A large part of global cybersecurity reports start from an implicit premise: threats are universal. In practice, this is far from the truth. While tools and techniques spread quickly, how they are used varies greatly by region, influenced by economic, cultural, regulatory, and even linguistic factors. Want an example? Just remember the series of attacks that was nicknamed SORVEPOTEL, which involved the automated propagation of several Brazilian malware families via WhatsApp. Something that grew rapidly in volume and remained active for several months but, as of the moment I write this blog post, was restricted to Brazil.

For Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) teams operating in Brazil and Latin America, understanding this regional context is not a detail—it is a requirement for producing relevant and actionable intelligence.

Why Regional Context Matters in CTI

Effective CTI is not just about knowing what is happening in the world, but who is being attacked, how, and why. In Latin America, we observe a scenario with its own characteristics:

• Strong presence of financial fraud and social engineering
• Highly targeted banking and payment ecosystems
• Heterogeneous corporate environments with uneven maturity
• Intense use of channels like WhatsApp, SMS, and personal email as attack vectors.

Ignoring these factors leads to a common mistake: applying threat models designed for the USA or Europe to a completely different reality.

Main Attack Vectors in the Region

1. Financial Fraud and Social Engineering

This is, by far, the most prevalent vector. In Brazil and neighboring countries, phishing and fraud campaigns exploit:

• Banks, fintechs, and payment methods
• Social programs, taxes, and payment slips (boletos)
• False customer service and technical support

Regional CTI must monitor:

• Phishing kits in Portuguese and Spanish
• Templates reused across campaigns
• Infrastructure for sending via SMS, WhatsApp, and email

2. Banking Malware and Infostealers

The region has a strong history of financial malware, with families adapted to the local language and habits. Common characteristics:

• Focus on bank credential theft
• Intense use of remote access trojans and overlays (when the attacker’s screen overwrites the attacked application’s screen)
• Distribution via email, fake ads, and malicious downloads

For CTI, this requires:

• Continuous monitoring of local campaigns
• Correlation between stealer → fraud → social engineering
• Special attention to regional credential leaks

3. Targeted Ransomware

Although most ransomware groups operate globally, the impacts are often more severe depending on the region, primarily due to the economic specificities of the countries involved. Important observations:

• Opportunistic attacks against companies with low maturity
• Frequent use of access bought from Initial Access Brokers
• Focus on sectors such as health, logistics, education, and local governments

CTI should prioritize:

• Monitoring of forums where access to Latin American companies is sold
• Observation of leak panels with regional victims
• Correlation between global groups and local affiliates

4. Identity and Cloud Service Abuse

With the accelerated migration to SaaS, attacks involving:

• Valid credentials
• Misconfigured MFA
• Exposed cloud applications

have become increasingly common. In the region, this is aggravated by:

• Lack of control standardization
• Poorly integrated hybrid environments
• Low visibility into external access

Here, CTI needs to work with:

• SOC and identity management
• GRC and risk areas
• Security awareness teams

Predominant Actors and Profiles

Unlike more geopolitically targeted regions, Latin America is mainly targeted by:

• Financially motivated cybercrime
• Opportunistic groups and affiliates of ransomware gangs
• Local or regional actors with strong cultural adaptation

State-sponsored attacks exist but are usually linked to:

• Governments
• Critical infrastructure
• Telecommunications
• Research entities
• Defense companies

This completely changes the prioritization of threats for regional CTI.

The Role of Language

A critical—and often ignored—differentiating factor is language. Campaigns in Portuguese and Spanish are not always the main priority for companies that publish cybersecurity research, meaning that slang, regional terms, and local references can go unnoticed and escape filters trained with English content. CTI teams that do not monitor regionalized content lose important signals even in the attack preparation phase.

Structuring CTI with a Regional Focus

To produce truly useful intelligence in Brazil and Latin America, it is necessary to:

1. Know how to balance efforts between financially motivated threats and those operated by Nation-States
2. Monitor forums, channels, and marketplaces with regional activity
3. Track leaks and credentials linked to local domains
4. Integrate CTI with awareness, fraud, and customer service
5. Translate global intelligence for local impact

The goal is not to ignore the global scenario, but to filter what truly matters for the regional context.

How Resonant Helps You with This

Threats do not exist in a vacuum. They adapt to the environment, culture, and available opportunities. In Brazil and Latin America, the adversary speaks the local language, understands victim behavior, and exploits specific regional vulnerabilities. Resonant has a mature CTI team, native not only in the region’s languages but also proficient in detecting the subtleties and typical mannerisms of our continent. This helps your organization not only monitor global threats but also understand how they manifest in your regional context.