F-Secure Corporation’s Megan Squire on How Infostealers Are Quietly Taking Over Cybercrime

Live from Black Hat USA 2025, host Casey Cammilleri sat down with cyber threat-intelligence researcher Megan Squire to break down one of the fastest-growing and most misunderstood pillars of modern cybercrime: infostealers. Megan, a computer-science PhD and seasoned threat-tracking expert, walks us through how infostealers have evolved into a massive underground economy powering identity theft, fraud, and initial-access brokering. She unpacks what happens the moment a machine is infected, why attackers covet browser autofill data and screenshots, and how terabytes of stolen logs expose painful patterns in real victim behavior. Casey and Megan dig into everything from synthetic log generation to the flood of fake and duplicated logs polluting marketplaces — and why gaming mods and “quick download” culture are driving infections at scale. Megan also shares how red teams can responsibly leverage infostealer artifacts for richer attack paths, sharper assessments, and a much clearer picture of how users actually think and behave. If you want an unfiltered look at how infostealers are reshaping the threat landscape — and what organizations should be doing right now to stay ahead — this is an episode you won’t want to miss.