Social Engineering, Phishing-as-a-Service, Edge Device Exploits & AI-Assisted Attacks
In this Initial Access podcast episode, we examine how attackers are gaining initial access through social engineering, identity abuse, and vulnerable edge infrastructure.
This week’s conversation focuses on a question red teamers think about constantly: how attackers actually get in. While headlines often focus on dramatic zero-day exploits, many successful compromises still begin with far simpler techniques: impersonation, credential theft, or misconfigured infrastructure.
In this episode, the team explores several real-world examples of initial access paths. Social engineering campaigns are abusing trusted communication platforms like Microsoft Teams. Phishing infrastructure is becoming commoditized, allowing low-skill operators to steal credentials and session tokens at scale. Edge infrastructure vulnerabilities continue to provide attackers with direct entry into corporate networks. And at the same time, AI is accelerating the speed at which reconnaissance, tooling, and offensive workflows can be developed.
The common thread across these stories isn’t entirely new techniques, it’s the increasing speed, scale, and accessibility of offensive capabilities.
Key Takeaways:
Attackers Impersonate IT Support via Microsoft Teams, Cybersecurity News
https://cybersecuritynews.com/hackers-attack-over-microsoft-teams/
- What Matters: Attackers are abusing collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams to impersonate internal IT support and convince employees to install remote access software. These attacks succeed because they operate inside a trusted communication environment where users are less suspicious than they would be with email. Once remote access is installed, attackers gain an immediate foothold inside the network.
- What’s Overhyped: The technique itself isn’t new. Social engineering has always been one of the most effective initial access methods. What’s changing is the channel, Attackers are moving from email to collaboration platforms that employees trust more.
Typhoon 2FA Enables Industrial-Scale Session Hijacking, Microsoft Security Blog
- What Matters: New phishing platforms allow operators to steal not just credentials but authenticated session tokens, enabling attackers to bypass traditional multi-factor authentication protections. These services package infrastructure, phishing templates, and credential harvesting into a subscription model, allowing even low-skill actors to launch sophisticated campaigns.
- What’s Overhyped: MFA bypass isn’t a new phenomenon. Reverse-proxy phishing frameworks have existed for years. The real shift is accessibility: tools that once required technical expertise are now packaged as services.
Fortinet Vulnerabilities Demonstrate the Risk of Network Edge Devices, Cybersecurity News
https://cybersecuritynews.com/fortinet-security-update-march/
- What Matters: Vulnerabilities in internet-facing infrastructure such as firewalls, VPN gateways, and network management platforms remain extremely valuable targets. Compromising one of these devices often provides direct internal network access and, in some cases, administrative control over the network itself.
- What’s Overhyped: This isn’t unique to any single vendor. Every organization relies on a small number of edge devices to connect to the internet, which naturally makes them high-value targets.
Leaked iOS Exploit Kits Show the Growing Commoditization of Zero-Days, The Hacker News
https://thehackernews.com/2026/03/coruna-ios-exploit-kit-uses-23-exploits.html
- What Matters: Researchers discovered an exploit framework containing multiple iOS vulnerabilities that can be chained together to fully compromise devices. Exploits of this caliber have historically been reserved for government or intelligence agencies, but leaks and secondary markets are beginning to spread these capabilities more broadly.
- What’s Overhyped: These attacks still require specific conditions and older device versions in many cases. The average user is unlikely to be targeted, but the broader trend of exploit commoditization is significant.
Automation Improves Reconnaissance, Tool Development, and Attack Speed, Microsoft Security Blog
- What Matters: AI tools are enabling attackers to automate reconnaissance, generate phishing materials, develop custom tooling, and process large datasets faster than before. Instead of replacing human operators, AI is acting as a force multiplier that speeds up existing offensive workflows.
- What’s Overhyped: Fully autonomous attacks remain rare. Most successful operations still require skilled operators who provide context, interpret results, and guide the attack process.
