Scattered Spider is a disparate hacking collective that has surged to prominence by using sophisticated social engineering tactics. One of their key tactics is exploiting people – specifically, corporate service desks. They recently hit the headlines by allegedly carrying... Read More
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M&S ransomware hack: Service Desk & Active Directory security lessons
M&S (Marks and Spencers) are a cornerstone of British retail with over 64,000 employees – so it was a shock for many to see them laid low by a ransomware attack in April 2025. The retail giant fell victim... Read More
Could the Spain and Portugal blackout have been a cyber-attack?
‘Cyber-attack’ was the phrase on many people’s minds when large parts of Spain and Portugal were recently plunged into a blackout. Authorities are investigating the root cause, with early reports suggesting a technical malfunction caused by a ‘rare atmospheric... Read More
AI vishing: Mastering the art of voice deception
Picture an Italian entrepreneur receiving a phone call from their country’s Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto. The politician has an important but challenging ask – he needs the wealthy individual to wire around €1 million to a Hong Kong-based bank... Read More
Post-quantum cryptography: Password security in the quantum era
Quantum mechanics is the study of physics at the level of incredibly small things – smaller than atoms. Anyone who’s looked into theories like wave-particle duality and entanglement, knows things can get confusing (and weird) very quickly. But it’s... Read More
ALIEN TXTBASE data-dump analysis: Dangerous or junk?
Specops researchers have been digging into the ALIEN TXTBASE data-dump, which was recently merged into the HaveIBeenPwned (HIBP) dataset by Troy Hunt. After some analysis of the over 200 million passwords in this dataset, we estimate about 20 million... Read More
[New research] Which passwords are attackers using against RDP ports right now?
The Specops research team has been analyzing 15 million passwords being used to attack RDP ports, in live attacks happening against networks right now. Our team have found the ten most common passwords attackers are using and analyzed their... Read More
How cyber-realistic is Netflix’s Zero Day thriller?
The idea of an entire country being shut down by cyberattack is a scary thought. In Netflix’s recent thriller ‘Zero Day’, this is the reality faced by former president (played by Robert de Niro). To find out how realistic... Read More
HIBP adds 284M malware-stolen accounts: Takeaways on Telegram & infostealers
Leaked credentials are in high demand on underground marketplaces. A database of stolen credentials is a like a giant box of keys to a hacker. With the use of the right software, they can rapidly try these keys against... Read More
Introducing MFA for Windows Logon, RDP or VPN with Specops Secure Access
We’re excited to introduce Specops Secure Access: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for Windows logon, RDP, and VPN — a powerful new way to add an extra layer of protection to your organization’s authentication process. By implementing MFA at key access... Read More