202613m

What separates organizations that successfully fend off ransomware from those that don’t? What were the top threats facing organizations? Can we (pretty please) get a sneak peek into the 2025 Year in Review? Amy is joine

Jan 28, 202627m

Step into the fascinating world of cryptography. Host Amy Ciminnisi sits down with Yuri Kramarz from Cisco Talos Incident Response and Tim Wadhwa-Brown from Cisco Customer Experience to learn what encryption really accom

Jan 15, 202627m

Get ready for a brand-new era of Talos Takes! In the first episode of the year, Amy Ciminnisi, Talos’ Content Manager and new podcast host, steps up to the mic with Joe Marshall to explore certifications, one of cybersec

Dec 18, 202545m

In this special, end-of-year episode (and Hazel’s final show as host) Talos Takes goes on a time-travel adventure: What would a defender from 2015 think of the cybersecurity realities of 2025? Joined by Talos teammates P

Nov 25, 202524m

What happens when your to-do list keeps growing but your budget doesn’t? Hazel is joined by three Cisco Talos Incident Response experts to talk about the reality many organizations face: rising threats, aging infrastruct

Nov 13, 202511m

In this episode of Talos Takes Hazel sits down with Talos' Bill Largent and Craig Jackson to discuss the latest Cisco Talos Incident Response Quarterly Trends Report (Q3 2025). From a wave of Toolshell events, to a rise

Oct 24, 202515m

On this episode of Talos Takes, Hazel welcomes Cisco Duo experts Steven Leung and Tess Mishoe to bust the most common myths around passwordless security and multi-factor authentication (MFA). Discover why not all MFA is

Oct 2, 202547m

Every October, Cybersecurity Awareness Month brings a wave of tips: update your software, enable MFA, use strong passwords. But what good is any of that if the people behind the defenses are feeling burned out? In this e

Sep 18, 202511m

Imagine downloading a PDF Editor tool from the internet that works great...until nearly two months later, when it quietly steals your credentials. That’s the reality of “Tampered Chef,” a malvertising campaign that preye

Sep 3, 202523m

How do you build and defend a network where attacks are not just expected-they're part of the curriculum? In this episode, Hazel talks with Jessica Oppenheimer, Director of Security Operations at Cisco, about the ten yea

Aug 1, 202515m

Hazel is joined by threat intelligence researcher James Nutland to discuss Cisco Talos’ latest findings on the newly emerged Chaos ransomware group. Based on real-world incident response engagements, James breaks down Ch

Jul 17, 202514m

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 be

Jun 26, 202516m

Hazel welcomes back Ryan Fetterman from the SURGe team to explore his new research on how large language models (LLMs) can assist those who work in security operations centers to identify malicious PowerShell scripts. Fr

Jun 5, 202517m

Chetan Raghuprasad joins Hazel to discuss his threat hunting research into fake AI tool installers, which criminals are using to distribute ransomware, RATS, stealers and other destructive malware. He discusses the attac

May 22, 202516m

Edmund Brumaghin joins Hazel to discuss how threat actors (including state sponsored attackers), are increasingly compartmentalizing their attacks i.e they're bringing in specialist skillsets from other groups to handle

May 15, 202516m

In this episode, Hazel welcomes Talos researcher Ashley Shen to discuss the evolution of initial access brokers (IABs) and the importance of distinguishing between different types of IABs. We talk about the need for a ne

May 1, 202532m

A jam packed episode of guests means a slightly longer Talos Takes for your feed today! We welcome Amy Chang and Omar Santos from Cisco, Vitor Ventura from Talos, and Ryan Fetterman from Splunk. Together, we discuss how

Apr 24, 202522m

Steven Leung from Cisco Duo joins Hazel to discuss the prevalence of identity-based attacks, why they're happening, and the various methods attackers are using to circumvent MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication), based on da

Apr 17, 202518m

Azim Khodjibaev and Lexi DiScola join Hazel to discuss some of the most prolific ransomware groups (and why LockBit may end this year very differently to how they ended 2024). They also discuss the dominant techniques of

Apr 10, 202518m

Talos researchers Martin Lee and Thorsten Rosendahl join Hazel for the first of our dedicated episodes on the top findings from Talos' 2024 Year in Review. We discuss the vulnerabilities that attackers most targeted, how