Windows Event Logs Reveal the Messy Reality Behind ‘Sophisticated’ Cyberattacks

Between November and December 2025, security researchers identified three separate incidents where attackers exploited coding flaws in IIS web applications to execute commands remotely and deploy a Golang Trojan (agent.exe) along with variants like SparkRAT; defenders observed trial-and-error attacker behavior including blocked certutil downloads, subsequent addition of Windows Defender exclusions via PowerShell, repeated failed attempts to establish persistence through Windows services, and eventual isolation of compromised endpoints.