Check Call: Cybersecurity threats come from everywhere 

Cybersecurity company Trellix has released “The Cyberthreat Report – April 2025.” The report identifies insights into cybersecurity threats as well as how to make actionable plans on fighting cyber criminals. 

The report has thrown a spotlight on an alarming 136% surge in advanced persistent threat (APT) detections against U.S. organizations in Q1 2025. The report paints a grim picture of an increasingly volatile digital battlefield, where critical sectors like telecommunications and transportation are under relentless assault.

“The landscape is acute,” said John Fokker, head of threat intelligence at Trellix in a preface of the report. “The escalation of actor activity and increasing complexity of attack chains shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s clear we need a comprehensive, proactive cybersecurity strategy — one that’s dynamic enough to defend against multi-vector threats.”

Among the most targeted sectors, telecommunications experienced a staggering 92% increase in APT detections, with attackers favoring industries vital to infrastructure and national security. Transportation and shipping were next in line, reflecting the strategic interest of state-sponsored groups in disrupting supply chains and communication systems.

The report reveals how bad actors are evolving by exploiting known vulnerabilities, deploying sophisticated post-exploitation frameworks and even targeting cybersecurity tools themselves to erode organizational defenses from within. “Threat actors are not just outpacing outdated defense models — they’re subverting the very tools meant to detect and stop them,” Fokker added.

A particularly disturbing trend is the increasing integration of artificial intelligence into cybercrime. Trellix researchers found tools capable of real-time voice cloning in multiple languages, potentially revolutionizing phishing and social engineering tactics. Meanwhile, low-cost AI services to process stolen credentials and automate fraud, available for as little as 30 cents, are proliferating in underground forums.

Trellix’s report also emphasized the growing threat from “living off the land” techniques, in which attackers exploit legitimate tools already present in IT environments — making detection harder and post-breach investigation more complex. In several cases, APT groups were seen leveraging open-source offensive tools such as Cobalt Strike and Sliver, along with zero-day vulnerabilities, to maintain stealth and persistence.

Amid this terrifying fraud landscape, Trellix also published mitigation strategies. The company recommends organizations adopt an extended detection and response framework that integrates AI and machine learning. Proactive threat hunting, zero trust architecture and continuous user behavior analytics are also critical in building resilience.

“As AI reshapes both cyber offense and defense, organizations must modernize their security stacks. Sticking with reactive or fragmented systems is no longer sufficient,” the report concludes.

Enterprises, especially in high-risk sectors, must move beyond compliance-based strategies and embrace threat-informed, adaptive security postures. The full report is available here. 

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