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Cyber Risks · Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks

Know Ourselves Before Knowing Our Enemies: Threat Intelligence at the Expense of Asset Management

Summary: A Unit 42 article argues that threat intelligence is only effective when an organization properly manages its IT assets, since an unknown or improperly managed host can give attackers a foothold. The author cites Qakbot's 2023 takedown, with the malware reportedly responsible for more than 700,000 infections, and Emotet's 2021 disruption, with over 1.6 million infections, and notes an August 2025 Akira ransomware infection that began with SEO poisoning leading to a Bumblebee malware infection and a domain controller takeover.

What's compelling: Malware families the author says were preventable with properly administered, up-to-date hosts still accounted for over 700,000 Qakbot infections and more than 1.6 million Emotet infections, which means the gap was not threat knowledge but asset visibility.

Read the original at Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks ↗

Topics
Detection & Response
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