In an age where cyber threats are increasingly sophisticated and prevalent, organizations must prioritize integrating security into the very core of their technology. Security can no longer be an afterthought or a box to check; it needs to be part of the design and development process from the start.

As security leaders, you’re tasked with protecting the crown jewels of our organizations, your data, while balancing innovation, compliance, and ever-evolving threats. Yet, too often, data security strategies rely on isolated tools and reactive measures, leaving critical gaps.

DLL side-loading is a popular technique used by threat actors to execute malicious payloads under the umbrella of a benign, usually legitimate, executable. This allows the threat actor to exploit whitelists in security products that exclude trusted executables from detection. Among others, this technique has been leveraged by APT41 to deploy DUSTTRAP and Daggerfly to deliver Nightdoor backdoor.

I have spent many years, perhaps too many, working in the world of IT and information security. I can’t complain, I have to say, it has been rewarding. And I have noticed in recent years that there has been a considerable shift in how cybersecurity is perceived within organizations, with this function gaining greater importance and relevance. The personal influence of the CISO has been improving lately, both in terms of attitude and perception.

Continuing our ongoing series collecting predictions from our many subject-matter experts here at Netskope, we gathered some hot topics and predictions from the Netskope Threat Labs team based on what they are starting to see evolving in the landscape. Here’s what they had to say.

In September 2024, Netskope Threat Labs reported a Python-based NodeStealer targeting Facebook business accounts. NodeStealer collects Facebook and other credentials stored in the browser and its cookie data. For over a year, we have tracked and discovered multiple variants of this infostealer. It is now targeting new victims and extracting new information using new techniques. In this blog post, we will dissect the development of the Python NodeStealer from multiple samples in the wild.

The current era of distributed work requires delivery of truly borderless digital applications and services powered by the cloud, delivered via a secure network centered on high performance and best in class user experience. It is essential that your organization has visibility and real-time insights into the data flow across the extended enterprise network as well as the ability to apply the necessary People, Process & Technology safeguards for data in transit and rest.

With 2025 just around the corner, we have once again reached out to our deep bench of experts to read the tea leaves and give us a sense of the trends and themes that they expect to see emerging in the new year. Here’s what the Netskope experts think is in store for next year.