Page 290 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2025

The New Face of Cyber Threats: From Scattered Spider to

North Korea's Phantom Workforce

And Why Cyber Threat Intelligence Is Our Best Defense

By Richard K. LaTulip – A Field Chief Information Officer at Recorded Future

In today's hyperconnected digital world, the threat landscape has evolved far beyond lone hackers and
opportunistic malware. Cyber adversaries have become more structured, strategic, and in some cases,
state-sponsored. Two examples have dominated recent headlines: Scattered Spider, a loosely affiliated
yet highly effective cybercriminal syndicate, and North Korea's phantom information technology (IT)
workforce, a clandestine network of fake employees infiltrating real companies under false pretenses.
While these actors differ in motivation, tactics, and structure, they share one critical commonality: they
thrive in environments lacking proactive cyber threat intelligence (CTI) integration.

This article explores how this threat groups operate, the vulnerabilities they exploit, and most importantly,
why organizations must embed CTI into the foundation of their strategic defense plans, not just as a
technical feed but as a driver of risk-aware decisions across the business.

Cyber Defense eMagazine – September 2025 Edition 290
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