Art Appraisal Blog

If you thought phishing was just about shady links in emails, think again. A new technique called ClickFix is making waves in the cybercrime world—and not in a good way. It’s clever, sneaky, and it’s growing fast. In fact, security researchers have seen a 500%+ spike in ClickFix attacks in 2025. So, what makes this technique different? Instead of tricking you into clicking a bad link, ClickFix tricks you into...

In an era of escalating cyber warfare, U.S. critical infrastructure organizations face an unprecedented barrage of threats. From nation-state actors to AI-enhanced malware, the digital battlefield has grown more complex, more targeted, and more unforgiving. As the guardians of national resilience, Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) are tasked with defending systems that underpin energy, healthcare, transportation, and financial services. Their mission is clear: prevent disruption, protect data, and ensure operational...

Cybersecurity leaders today face an overwhelming challenge: too much data and too little clarity. Security operations centers (SOCs) are flooded with alerts from multiple point solutions—endpoint detection tools, identity monitoring platforms, vulnerability scanners, and more. Each system provides valuable information, but collectively they create noise. Analysts spend hours sorting through alerts, chasing false positives, and trying to piece together fragmented insights. The result is alert fatigue, slower response times, and...

In today’s digital-first world, cybercriminals are evolving faster than ever. Among the most concerning shifts in the threat landscape is the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in cyberattacks. AI is no longer just a defensive tool; it has become an offensive weapon in the hands of attackers. One area where this is especially dangerous is social engineering. With the ability to generate highly convincing messages, mimic trusted voices, and analyze...

Executive Summary The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has deployed a sophisticated and multi-faceted cyber strategy that presents a significant and evolving threat to global security. At the forefront of this effort are two distinct but related state-sponsored cyber threat groups, Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon. While sharing a common national sponsor and a focus on critical infrastructure, their operational objectives are fundamentally different. Volt Typhoon, attributed to the People’s...

Identity is the new security perimeter. As organizations embrace hybrid work, cloud adoption, and federated identity models, attackers are shifting their focus away from perimeter defenses and toward the human and machine identities that grant access to sensitive systems. For years, phishing has dominated as the go-to tactic for identity compromise. But in 2025, threat actors are moving beyond simple phishing campaigns to exploit more advanced identity-based attack vectors. For...

Understanding the Modern Identity Threat Landscape In today’s cyber battlefield, identity has emerged as the most critical attack surface. While traditional perimeter defenses and endpoint protections are still important, attackers increasingly focus on compromising user and service identities to gain persistent access and escalate privileges inside networks. This shift is not accidental—it’s strategic. Once an attacker has control over a valid identity, they can often move through systems undetected, blending...

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups have evolved their strategies to remain undetected for extended periods, allowing them to achieve their objectives while evading even the most sophisticated security systems. Among their most potent strategies is the blending of Living-off-the-Land (LotL) techniques with zero-day exploits. This combination makes their attacks stealthy, adaptable, and extremely difficult to detect. Living-off-the-Land Techniques: The Stealthy Approach Living-off-the-Land techniques involve leveraging legitimate tools and processes already...

As cyber threats continue to evolve, organizations must remain vigilant against a growing list of highly sophisticated adversaries. In 2025, both nation-state Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) and financially motivated ransomware gangs are employing increasingly complex tactics to breach systems, exfiltrate data, and disrupt critical services. This blog identifies the top APT and ransomware groups that security teams should closely monitor this year, along with their known tactics, targets, and trends....

In today’s threat landscape, credential theft remains one of the most powerful weapons in an attacker’s arsenal. Whether it’s the initial compromise or lateral movement across a network, the ability to impersonate legitimate users opens the doors to sensitive systems, data exfiltration, and long-term persistence. Security teams must not only detect such incidents in real time but also perform in-depth forensic analysis to understand the full scope of the breach....