Talos Takes

Every two weeks, host Amy Ciminnisi brings on a new guest from Talos or the broader Cisco Security world to break down a complicated security topic. We cover everything from breaking news to attacker trends and emerging threats.

Talos Takes is a technology podcast hosted by Cisco Talos, with 237 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Cisco Talos hosts Talos Takes, a technology show with 237 episodes published.

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  Talos Takes

  Don't scan that! QR code phishing and cloud-native threats

  Aug 12, 202622 min

  What happens when a QR code leads to a major security incident? In this episode, Amy sits down with Senior Incident Response Consultant Terryn Valikodath to break down a recent, high-stakes breach at an Australian medical center. Attackers are ditching traditional malware for "cloud-native" tactics — using personalized QR code phishing to bypass corporate defenses and operate entirely within the cloud. Beyond the technical details, Amy and Terryn chat about the pressure of defending environments where patient care is on the line and why a blameless culture is a great defense. Take a listen for some practical, down-to-earth advice on how to audit your own logs and keep your team prepared for when things go sideways. Talos IR Trends Q2 2026: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/ir-trends-q2-2026/

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  Talos Takes

  Q2 Talos IR Trends: Phishing and authentication abuse spike

  Jul 29, 202616 min

  In this episode, Amy and analyst Lexi DiScola unpack the trends Talos IR saw on the frontlines in Q2 2026. From creative phishing lures that slip past email gateways to the weaponization of legitimate remote management tools, we explore why traditional defenses are falling short and the practical things you can do to reclaim the advantage. What configuration changes and visibility gaps could be the difference between a minor incident and a full-scale breach? How can you harden your environment with limited resources? Tune into this episode to stay one step ahead of an evolving threat landscape. Talos IR Quarterly Trends Report: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/ir-trends-q2-2026 Find Talos at Black Hat: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/preview-cisco-talos-at-black-hat-usa-2026/

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  Talos Takes

  ARToken: How attackers are bypassing MFA and maintaining access

  Jul 15, 202618 min

  MFA and password resets aren't always enough. That’s terrifying for security teams today. In this episode of Talos Takes , we dive deep into ARToken, a sophisticated phishing/BEC-as-a-service platform that steals credentials, bypasses MFA entirely, and leverages primary refresh tokens (PRTs) to maintain persistence in your environment long after a password reset. This turns a simple phishing click into a long-term breach. It’s time to rethink your defenses. Join us as Cisco Talos Threat Researcher Michael Kelley breaks down how this new breed of automated attack works and, more importantly, how you can spot it. From hunting for suspicious device authorization grants to securing your cloud infrastructure, don't miss this critical look at the new frontier of business email compromise. Blog: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/artoken-inside-an-eviltokens-affiliate-panel-targeting-microsoft-365/

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  Talos Takes

  Patching in the dark: Managing unknown threats in complex environments

  Jun 18, 202623 min

  If you're tired of being told to "just patch," we understand. The threat landscape is evolving at breakneck speed, with AI-driven tools enabling adversaries to uncover and exploit vulnerabilities before defenders even know they exist. In this episode of Talos Takes, Amy sits down with Threat Intelligence Lead Pierre Cadieux to discuss how to defend against these unknown threats. We move past the simplified advice of "just patch everything" to explore the logistical, technical, and business realities that make patching a complex, high-stakes operation rather than a simple button click. From the necessity of testing your patches to the importance of building strong partnerships between security teams and business leadership, this episode breaks down the things defenders often miss that build true resilience in organizations.

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  Talos Takes

  When synthetic logs don’t lie: Generating coherent attack stories for better detection

  Jun 3, 202619 min

  Are your detection rules failing because your test data lacks the nuance of a real-world network? In this episode of Talos Takes, Amy sits down with David Bianco to discuss why traditional synthetic data often falls short and how his new open-source project, EvidenceForge, is changing the game. Synthetic datasets often look like telemetry but lack the critical causal links and realistic background noise that define actual adversary activity. EvidenceForge solves this by creating data that tells a coherent, causal story. From simulating complex attack chains to modeling realistic, "bursty" human behavior, this tool helps threat hunters and detection engineers to sharpen their skills with reproducible, high-quality telemetry. EvidenceForge blog: https://blog.talosintelligence.com/introducing-evidenceforge-synthetic-security-logs-that-dont-look-as-fake/ PEAK Threat Hunting Assistant episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2018149/episodes/18825324

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