Startup surge sparks spy interest.

About this episode

Santiago Pontiroli discusses the targeting of India's startup ecosystem by Transparent Tribe.

This week, we are joined by Santiago Pontiroli, Threat Intelligence Research Lead from Acronis TRU team, discussing their work on "New year, new sector: Transparent Tribe targets India’s startup ecosystem." The Acronis Threat Research Unit uncovered a new campaign by Transparent Tribe showing the group has expanded beyond traditional government and defense targets to India’s startup ecosystem, especially cybersecurity and OSINT-focused firms. The attackers use startup-themed lures delivered via ISO files and malicious shortcuts to deploy Crimson RAT, a highly obfuscated tool capable of surveillance, data theft, and system control. Despite this shift, the campaign closely mirrors the group’s long-standing espionage tactics, suggesting startups are being targeted for their connections to government, law enforcement, and sensitive intelligence networks. The research and executive brief can be found here: New year, new sector: Transparent Tribe targets India’s startup ecosystem Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Guest: Santiago Pontiroli

Topics covered

• cybersecurity
• espionage
• startup ecosystem
• threat intelligence
• malware
• data theft

Keywords

• Transparent Tribe
• Acronis
• cybersecurity
• Crimson RAT
• espionage
• data theft
• startup ecosystem

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Acronis TRU team, Transparent Tribe, Acronis Threat Research Unit

Products: Crimson RAT

Places: India

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