In Nevada, a state employee downloaded what looked like a harmless tool from a search ad. The file had been tampered with, and that single moment opened the door to months of silent attacker movement across more than 60 agencies. 

That pattern shows up again and again in the latest ColorTokens Threat Intelligence Brief. Attackers rarely break in with dramatic force. They slip in through the side, blend in with normal activity, and spread until they reach something valuable. Sometimes the target is a donor database with more than a million records. Sometimes it is a water system that communities rely on every day. Sometimes it is an endpoint that still trusts a signed kernel driver that should never have been trusted. 

Let’s walk through what this month’s incidents tell us about both the threats and the controls that keep them from becoming disasters. 

Explore Key Findings | State Networks Breached, One Million Records Exposed, Endpoint Protections Bypassed

The Nevada Ransomware Breakdown

One poisoned download led to statewide ransomware. The malware set up a hidden backdoor that survived antivirus removal and checked in on every login. Over the next weeks, the attacker installed monitoring tools, captured keystrokes, watched screens, and moved deeper until they reached the password vault, eventually gaining access to 26 privileged accounts.

Back in August, they deleted backups and encrypted virtual machines across the state. Recovery took 28 days. No ransom was paid, but more than 4,000 overtime hours were needed to restore essential services.

Attackers love admin tools because admin tools carry admin power. Limiting what can run and segmenting internal systems prevents one mistake from becoming a statewide emergency.

1.2 Million Donor Records Stolen at Penn

The University of Pennsylvania incident shows a different path, but one just as dangerous. A threat actor compromised one employee’s PennKey single sign-on account. That single account opened access to VPN, Salesforce, analytics tools, SAP systems, and SharePoint.

The attacker went straight for Penn’s donor database, which held personal details for 1.2 million people. When the university finally cut off access, the attacker used leftover permissions in Salesforce Marketing Cloud to email more than 700,000 recipients from legitimate Penn addresses.

The uncomfortable truth is that attackers do not need sophisticated malware. A valid login can be enough to open half the environment. Without segmentation and strong credential hygiene, a single compromised identity becomes a master key.

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Microsoft SQL Server Warning

Microsoft’s disclosure of CVE-2025-59499 shows how dangerous things get when the software itself helps attackers escalate. This SQL injection flaw lets authenticated users gain elevated privileges and run arbitrary commands. It is remote, simple to exploit, and highly impactful on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Even though Microsoft rates active exploitation as “less likely” right now, that can change quickly once proof-of-concept code appears. Patch early, review access, and monitor SQL logs. Silent manipulation inside a database can cause damage long after the breach is discovered.

The most advanced threat in this brief comes from the Dragon Breath group. Their malware, RONINGLOADER, does not avoid security tools. It disables them. It uses legitimately signed kernel drivers to kill security engines at the kernel level.

Once defenses are out of the way, the attacker injects a modified gh0st RAT into trusted processes and begins harvesting keystrokes, clipboard data, and cryptocurrency wallet information. The infection begins with trojanized installers disguised as applications people trust, which is why these attacks continue to succeed.

RONINGLOADER shows how much the playbook has shifted. Attackers are not trying to hide from security tools. They are dismantling them first. When that happens, segmentation becomes the only dependable barrier.

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Water Systems Are Becoming Soft Targets

The report also highlights growing pressure on critical infrastructure. UK drinking water suppliers have faced several cyber incidents since 2024, and similar cases have appeared in Ireland, Canada, and the United States. A single compromised account in these systems can allow deep lateral movement into operational technology networks, raising the risk of service disruption.

These environments cannot rely on perimeter security alone. Granular containment is essential because it limits how far an attacker can travel once inside.

How to Slow an Attacker Who Is Already Inside

Across every incident, attackers moved freely because internal boundaries were loose. These controls make the biggest difference:

Limit what can run. Nevada’s breach began with a fake admin tool. Allow-listing and blocking risky download sources would have stopped it.

Reduce the reach of stolen credentials. Least privilege access and isolating privileged vaults prevent a single account from opening the entire network.

Break internal pathways with microsegmentation. Creating small, specific security zones turns compromised systems into dead ends instead of gateways.

Protect backups. Store backups in isolated environments with separate credentials.

Watch internal behavior. Most attacker activity happens after the initial breach, not before it.

These steps shrink the attack surface so even a successful compromise has limited reach.

You Can Dig Deeper in the Full Brief

Every incident in this brief reinforces the same reality. The first breach is not the biggest problem. What happens afterward determines the damage. Nevada showed the cost of rebuilding. Penn showed how far one login can go. RONINGLOADER showed how quickly defenses can be dismantled.

If you want full timelines, IOCs, and detailed analysis, explore the complete threat advisory brief.

If you want to see how ColorTokens helps organizations contain attacks before they spread, get a demo or start a no-obligation conversation with one of our top advisors.

The post Nevada’s Trojan Download, Penn’s 1.2M Donor Breach, and the Malware That Kills Your Defenses First appeared first on ColorTokens.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from ColorTokens authored by Tanuj Mitra. Read the original post at: https://colortokens.com/blogs/nevada-trojan-penn-breach-roningloader-microsegmentation/