vSphere and BRICKSTORM Malware: A Defender's Guide

Written by: Stuart Carrera Introduction Building on recent BRICKSTORM research from Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), this post explores the evolving threats facing virtualized environments. These operations directly target the VMware vSphere ecosystem, specifically the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) and ESXi hypervisors. To help organizations stay ahead of these risks, we will focus on the essential hardening strategies and mitigating controls necessary to secure these critical assets.

By establishing persistence at the virtualization layer, threat actors operate beneath the guest operating system where traditional security protections are ineffective.