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February 6, 2024

Cyber Security Threat Trends of 2023: Analysis of the Last Six Months

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Feb 2024
Darktrace's comprehensive report on the threats faced by businesses examines the trends our Threat Research team saw across our customer fleet in the second half of 2023.

Darktrace Threat Report

Darktrace’s distinctive approach to threat analysis yields us a unique perspective on the threat landscape. In our End of Year Threat Report, we built on the work of our First 6: Half-Year Threat Report, sharing the insights we've garnered throughout the latter half of 2023.  

We have observed not only the continuing development and evolution of identified threats in the malware and ransomware spaces, but also changes brought about by the innovation of cyber security tools.  

Amid these challenges, the breadth, scope, and complexity of threats to organizations has grown, underscoring the importance of employing behavioral analysis, anomaly detection, and AI for cyber security.  

Threat Research Across the Customer Fleet

Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) and Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) together represent the majority of malicious tools across the cyber threat landscape and were the most consistently identified threats affecting Darktrace customers in the second half of 2023. These malicious tools have a variety of capabilities, with many including tailorable or bespoke elements alterable from campaign to campaign.  

Figure 1: The diagram represents Darktrace detections containing indicators of compromise (IoCs) that have been associated with particular MaaS and RaaS threats. The size of the bubble displayed relates to the frequency of detections observed across the Darktrace fleet.

The Darktrace Threat Research team found that within MaaS and RaaS offerings detected across the customer fleet, loader malware was the most observed threat category, accounting for 77% of all investigated threats.  

MaaS initial access offerings were often observed harvesting data, which could then be sold, and loading or enabling subsequent infections by second and third-stage payloads, resulting in more damaging malware attacks and even ransomware.

Similar to how the MaaS and RaaS tools were often customized in an attempt to land an attack, Darktrace observed the cross-functional adaptation of many other malware strains, such as remote access trojans (RATs) and information-stealing malware, along with existing tools like Cobalt Strike.  

The ability to remix known strains of malware can increase the difficulty of detection by combining kill chain elements and utilizing overlapping compromised infrastructure. Malware developers achieve this by using open-source repositories, leaked code, and multi-faceted tooling.

SOC Team Insights on Major Trends

The Darktrace Security Operations Center (SOC), which helps customers investigate threats, observed two significant trends in the second half of 2023.

1. Enhanced Defense Evasion Methods

Darktrace's SOC saw an increase in usage of a variety of defense evasion methods, such as the session cookie abuse to evade multi-factor authentication (MFA), the targeting of ESXi servers for ransomware encryption to evade host-based security measures, and the use of tunnelling services such as Cloudflare Tunnel to hide command-and-control (C2) infrastructure.  

Malicious actors' increased usage of these defense evasion methods is a probable result of prominence of endpoint solutions within the security industry.

2. Ransomware

Ransomware continued to be the most common compromise. Darktrace's SOC observed ransomware actors compromising Internet-facing servers, such as Exchange, Citrix Netscaler, Ivanti Sentry, Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts, VPN appliances, and Confluence, in order to gain entry to target networks. Once inside, ransomware actors abused Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools such as Splashtop, Atera, AnyDesk, and Action1, to gain access to target systems.  

A variety of ransomware strains were observed, with LockBit, ALPHV (i.e, BlackCat), Play, and Akira being the most common.

Top Critical Vulnerabilities

New critical vulnerabilities (CVEs), like Log4J and ProxyLogon, regularly enter the public domain within a short time of discovery, meaning the average time to exploitation is shorter than ever. As such, organizations must be able to promptly identify whether they are susceptible to new vulnerabilities and understand mitigation techniques.  

In the second half of 2023, there were five major vulnerabilities observed by Darktrace across its customer fleet, as determined by the number of affected assets.

1. CVE-2022-42889 is a critical vulnerability in the Apache Commons Text Library which has been compared to Log4Shell, albeit not as widespread. Apache Commons Text performs variable interpolation, allowing properties to be dynamically evaluated and expanded. Affected versions are vulnerable to remote code execution or unintentional exposure to remote servers if untrusted configuration values are used.

2. CVE-2023-25690 is a critical vulnerability which enables HTTP request smuggling attacks on Apache HTTP Server. If exploited, it could be used by an attacker to bypass access constraints in proxy servers, route undesired URLs to existing origin servers and perform cache poisoning.

3. Two critical vulnerabilities were observed in Git that would enable attackers to execute arbitrary code after successfully exploiting heap-based buffer overflow weaknesses. CVE-2022-41903 would allow an attacker to trigger a heap-based memory corruption during clone or pull operations, resulting in remote code execution, while CVE-2022-23521 could enable code execution during an archive operation, which is commonly performed by Git forges.

4. CVE-2023-2982 is an authentication bypass vulnerability disclosed in miniOrange's Social Login and Register plugin for WordPress that could enable a malicious actor to log in as any user, provided that they know the corresponding email address.

5. CVE-2023-46747 is a critical vulnerability rooted in the configuration of BIG-IP that could result in unauthenticated remote code execution. This vulnerability allows malicious actors to gain unauthorized access to networks through the management port and/or self-IP addresses to execute arbitrary system commands.

Stay Ahead of Threats with AI-Powered Cyber Security

After tracking threat trends across its customer fleet in the second half of 2023, Darktrace found that MaaS like loader malware, ransomware and especially RaaS, and enhanced defense evasion methods were top threats.  

As threats continue to evolve, it’s more important than ever to have cyber security tools that can detect and respond in real time, even when dealing with remixed and novel attacks.  

Darktrace’s approach to cyber security allows it to do just that. The Darktrace platform uses AI that learns from each organization’s specific data to understand ‘normal’ in order to recognize activity that is abnormal and indicative of a cyber-attack.  

As a result, Darktrace can detect and respond to attacks, including customized strains of malware and ransomware, even if they have been altered from previously known instances. Since it is powered by AI, Darktrace can take action within seconds.

Darktrace can also help organizations address new CVEs. Darktrace/Newsroom, a capability included with Darktrace’s attack surface management (ASM) tool, continuously monitors open-source intelligence (OSINT) sources for new CVEs and assesses each organization’s exposure through its in-depth knowledge of the unique external attack surface. It then presents a detailed summary of the vulnerability, highlighting the affected software and how many assets run this software on the customer’s network.

With AI that is trained on your organization’s data, Darktrace protects against the trending threats of today and the emerging threats of tomorrow.  

Learn more about the latest threat trends in the full report

Inside the SOC
Darktrace cyber analysts are world-class experts in threat intelligence, threat hunting and incident response, and provide 24/7 SOC support to thousands of Darktrace customers around the globe. Inside the SOC is exclusively authored by these experts, providing analysis of cyber incidents and threat trends, based on real-world experience in the field.
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The Darktrace Threat Research Team
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March 28, 2025

Darktrace Recognized as the Only Visionary in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for CPS Protection Platforms

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We are thrilled to announce that Darktrace has been named the only Visionary in the inaugural Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Protection Platforms. We feel This recognition highlights Darktrace’s AI-driven approach to securing industrial environments, where conventional security solutions struggle to keep pace with increasing cyber threats.

A milestone for CPS security

It's our opinion that the first-ever Gartner Magic Quadrant for CPS Protection Platforms reflects a growing industry shift toward purpose-built security solutions for critical infrastructure. As organizations integrate IT, OT, and cloud-connected systems, the cyber risk landscape continues to expand. Gartner evaluated 17 vendors based on their Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision, establishing a benchmark for security leaders looking to enhance cyber resilience in industrial environments.

We believe the Gartner recognition of Darktrace as the only Visionary reaffirms the platform’s ability to proactively defend against cyber risks through AI-driven anomaly detection, autonomous response, and risk-based security strategies. With increasingly sophisticated attacks targeting industrial control systems, organizations need a solution that continuously evolves to defend against both known and unknown threats.

AI-driven security for CPS environments

Securing CPS environments requires an approach that adapts to the dynamic nature of industrial operations. Traditional security tools rely on static signatures and predefined rules, leaving gaps in protection against novel and sophisticated threats. Darktrace / OT takes a different approach, leveraging Self-Learning AI to detect and neutralize threats in real time, even in air-gapped or highly regulated environments.

Darktrace / OT continuously analyzes network behaviors to establish a deep understanding of what is “normal” for each industrial environment. This enables it to autonomously identify deviations that signal potential cyber threats, providing early warning and proactive defense before attacks can disrupt operations. Unlike rule-based security models that require constant manual updates, Darktrace / OT improves with the environment, ensuring long-term resilience against emerging cyber risks.

Bridging the IT-OT security gap

A major challenge for organizations protecting CPS environments is the disconnect between IT and OT security. While IT security has traditionally focused on data

protection and compliance, OT security is driven by operational uptime and safety, leading to siloed security programs that leave critical gaps in visibility and response.

Darktrace / OT eliminates these silos by providing unified visibility across IT, OT, and IoT assets, ensuring that security teams have a complete picture of their attack surface. Its AI-driven approach enables cross-domain threat detection, recognizing risks that move laterally between IT and OT environments. By seamlessly integrating with existing security architectures, Darktrace / OT helps organizations close security gaps without disrupting industrial processes.

Proactive OT risk management and resilience

Beyond detection and response, Darktrace / OT strengthens organizations’ ability to manage cyber risk proactively. By mapping vulnerabilities to real-world attack paths, it prioritizes remediation actions based on actual exploitability and business impact, rather than relying on isolated CVE scores. This risk-based approach enables security teams to focus resources where they matter most, reducing overall exposure to cyber threats.

With autonomous threat response capabilities, Darktrace / OT not only identifies risks but also contains them in real time, preventing attackers from escalating intrusions. Whether mitigating ransomware, insider threats, or sophisticated nation-state attacks, Darktrace / OT ensures that industrial environments remain secure, operational, and resilient, no matter how threats evolve.

AI-powered incident response and SOC automation

Security teams are facing an overwhelming volume of alerts, making it difficult to prioritize threats and respond effectively. Darktrace / OT’s Cyber AI Analyst acts as a force multiplier for security teams by automating threat investigation, alert triage, and response actions. By mimicking the workflow of a human SOC analyst, Cyber AI Analyst provides contextual insights that accelerate incident response and reduce the manual workload on security teams.

With 24/7 autonomous monitoring, Darktrace / OT ensures that threats are continuously detected and investigated in real time. Whether facing ransomware, insider threats, or sophisticated nation-state attacks, organizations can rely on AI-driven security to contain threats before they disrupt operations.

Trusted by customers: Darktrace / OT recognized in Gartner Peer Insights

Source: Gartner Peer Insights (Oct 28th)

Beyond our recognition in the Gartner Magic Quadrant, we feel Darktrace / OT is one of the highest-rated CPS security solutions on Gartner Peer Insights, reflecting strong customer trust and validation. With a 4.9/5 overall rating and the highest "Willingness to Recommend" score among CPS vendors, organizations across critical infrastructure and industrial sectors recognize the impact of our AI-driven security approach. Source: Gartner Peer Insights (Oct 28th)

This strong customer endorsement underscores why leading enterprises trust Darktrace / OT to secure their CPS environments today and in the future.

Redefining the future of CPS security

It's our view that Darktrace’s recognition as the only Visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for CPS Protection Platforms validates its leadership in next-generation industrial security. As cyber threats targeting critical infrastructure continue to rise, organizations must adopt AI-driven security solutions that can adapt, respond, and mitigate risks in real time.

We believe this recognition reinforces our commitment to innovation and our mission to secure the world’s most essential systems. This recognition reinforces our commitment to innovation and our mission to secure the world’s most essential systems.

® Download the full Gartner Magic Quadrant for CPS Protection Platforms

® Request a demo to see Darktrace OT in action.

Gartner, Magic Quadrant for CPS Protection Platforms , Katell Thielemann, Wam Voster, Ruggero Contu 12 February 2025

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant and Peer Insights are a registered trademark, of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences with the vendors listed on the platform, should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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Pallavi Singh
Product Marketing Manager, OT Security & Compliance

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March 28, 2025

Survey Findings: AI Cybersecurity Priorities and Objectives in 2025

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AI is changing the cybersecurity field, both on the offensive and defensive sides. We surveyed over 1,500 cybersecurity professionals from around the world to uncover their attitudes, understanding, and priorities when it comes to AI cybersecurity in 2025. Our full report, unearthing some telling trends, is available now.  

Download the full report to explore these findings in depth

It is clear that security professionals know their field is changing fast, and that AI will continue to influence those changes. Our survey results show that they are aware that the rise of AI will require them to adopt new tools and learn to use them effectively. Still, they aren’t always certain about how to plan for the future, or what to invest in.

The top priorities of security stakeholders for improving their defenses against AI-powered threats include augmenting their existing tool stacks with AI-powered solutions and improving integration among their security tools.

Figure 1: Year-over-year changes to the priorities of securitystakeholders.

Increasing cybersecurity staff

As was also the case last year, security stakeholders are less interested in hiring additional staff than in adding new AI-powered tools onto their existing security stacks, with only with 11% (and only 8% of executives) planning to increase cybersecurity staff in 2025.

This suggests that leaders are looking for new methods to overcome talent resource shortages.

Adding AI-powered security tools to supplement existing solutions

Executives are particularly enthusiastic about adopting AI-driven tools. Within that goal, there is consensus about the qualities cyber professionals are looking for when purchasing new security capabilities or replacing existing products.

  • 87% of survey respondents prefer solutions that are part of a broader platform over individual point products

These results are similar to last year’s, where again, almost nine out of ten agreed that a platform-oriented security solution was more effective at stopping cyber threats than a collection of individual products.

  • 88% of survey respondents agree that the use of AI within the security stack is critical to freeing up time for security teams to become more proactive, compared to reactive

AI itself can contribute to this shift from reactive to proactive security, improving risk prioritization and automating preventative strategies like Attack Surface Management (ASM) and proactive exposure management.

  • 84% of survey respondents prefer defensive AI solutions that do not require the organization’s data to be shared externally

This preference may reflect increasing attention to the data privacy and security risks posed by generative AI (gen AI) adoption. It may also reflect growing awareness of data residency requirements and other restrictions that regulators are imposing.

Improving cybersecurity awareness training for end users

Based on the survey results, practitioners in SecOps are more interested in improving security awareness training.

This goal is not necessarily mutually exclusive from the addition of AI tools. For example, teams can leverage AI to build more effective security awareness training programs, and as gen AI tools are adopted, users will need to be taught about data privacy and associated security risks.

Looking towards the future

One conclusion we can draw from the attitudinal shifts from last year’s survey to this year’s: while hiring more security staff might be a nice-to-have, implementing AI-powered tools so that existing employees can work smarter is increasingly viewed as a must-have.

However, trending goals are not just about managing resources, whether headcount or AI investments, to keep up with workloads. Existing end users must also be trained to follow safe practices while using established and newly adopted tools.

Security professionals, including executives, SecOps, and every role in between, continue to shift their identified challenges and priorities as they gear up for the coming year in the Era of AI.

State of AI report

Download the full report to explore these findings in depth

The full report for Darktrace’s State of AI Cybersecurity is out now. Download the paper to dig deeper into these trends, and see how results differ by industry, region, organization size, and job title.  

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