BlackBerry LIVE and the New Global Threat Intelligence Report

Maritime leaders in Pakistan were expecting to be informed, and perhaps even entertained, when they attended this year’s annual International Maritime Expo and Conference in Karachi last February. They weren’t expecting to be spear phished.  

Since targeting unsuspecting users with attractive lures is the basis of any spear-phishing campaign, it’s what made the News Penguin gambit so successful in conducting surveillance on Pakistan’s naval and maritime community. In-depth analysis of this and other recent malicious campaigns – some, like News Penguin, first discovered by BlackBerry’s own Research and Intelligence Team – are profiled in the team’s latest Global Threat Intelligence Report.

In a recent BlackBerry LIVE broadcast, BlackBerry Vice President Threat Research and Intelligence Ismael Valenzuela carries out a detailed discussion of the report, covering events from December 2022 to February 2023. His guests include three of the report’s authors: BlackBerry Senior Director of Cyber Threat Intelligence Dmitry Bestuzhev, Threat Researcher Pratima Lohar, and Threat Researcher Jose Luis. Together, they discussed insights from more than 1.5 million attacks CylanceENDPOINT tracked and blocked.

Watch BlackBerry LIVE, now:  

Exploring the Value of Contextualized Cyber Threat Intelligence

During their conversation about the most notable threat actors, industry-specific cyber-attacks, and the most widely used malware — the team discussed the value of cyber threat intelligence and how it helps protect organizations. 

When we think about threats, we should think beyond samples, tools, and detection rates, according to Bestuzhev. “Who is behind it, and why — and how that group is attacking — and so, what? These are the main questions we are answering in this report,” he says. “We provide concrete and specific actions on how to defend yourself.”

Valenzuela added, “The whole point of this is to make it practical, to make it actionable.” 

To learn more about the findings, watch the BlackBerry LIVE episode on demand or read the Global Threat Intelligence Report.

Related Reading 

• New Independent Tests of Endpoint Protection Reveal Marked Differences in Performance, Efficacy
• SideWinder Uses Server-side Polymorphism to Attack Pakistan Government Officials — and Is Now Targeting Turkey
• Cylance Cybersecurity: BlackBerry Upgrades Its Cyber Portfolio