Daily Raptor — Wednesday Market Update — The Sharpest Read in Cybersecurity Field Sales
Three times a week, we deliver punchy, no-fluff updates designed for top-flight cyber reps who sell where the stakes are highest: Fortune 500 companies and large government organizations.
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There’s a lot happening in the market today, folks. Let’s jump into it!
Macro Dynamics at Play
China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea continue to pose serious cybersecurity threats—each with unique tactics and goals. These actors exploit the asymmetric nature of cyberspace to conduct espionage, theft, sabotage, and influence operations against U.S. interests. Their campaigns often blur the line between state-sponsored actions and cybercriminal activity, targeting both government systems and the private sector.
Here’s your 30-second breakdown of each (with high impact on U.S. cybersecurity):
🇨🇳 China
China is the United States’ most sophisticated and persistent cyber adversary. Its state-backed hacking groups focus on intellectual property theft, industrial espionage, and large-scale data harvesting—particularly in AI, defense, healthcare, and critical infrastructure.
🇷🇺 Russia
Russia engages in cyber-enabled hybrid warfare aimed at destabilizing Western democracies. Its APT groups frequently operate alongside cybercriminal gangs, complicating attribution and enabling plausible deniability for high-impact operations.
🇮🇷 Iran
Iran targets U.S. financial institutions, energy providers, and defense contractors. While less advanced than China or Russia, Iran compensates with bold, politically driven attacks—often disruptive in nature rather than purely espionage-based.
🇰🇵 North Korea
North Korea is a major player in cybercrime, using ransomware and crypto theft to fund its nuclear program. Its cyber actors are agile and decentralized, operating globally through hard-to-trace channels that evade traditional defenses.
Why Do We Care?
It builds credibility fast: CIOs and CISOs care deeply about nation-state threats. Reps who understand the geopolitical landscape show they’re tuned into executive-level concerns—not just product specs.
It connects your solution to real risk: Framing offerings in the context of threats from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea ties your product directly to urgent, mission-critical problems.
It elevates the conversation: Knowing the “why” behind cybersecurity spending empowers you to engage in strategic conversations that shape budgets, timelines, and executive priorities.
Today’s 5-Minute Cyber News Coverage
⚠️ Kevin Mandia (Mandiant) Warns of Agentic AI Attacks
Agentic AI-driven cyberattacks may be just a year away, according to Mandia in Axios.
Why it matters: While AI-generated phishing and malware content is already in play, we haven’t yet seen full end-to-end cyber operations autonomously executed by AI—from surveillance through exfiltration and ransom negotiations. But that future is approaching fast.
🔥 Industry Backlash: Political Targeting of Chris Krebs
More than 400 cybersecurity leaders signed a letter (via the EFF) condemning the political targeting of former CISA Director Chris Krebs.
Why it matters: The industry’s unified response underscores growing concern about political interference in cybersecurity leadership.
🚨 Major Cyberattack in Alabama
The State of Alabama is responding to a significant cybersecurity event. As of May 13, 2025, two third-party incident response teams are working alongside state OIT staff.
🔧 Microsoft Patch Tuesday: 5 Zero-Days Fixed
This month’s Patch Tuesday addresses 72 flaws, including five actively exploited zero-days, per BleepingComputer.
Why it matters: Nearly all of your customers are impacted. Reviewing this with CISOs should be part of every rep’s ongoing risk management conversations.
🛠️ China-Linked Attack Targets Critical Infrastructure
SAP has issued a patch for a NetWeaver vulnerability disclosed within the past 48 hours, believed to be exploited in a China-connected campaign.
Who’s impacted: Critical infrastructure systems, including water, natural gas, and waste management systems.
Why it matters: This isn’t theoretical—this is real risk in environments where uptime is everything.
Today’s Number 33
The number of selling days remaining in Q2!
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And now a word from the bullpen…
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