
Magic Packets & Stealth Backdoors: The Art of Detection Engineering
From DISCARDED: Tales From the Threat Research Trenches by Proofpoint
April 14, 2026 · 34 min · Season 1 · Episode 99
About this episode
The episode explores the stealthy world of backdoors and malware detection with insights from a Senior Threat Detection Engineer at Proofpoint.
Send us fan mail! Hello to all our Cyber Daffodils! Host Selena Larson, and guest Host, Tim Kromphardt, sit down with Stuart Del Caliz, Senior Threat Detection Engineer at Proofpoint, to unpack the stealthy world of backdoors, malware detection, and the “secret signals” threat actors use to stay hidden. From magic packets and port knocking to sophisticated backdoors like BPFdoor, Stuart shares how attackers design covert communication methods—and how defenders work to uncover them without ove...
People in this episode
Host: Selena Larson
Guest: Tim Kromphardt
Topics covered
- detection engineering
- malware detection
- backdoors
- cybersecurity
- threat actors
- covert communication
Keywords
- magic packets
- stealth backdoors
- BPFdoor
- port knocking
- threat detection
- cybersecurity
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Proofpoint
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