Part 2: Guarding against sophisticated threats: Strategies for your best defense

In the second part of our deep dive into Muddled Libra’s tactics, Threat Vector welcomes Stephanie Regan, a senior consultant with Unit 42 with a law enforcement background. Regan and David Moulton, discuss the challenges Muddled Libra and other threat groups pose. Threat actors are often highly persistent and can rapidly pivot when encountering roadblocks. Regan’s insights demonstrate Muddled Libra’s — and other threat actors’ — ability to perform deep reconnaissance and determination to understand their targeted environments thoroughly.

Regan emphasizes that training users to recognize common phishing indicators is essential as the conversation shifts into how users can counter phishing and social engineering tactics. Stronger multifactor authentication (MFA) methods and secure VPNs are critical components in defense. To bolster security, Regan recommends hard-to-fake device properties for VPN access, device certificates and registry keys.

Regan outlines the importance of speed, detailed incident response playbooks and the necessity of out-of-band communications to recover from attacks. She provides insights into a threat actor’s targeted attack on a business and its recovery. As threats evolve and share resources in the ransomware market, companies must stay ahead by adapting and enhancing their security measures.

Threat Vector provides insights that are both enlightening and cautionary. Still, these summaries only scratch the surface of the expert perspectives in the full podcast episodes. CISOs, C-level executives or anyone with a vested interest in safeguarding the digital world can benefit from subscribing to the Unit 42 Threat Vector podcast. Discover firsthand the invaluable knowledge, strategies and real-world stories cybersecurity experts share.

Threat Vector is your compass in the world of cybersecurity. Listen to all current segments on Unit 42 YouTube channel and Spotify.