Coveware’s Ransomware Attacks Report for Q4 2020

🛡 Free Threat Hunting Playbooks CISOs Love to Reuse 🛡

Proactive threat hunting is key for detecting attacks before they escalate, but building playbooks from scratch is time-consuming. Luckily, several free resources provide tested playbooks CISOs can adapt immediately.

Here are the top free threat hunting playbooks:

1️⃣ MITRE ATT&CK Playbooks – Prebuilt hunting workflows mapped to TTPs.
🔗 https://attack.mitre.org/resources/

2️⃣ SANS Institute Hunt Playbooks – Free guides for Windows, Linux, and cloud environments.
🔗 https://www.sans.org/white-papers/

3️⃣ Elastic Security Labs Playbooks – Open-source examples for SIEM-based hunting.
🔗 https://www.elastic.co/security-labs

4️⃣ Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) Playbooks – Step-by-step threat investigation templates.
🔗 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc

5️⃣ SOC Prime Threat Hunting Library – Free community-contributed queries and use cases.
🔗 https://socprime.com/community

6️⃣ Red Canary Threat Detection Playbooks – Guides for endpoint and network threat hunting.
🔗 https://redcanary.com/resources/

7️⃣ Aumint.io Sample Playbooks – Our curated templates for simulating social engineering and insider attack scenarios.
🔗 https://aumint.io/resources

⚡ Using these free playbooks, CISOs can standardize threat hunts, reduce response time, and increase detection confidence.

At AUMINT.io, we complement technical hunting with real-world simulations targeting human vulnerabilities, ensuring your SOC detects both technical and behavioral threats.

🔗 Ready to see how your SOC handles advanced threats and employee-targeted attacks? Book a free demo

#ThreatHunting #CISO #CyberSecurity #SOC #AUMINT

🚨 Manufacturing Firms Under Stealth Cyber Siege

😱 The Zipline campaign is targeting U.S. manufacturers using sophisticated social engineering and custom malware.

📧 Attackers craft believable communications to exploit employees, gaining access to sensitive designs, operations, and financial information.

⚡ Traditional firewalls and antivirus are insufficient – human vulnerability is the real entry point.

🔑 Employee awareness, realistic simulations, and behavioral training are essential to prevent these hybrid attacks.

💡 AUMINT.io’s Trident platform helps teams recognize and respond to deceptive tactics before real damage occurs.

📅 Book your intro session here
to strengthen your human firewall today.

#CISO #CTO #CyberSecurity #FraudPrevention #ManufacturingSecurity #AwarenessTraining

📋 Free NIST Compliance Tools That Simplify Audits 📋

Meeting NIST standards can feel overwhelming, but several free tools help CISOs streamline audits and maintain compliance without expensive software.

Here are the top free NIST compliance tools:

1️⃣ NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) Online Tool – Interactive tool to map controls and track maturity.
🔗 https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework

2️⃣ CSET (Cyber Security Evaluation Tool) – NIST-based assessment tool to evaluate security posture.
🔗 https://cset.nist.gov/

3️⃣ SP 800-53 Security Control Templates – Free Excel/Word templates for documentation and audit tracking.
🔗 https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/sp800

4️⃣ OpenControl – Open-source framework to manage NIST and other compliance frameworks.
🔗 https://www.opencontrol.org/

5️⃣ Vanta Free Resources – Guides and checklists for NIST CSF and audit prep.
🔗 https://www.vanta.com/resources

6️⃣ ComplianceForge NIST Guides – Free guides and sample documentation for NIST 800-53 and CSF.
🔗 https://www.complianceforge.com/free-resources

7️⃣ NIST 800-171 Assessment Templates – Helps organizations prepare for controlled unclassified information (CUI) compliance.
🔗 https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/sp800

⚡ Takeaway: These tools help CISOs map controls, track gaps, and prepare for audits efficiently, saving hours of manual work.

At AUMINT.io, we pair technical compliance with human risk simulations, showing how employee behavior can affect NIST control effectiveness and overall security posture.

🔗 Want to see how your human layer impacts compliance readiness? Book a free demo

#NISTCompliance #CISO #CyberSecurity #AuditTools #AUMINT

🚨 Digital Impersonation Is the New Enterprise Threat

😱 Attackers are no longer just hacking systems – they are pretending to be your trusted colleagues.

📧 From cloned emails to fake profiles on collaboration tools, digital impersonation exploits human trust, bypassing traditional security defenses.

⚡ Employees may unknowingly share sensitive data, approve fraudulent transactions, or introduce malware, leaving minimal digital traces.

🔑 Technical controls aren’t enough – awareness, simulation, and real-world social engineering exposure are critical.

💡 AUMINT.io’s Trident platform simulates sophisticated impersonation attacks, training teams to detect and respond before real damage occurs.

📅 Book your intro session here
and strengthen your human firewall today.

#CISO #CTO #CyberSecurity #FraudPrevention #AwarenessTraining #EnterpriseSecurity

🌐 Free Botnet Tracker Sites Revealing Global Attack Trends 🌐

Botnets continue to power a huge percentage of cyberattacks worldwide, from DDoS campaigns to malware distribution. For CISOs, tracking them early is crucial – and several free resources make this possible.

Here are the top free botnet tracker sites:

1️⃣ Abuse.ch – Feodo, Zeus Tracker – Tracks active banking malware and botnets.
🔗 https://abuse.ch

2️⃣ Shadowserver Foundation – Provides free daily reports on botnet infections globally.
🔗 https://www.shadowserver.org/

3️⃣ Spamhaus Botnet Threat Feeds – Lists IPs and domains associated with botnet activity.
🔗 https://www.spamhaus.org/

4️⃣ Zeus Tracker (via Abuse.ch) – Specific tracking for Zeus botnet variants.
🔗 https://zeustracker.abuse.ch/

5️⃣ Botvrij.eu – Real-time botnet detection and reporting for European networks.
🔗 https://botvrij.eu/

6️⃣ Malwaredomainlist.com – Monitors botnet command-and-control servers and malicious domains.
🔗 https://www.malwaredomainlist.com/

7️⃣ Emerging Threats (ET Open) – Network threat intelligence including botnet activity feeds.
🔗 https://rules.emergingthreats.net/

⚡ Using these free trackers, CISOs can spot emerging threats, update defenses, and strengthen SOC responses before attacks escalate.

At AUMINT.io, we complement technical monitoring with simulations of social engineering attacks that exploit human weaknesses, revealing the full picture of organizational exposure.

🔗 Want to see how your employees respond to botnet-driven phishing or social attacks? Book a free demo

#BotnetTracking #CISO #CyberSecurity #ThreatIntelligence #AUMINT

🚨 Lazarus Just Hijacked GitHub Trust at Scale

😱 Over 50 fake GitHub accounts tied to Lazarus were uncovered, showing just how far attackers will go to weaponize collaboration.

👩‍💻 Instead of brute-forcing systems, they posed as developers and researchers, embedding themselves into trusted networks.

⚡ The danger wasn’t the code – it was the psychology. By pretending to be “one of us,” they tricked professionals into lowering their guard.

🔑 This exposes a blind spot: technical tools can’t stop employees from trusting the wrong collaborator. Awareness and simulation are the only way to prepare.

💡 AUMINT.io’s Trident platform gives organizations the power to safely experience and counter these tactics before attackers exploit them.

📅 Book your intro session here
and close the human gap in your defenses today.

#CISO #CTO #CyberSecurity #FraudPrevention #AwarenessTraining #Developers

⭐ Free Reputation Monitoring Tools CISOs Rarely Share ⭐

Corporate reputation is a critical but often overlooked attack surface. Threat actors exploit it through phishing, impersonation, and misinformation campaigns. The good news? There are free tools that give CISOs visibility into reputation risks.

Here are the top free reputation monitoring tools:

1️⃣ Google Alerts – Track brand mentions, URLs, and suspicious activity in real time.
🔗 https://www.google.com/alerts

2️⃣ BrandMentions Free Plan – Monitor social and web mentions of your company and executives.
🔗 https://brandmentions.com/

3️⃣ Talkwalker Alerts – Receive notifications about brand mentions, industry threats, or fake accounts.
🔗 https://www.talkwalker.com/alerts

4️⃣ Mention (Free Tier) – Detect unauthorized brand use, impersonation, or negative coverage.
🔗 https://mention.com/en/

5️⃣ Awario Free Plan – Monitors social and web mentions for reputation risk signals.
🔗 https://awario.com/

6️⃣ Hootsuite Free Plan – Track social accounts and emerging reputation threats.
🔗 https://hootsuite.com/

7️⃣ TweetDeck – Monitor Twitter mentions, hashtags, and suspicious user activity.
🔗 https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/

⚡ Takeaway: These free tools let CISOs detect reputation attacks early, protect executives, and mitigate brand exposure before it escalates.

At AUMINT.io, we enhance this protection by simulating social engineering attacks targeting employees and executives to see where reputation risk originates from human behavior.

🔗 Curious how your team would handle reputation-focused attacks? Book a free demo

#ReputationManagement #CISO #CyberSecurity #ThreatMonitoring #AUMINT

🔐 Identity Protection Maturity Is a Dangerous Illusion

⚠️ Many enterprises think they’re secure because they’ve deployed MFA, SSO, and identity tools – yet attackers still slip through.

😱 The shocking truth is that cybercriminals rarely need to hack the technology. They exploit the human layer by convincing employees to “approve” fraudulent requests or reset access controls.

📊 This maturity myth creates a false sense of safety. Dashboards look green, executives feel reassured, but real-world breaches prove otherwise.

💡 Identity protection is not about checkboxes – it’s about resilience against manipulation. The missing piece is continuous, real-world simulations that train employees to recognize and resist these tactics.

🚨 Without this, one compromised account can give attackers the keys to the kingdom.

👉 AUMINT.io’s Trident platform equips teams with tailored, evolving simulations that turn the human factor into your strongest defense.

📅 Book your intro session here
and learn how to close the human gap in your security strategy.

#CISO #CEO #CFO #CyberSecurity #FraudPrevention #IdentitySecurity #AwarenessTraining

🚨 $91 Million Lost to Social Engineering in Crypto

⚠️ A high-profile investor fell victim to a meticulously executed Bitcoin scam, losing $91 million overnight.

💡 Fraudsters exploit trust and human error, bypassing even the most advanced technical safeguards.

🔍 Social engineering targets communication gaps, psychological triggers, and unsuspecting staff, making human vigilance the critical defense.

🛡️ AUMINT Trident simulates real-world attacks, training teams to detect deception, verify communications, and react under pressure, reinforcing human security layers.

📅 Protect your digital assets and organization before it’s too late: https://calendly.com/aumint/aumint-intro
.

#CryptoSecurity #CISO #SocialEngineering #FraudPrevention #InvestorProtection #BlockchainSecurity #ExecutiveProtection

📱 Free Social Media Threat Monitors You’ll Want Today 📱

Social media is a goldmine for attackers – phishing, impersonation, and reputation attacks happen daily. The good news? There are free tools CISOs can use to monitor threats across social platforms.

Here are the top free social media threat monitoring tools:

1️⃣ Social Searcher – Real-time monitoring of mentions and suspicious activity on multiple platforms.
🔗 https://www.social-searcher.com/

2️⃣ Hootsuite Free Plan – Track brand mentions and identify unusual activity trends.
🔗 https://hootsuite.com/

3️⃣ Mention (Free Tier) – Alerts for unauthorized use of company names, logos, or campaigns.
🔗 https://mention.com/en/

4️⃣ TweetDeck – Monitor Twitter accounts, keywords, and potential threat signals.
🔗 https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/

5️⃣ CrowdTangle (Free Access for Media/Research) – Detects viral content, misinformation, and brand impersonation.
🔗 https://www.crowdtangle.com/

6️⃣ Brand24 Free Plan – Track public social mentions and potential threats.
🔗 https://brand24.com/

7️⃣ Google Alerts – Simple yet powerful tool for monitoring social mentions and URLs.
🔗 https://www.google.com/alerts

⚡ Using these tools, CISOs can spot phishing campaigns, impersonation attempts, and emerging social engineering tactics before they reach employees or customers.

At AUMINT.io, we complement technical monitoring with simulated social engineering attacks, testing how employees react when attackers exploit social channels.

🔗 Want to see how your workforce responds to social media threats? Book a free demo

#SocialMediaSecurity #CISO #CyberSecurity #ThreatMonitoring #AUMINT