Forescout Research –
Vedere Labs
“Vedere” is the Italian word meaning “to see,” which epitomizes the mission of Forescout Vedere Labs, the cybersecurity research arm of Forescout. Our team of global experts focuses on increasing visibility of cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities for all connected asset types and providing mitigation steps organizations can use to protect themselves.
Our research is fed into the Forescout Platform and shared with the cybersecurity community, including CISA and other cybersecurity agencies, CERTs, ISACs, open-source projects, device manufacturers, universities and other researchers.
What We Do
Vulnerability Research
- Focus on vulnerabilities against managed and unmanaged devices (IT/IoT/IoMT/OT)
- 200+ vulnerabilities discovered in last 5 years
- 100+ known exploited vulnerabilities on unmanaged devices
Threat Reports
- Manual and automatic analysis of malware samples collected via customer telemetry and other sources
Threat Intelligence & Detection
- Daily context-rich, machine-consumable threat feeds
- Detection rules to keep our Threat Detection & Response solution on top of emerging threats
- Live dashboards
How We Do It
Forescout Vedere Labs studies what attackers are working towards by observing actual attacks in our sandboxes, on the Darknet and in our Adversary Engagement Environment. We analyze significant attacks and generate vulnerability and threat intelligence that is consumed by the Forescout Platform. We also create corresponding detection rules that are added to Forescout Threat Detection & Response to help ensure customers can protect their IT, OT, IoT and IoMT environments.
Firsthand Observations in Our Research Laboratory
Located in Eindhoven, Netherlands, our research laboratory is where we observe firsthand the vulnerabilities being exploited and attacks in progress. The information we collect is analyzed to generate threat intelligence, calculate multifactor risk scores and create detection rules.
How Vedere Labs Uses Artificial Intelligence
VL threat intelligence is integrated on generative AI products, such as Microsoft Copilot for Security, allowing security analysts to query OT and IoT-specific threat intelligence directly from Forescout Research.
We also have integrated generative AI within our TDR solution, which summarizes proprietary intelligence that can be gathered about IP addresses and other indicators of compromises observed during an incident.
VL KEV: Our Proprietary List of Vulnerabilities
Our KEV list is compiled from real attacks we observe within our OT and IoT-specific honeypots, customer data and third-party intelligence. The list is complementary to industry-standard sources, such as CISA KEV. It is updated in tandem with other threat intelligence for Forescout eyeInspect and REM solutions. This type of intelligence allows users to prioritize vulnerability management actions based on what is currently being exploited by threat actors.
Partnerships and Threat Intelligence Sharing Groups
Vedere Labs is a proud member and contributor to threat intelligence sharing groups, including CERTs, cyber threat alliances and ISACs — where new intelligence and best practices are shared. Member organizations include industry, academia and governments where we share machine-readable intelligence and human-readable reports.
European Energy ISAC
Forescout is a founding member and actively participates in the threat intelligence task force.
ETHOS
Forescout is a founding member and part of the board of directors in this industry partnership dedicated to OT-centric, open-source sharing of anonymous early-warning threat information.
OT-ISAC
Forescout is a partner that shares reports, answers questions about emerging threats and presents at conferences and threat briefing meetings.
CISA JCDC and AIS
Forescout shares indicators of compromise and reports distributed to other members of the JCDC and IAS initiatives.
ACSC CTIS
Forescout shares indicators of compromise and reports distributed to other members of the CTIS initiative.
Data. Lots of Data.
The threat intelligence data we analyze comes from millions of connected devices that we monitor that give us billions of data points about device configuration and network behavior. It also comes from attacks we observe and dissect and other sources that we monitor.
Devices
- 19 million monitored devices
- 39 billion unique data points
- 1,500 global sites
- 6,500+ unique vendors
- 2,300+ unique OS versions
Threats
- 750+ threat actors
- 100+ ransomware group leak sites
- 20+ C2 types monitored on the Internet
- Third-party intel
Forescout Research - Vedere Labs Featured In...
Researchers uncover software flaws leaving medical devices vulnerable to hackers
Researchers say they have found more than a dozen vulnerabilities in software used in medical devices and machinery used in other industries that, if exploited by a hacker, could cause critical equipment such as patient monitors to crash…
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Critical Bugs Expose Hundreds of Thousands of Medical Devices and ATMs
“You can imagine the type of impact an attacker could have when they can either exfiltrate data from medical equipment or other sensitive devices, potentially tamper with lab results, make critical devices unavailable, or take them over entirely…”
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Government cyber workers increasingly concerned hackers will strike during shutdown
The government’s cybersecurity professionals are increasingly concerned that hackers will take advantage of the partial shutdown to tamper with sensitive government data or steal citizens’ information — and that the bare-bones staff won’t be able to fend them off…
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OT:ICEFALL FINALE
Forescout Vedere Labs is wrapping up its yearlong project looking at design vulnerabilities in operational technology with a closing report today that blames many of the issues they’ve encountered on vendors of the technology not implementing designs that would build security into the systems…
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Dray:Break
In 2024, routers are a primary target for cybercriminals and state-sponsored attackers – and are the riskiest device category on networks. We investigated one hardware vendor, DrayTek, with a history of security flaws to help it address its issues and prevent new attacks — especially when ransomware and denial of service attacks are so high today.
Forescout Research. In Your Inbox. Every Month
With 13 cyber attacks every second, it’s hard to keep up.
To help, Vedere Labs now has its own newsletter. Curated by our research leaders, you’ll receive the most crucial information you need to stay ahead of attackers.
It’s loaded with useful context, links and spotlights on threat actors, newly exploited vulnerabilities and other must-know asset intelligence. Once a month. Nice and easy.
Meet Our Leader
Daniel dos Santos
Daniel dos Santos is the Head of Research at Forescout Vedere Labs, where he leads a team of researchers that identifies new vulnerabilities and monitors active threats. He holds a PhD in computer science, has published over 35 peer-reviewed papers, has found or disclosed hundreds of CVEs — and is a frequent speaker at security conferences.
Explore Vedere Labs Blogs
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FBI Notice Underscores Cyberthreats Posed by Medical Devices and IoMT – Risk Management Can Help
On September 12, the FBI released a private industry notification entitled “Unpatched and Outdated Medical Devices Provide Cyber Attack Opportunities.” The notification underscores how a growing number of vulnerabilities in medical devices and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) assets can be exploited by threat actors to “impact healthcare facilities’ operational functions, patient safety, data confidentiality […]
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Cyberthreat Trends in 2022H1: Threat Actors Observed, New Malware and Active Hacking Groups
In our companion blog post, Vedere Labs analyzed the main ransomware trends we observed in the first half of 2022, including state-sponsored ransomware, new mainstream targets and evolving extortion techniques. Ransomware is the main threat targeting most organizations nowadays. However, three other notable cyberthreat trends also evolved during this period: Threat actors – We saw […]
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Ransomware Trends in 2022H1: State-Sponsored Ransomware, New Popular Targets and Evolving Extortion Techniques
Throughout the first half of 2022, Vedere Labs published analyses of prominent ransomware families, such as Conti, Night Sky and ALPHV. We also examined well-known ransomware incidents such as the attacks on the NFL’s SF 49ers by the BlackByte group; on a UK water utility, where the Clop gang managed to access their SCADA system; […]
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Cyber Skills Shortage? The Time for Security Automation Is Now
Many industries are affected by skills gaps, but according to Cybersecurity Ventures, the shortage within the IT/cybersecurity sector is nearly unmatched: Over an eight-year period, the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs increased from one million positions in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021. The researchers predict this skills gap will hold steady through 2025, but […]
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Ransomware in Healthcare: The NHS Example and What the Future Holds
On August 4, 2022, Advanced – a major software provider for the UK’s National Health System (NHS) and other healthcare customers – suffered a ransomware attack from a group that is still unknown to the public. The attack disrupted NHS services including ambulance dispatch, appointment bookings, patient referrals and emergency prescriptions. As of August 19, […]
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What to Do When Ransomware Meets the Internet of Medical Things
Vedere Labs recently developed a proof-of-concept (PoC) ransomware for IoT (R4IoT) using as an example attack scenario a hospital network containing IoT devices such as IP cameras, IT workstations and OT in the form of building automation controllers. The goal of R4IoT was to: Gain access via the IoT devices Move laterally to the IT […]
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Analysis of Clop’s Attack on South Staffordshire Water – UK
On August 15, the Clop ransomware group announced on their leak website the breach of South Staffordshire Water, a privately owned UK water supply company. This attack is yet another example of ransomware gangs targeting critical infrastructure expecting to receive a big payout, which is reminiscent of hundreds of previous incidents, including the well-known Colonial […]
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Automated Cybersecurity for Converged IT/OT/ICS Manufacturing Environments
For decades, IT and operational technology/industrial control systems (OT/ICS) were seen as separate entities within organizations. In keeping with practices first defined by the Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture, the two systems were entirely air gapped to never impact one another. While this separation kept OT networks more protected, it is no longer practical. Today, manufacturers […]
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Industroyer2 and INCONTROLLER: New Findings and How Forescout Protects Against the Most Recent ICS-Specific Malware
In our new threat briefing report, Forescout’s Vedere Labs presents the most detailed public technical analysis of Industroyer2 and INCONTROLLER (also known as PIPEDREAM), the newest examples of ICS-specific malware that were disclosed to the public almost simultaneously, on April 12 and 13. Thankfully, both Industroyer2 and INCONTROLLER were caught before causing physical disruption. Although […]
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