Talos IR trends Q3 2024: Identity-based operations loom large

Cisco Talos Incident Response reports a rise in identity-based attacks and prolific ransomware/data-extortion activity: credential theft via password spraying and AitM phishing, use of living-off-the-land binaries and infostealers, exploitation of known vulnerabilities (including CVE-2024-37085), and a wide range of TTPs (Mimikatz, remote services abuse, proxy C2). The report highlights impacted sectors (education, manufacturing, financial services), common security weaknesses (MFA and EDR misconfigurations), and recommends fundamentals such as enforcing MFA, patching exposed devices, and improving endpoint/network defenses.