AI-Driven EDR Showdown: Comparative Analysis and Strategic Forecast for US Enterprises in 2026

This analysis delivers a comprehensive, data-driven comparison of the top five Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) platforms in the US market for 2026: CrowdStrike Falcon, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne Singularity, Palo Alto Cortex XDR, and Bitdefender GravityZone.

Predatory Sparrow: Pro-Israel Hacktivist Group’s Destructive Cyber Operations Against Iranian Critical Infrastructure

Predatory Sparrow (Gonjeshke Darande) is a pro-Israel hacktivist group, likely state-affiliated, that has escalated destructive cyber operations against Iranian critical infrastructure since the early 2020s. Their attacks—most recently the June 2025 disruption of Bank Sepah—employ ransomware...

Iranian Cyber Operations 2025: Escalation, Ransomware Collaboration, and Critical Infrastructure Targeting

Iranian cyber threat actors have evolved into highly capable, multi-motivated operators, leveraging both state sponsorship and ransomware affiliate partnerships to conduct espionage, sabotage, and financially motivated attacks. In 2025, the Iran-Israel conflict has catalyzed a surge in..

Stealth Falcon’s Zero-Day Offensive, OilRig’s Supply Chain Escalation, and the Evolving Middle Eastern APT Landscape

Stealth Falcon, OilRig, Molerats, and Dark Caracal represent the most active and sophisticated Middle Eastern APT groups, each aligned with state or political interests and employing advanced tactics for espionage, surveillance, and disruption. Stealth Falcon’s exploitation of CVE-2025-33053..

BADBOX 2.0: Global Supply Chain Botnet Targeting Off-Brand Android Devices and Home Networks

BADBOX 2.0 represents a significant escalation in global supply chain cyber threats, infecting over 1 million off-brand AOSP devices—including TVs, smartphones, tablets, and car infotainment systems—via pre-installed firmware backdoors and malicious apps.

Sandworm’s Evolving Playbook: Destructive Malware, BadPilot Subgroup, and the Escalating Threat to Global Critical Infrastructure

Sandworm, a Russian GRU-affiliated cyber threat group (Unit 74455), continues to escalate its offensive cyber operations, with a primary focus on Ukraine and Western allies. The group is notorious for high-impact attacks such as the 2015-2016 Ukrainian power grid blackouts...

VenomRAT: Multi-Stage Phishing, Cloud C2, and Modular Malware in Financial and IT Sector Attacks

VenomRAT, first observed in 2020 as a fork of Quasar RAT, has evolved into a modular, service-based remote access trojan with advanced keylogging, stealth, and evasion capabilities. It is distributed primarily through phishing campaigns and fake antivirus websites (notably Bitdefender clones)...

Void Blizzard: Russian State-Backed Cloud Espionage, AitM Phishing, and LOTL Tactics Targeting NATO and Allies

Void Blizzard, a Russian state-sponsored APT attributed to the GRU and tracked as Laundry Bear by Dutch intelligence, has rapidly emerged as a major cyber espionage threat since April 2024. The group targets government, defense, telecommunications, NGOs, and critical infrastructure across NATO...

Venom Spider’s Polymorphic More_eggs: Advanced HR-Targeted Intrusions and Evasion Tactics

Venom Spider (TA4557) is a financially motivated cybercriminal group specializing in spear-phishing campaigns against HR professionals, primarily in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and Germany. Their attacks exploit the HR function’s need to process external attachments..

Bumblebee Malware Supply Chain Attack: RVTools Compromise, Evolving Tactics, and Strategic Defenses

Bumblebee malware has escalated its tactics by compromising the supply chain of RVTools, a widely used VMware utility, to deliver trojanized installers containing a malicious version.dll loader. This attack, detected in May 2025, distributed malware via both official and typosquatted domains..

DragonForce Ransomware: BYOVD Weaponization, Affiliate Expansion, and EDR Evasion in 2025

DragonForce has rapidly evolved into a major RaaS operation, distinguished by its sophisticated use of BYOVD techniques to bypass EDR and escalate privileges. The group’s modular ransomware builder allows affiliates to select vulnerable drivers (notably TrueSight.sys, RentDrv.sys) for process ter...

LOSTKEYS: COLDRIVER’s Next-Gen Social Engineering Malware and the Evolution of Russian State Espionage Tactics

LOSTKEYS, first observed in early 2025, marks a significant evolution in Russian cyber-espionage, attributed to the FSB-backed COLDRIVER group. Unlike traditional spear-phishing, LOSTKEYS employs a sophisticated multi-stage infection chain initiated by fake CAPTCHA lure websites (ClickFix)...