Hear More Directly From Researchers and Consultants

You may have noticed a new type of article on the Unit 42 site, with a different sort of headline and a different style of writing. These are part of a section we’re calling “Insights.” It’s designed to put you more directly in touch with Unit 42 researchers and consultants, so you can read unvarnished thoughts on the threat landscape and what we’re seeing in real-world incident response cases.

How Are Insights Different?

I started working on Unit 42 threat research publications in 2020 and I am incredibly proud of the threat research we share with the community. Every piece that we publish is extensively reviewed by internal subject matter experts and experienced editors. It warms my heart whenever I hear that our readers appreciate the quality and integrity of our publications. I often compare our work to an academic journal to help researchers understand the nature of what they’re undertaking when they decide to publish an article through us.

But while I stand by the value of this approach, it doesn’t work for everything. Our team wanted to share a view of the process that’s perhaps messier but equally important. These are early thoughts, quick observations, theories about the threat landscape, or the conversation a consultant has over and over with clients. There’s also information about how we do our work, how we found ourselves in cybersecurity, and where we see the field going. I hope pieces like this give you a more immediate view of what we’re seeing and thinking about.

Beyond the Threat Assessment: What We Learned While Writing

We have recently published two pieces on Muddled Libra: “Why Are We So Obsessed With You?” and “Amalgamated Evil.”

People who have worked with me know what a departure this is. My normal guidance is “straightforward and accurate.” I’m also known for saying, “Boring can be good.” This is because I believe that when sharing, say, indicators of compromise, the goal is to inform, not entertain, and I never want to create any barriers to understanding the key information.

That said, once the foundation is in place, there’s space for the conversation you might have over a cup of coffee.

Unit 42 has done a lot of research on Muddled Libra and responded to a lot of cases. You can read our formal summary of what we know in our Muddled Libra Threat Assessment. In the course of putting together our last update to the threat assessment, however, I noticed how interested I was reading the comments from our experts as we edited and debated.

That turned out to be the foundation of our two Muddled Libra Insights pieces so far. These aren’t meant to be summations of everything we know about the threat actor. Instead, they’re things two smart people have to say about Muddled Libra based on their expert view.

Get More Insights

I hope you enjoy reading Insights as much as I have so far. I expect the section to evolve as we put together more pieces and hear from you on social and at events – and I personally can’t wait to see how it develops.

Continue to catch up on Insights on the dedicated landing page. And if you’d ever like to know what these smart people would have to say about your specific situation… you know where to find us.