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February 2, 2022

Why AAA Washington Chose Autonomous Response

Learn how AAA Washington improved cybersecurity with an autonomous response. Explore the reasons and benefits behind this strategic decision.
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.
Written by
Ron Nichols
Senior Information Security Analyst at AAA Washington (Guest Contributor)
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02
Feb 2022

AAA Washington is best known for its emergency road service, but operates in a broader range of areas including insurance and travel. Our priorities from a security side are two-fold: making sure we are adequately prepared to defend against advanced and pertinent threats like ransomware, and protecting the sensitive data of our employees and our members.

About two years ago, we hit a fork in the road. Our information security team was conscious that we had a gap in real-time monitoring, and in particular, 24/7 response. It wasn’t that we didn’t already have tools in place, or that we weren’t shipping logs, we just didn’t have a 24/7 protocol. So if an attack were to come in at 3am, for example, we weren’t confident enough in our ability to take immediate action to contain the threat.

So we looked at two options. It was our Matrix ‘red pill or blue pill’ moment: a choice between the willingness to learn a life-changing truth by taking the red pill, or taking the blue pill and opting for the more traditional path.

For us, that blue pill – and what many recommended at the time – was the option of consulting an external 24/7 Security Operations Center. We knew this would solve our problem, but it also had a lot of drawbacks, mainly around time consumption: you have to get a service-level agreement (SLA) in place, set up SNMP traps, ship logs over to the SOC, who are then tasked with untangling those logs. You know that the SOC is then looking at AAA Washington’s environment along with hundreds of others. You’ve got to develop a relationship with the SOC technician who doesn’t know the nuances of your environment or your business logic…

So understandably there was a level of reluctance there.

And then we had the red pill, which for us, was Darktrace, offering AI technology that could learn our environment all by itself, and respond autonomously to emerging attacks. No steep learning curve, no ongoing maintenance.

We had to try it. Cloud deployments are available but even for our on-prem arrangement, the trial process was a no-brainer: we got the box, plugged it in, and we were off and going. If we didn’t like it, all we had to do was unplug it and ship it back.

The visibility Darktrace gave us was immediately apparent, and in that first week it alerted us to the fact that every other night, 1GB of outbound traffic was going to an East Coast data center from our back-up appliance. We thought we knew what was going on in our digital enterprise, but we had no idea – Darktrace providing that knowledge and filling those gaps showed us that this was heading exactly in the direction we wanted.

Autonomous Response

So full marks for visibility and anomaly detection, but what about that response capability that led us to consider Darktrace in the first place? We were keen to see what actions Antigena would recommend and assess their accuracy and severity.

Being naturally risk-averse at AAA Washington, we initially set Antigena up in human confirmation mode, meaning an operator had to give the green light before it took action. It took about two weeks for it to learn the nuances of our digital environment, and it wasn’t long before we found its actions were extremely accurate, and minimally disruptive.

It never took drastic action like quarantining a device, it simply stopped what we needed it to. It played a significant role in protecting us in the wake of some high-profile attacks, including the SUNBURST attacks and the more recent Log4shell vulnerability.

Adapting to a hybrid cloud strategy

In the two years since deploying Darktrace, we have made significant changes to our digital infrastructure – including, like so many others, migrating to the cloud. I wondered whether we would lose the visibility and protection we got from Darktrace when this happened.

But with its dedicated SaaS Modules for Microsoft 365 and others, Darktrace had this covered. It’s been able to shed a light on malicious activity occurring across our full Microsoft 365 product suite.

We can see things like unusual email forwarding rules that indicate an account takeover. With other tools, it takes six to eight clicks to find that information. The information is available, but accessing that data is a complex and convoluted process. Darktrace delivers that holy grail of having a single pane of glass view in a security tool. Having that detailed one stop view means reducing mean time to understanding, and mean time to response.

Self-Learning AI on the endpoint

And when large-scale remote working came about, Darktrace again brought visibility and Autonomous Response to cover our endpoint devices, protecting them from threats like ransomware that would go undetected from network coverage alone. The ability to stop these threats at the first hurdle, before they spread and infected other devices, was crucial for us.

It was another case of Darktrace adapting, and another reason I’m confident about working with Darktrace as a long-term partner: every time I think Darktrace is going to not be as relevant, these new developments bring us up to speed.

Keeping the show on the road

Darktrace has done exactly what we wanted to do by filling that gap we had in 24/7 response. But it has gone further by proving that time and time again, it can adapt as our digital infrastructure changes and grows, and can cover our employees wherever they work.

The technology presents us with all the information we need in a single pane of glass with the Threat Visualizer. With the Mobile App, I can get notifications of high-priority alerts and Darktrace’s autonomous actions, wherever I am. And when there’s a serious incident, there is always someone available to offer support and get me what I need to know, fast.

Taking that red pill all those months ago was one of the best decisions I’ve made as an IT security professional. Whatever challenges are down the road, I’m confident Darktrace will be there to meet them.

Hear from more Darktrace customers

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.
Written by
Ron Nichols
Senior Information Security Analyst at AAA Washington (Guest Contributor)

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May 8, 2025

Anomaly-based threat hunting: Darktrace's approach in action

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What is threat hunting?

Threat hunting in cybersecurity involves proactively and iteratively searching through networks and datasets to detect threats that evade existing automated security solutions. It is an important component of a strong cybersecurity posture.

There are several frameworks that Darktrace analysts use to guide how threat hunting is carried out, some of which are:

  • MITRE Attack
  • Tactics, Techniques, Procedures (TTPs)
  • Diamond Model for Intrusion Analysis
  • Adversary, Infrastructure, Victims, Capabilities
  • Threat Hunt Model – Six Steps
  • Purpose, Scope, Equip, Plan, Execute, Feedback
  • Pyramid of Pain

These frameworks are important in baselining how to run a threat hunt. There are also a combination of different methods that allow defenders diversity– regardless of whether it is a proactive or reactive threat hunt. Some of these are:

  • Hypothesis-based threat hunting
  • Analytics-driven threat hunting
  • Automated/machine learning hunting
  • Indicator of Compromise (IoC) hunting
  • Victim-based threat hunting

Threat hunting with Darktrace

At its core, Darktrace relies on anomaly-based detection methods. It combines various machine learning types that allows it to characterize what constitutes ‘normal’, based on the analysis of many different measures of a device or actor’s behavior. Those types of learning are then curated into what are called models.

Darktrace models leverage anomaly detection and integrate outputs from Darktrace Deep Packet Inspection, telemetry inputs, and additional modules, creating tailored activity detection.

This dynamic understanding allows Darktrace to identify, with a high degree of precision, events or behaviors that are both anomalous and unlikely to be benign.  On top of machine learning models for detection, there is also the ability to change and create models showcasing the tool’s diversity. The Model Editor allows security teams to specify values, priorities, thresholds, and actions they want to detect. That means a team can create custom detection models based on specific use cases or business requirements. Teams can also increase the priority of existing detections based on their own risk assessments to their environment.

This level of dexterity is particularly useful when conducting a threat hunt. As described above, and in previous ‘Inside the SOC’ blogs such a threat hunt can be on a specific threat actor, specific sector, or a  hypothesis-based threat hunt combined with ‘experimenting’ with some of Darktrace’s models.

Conducting a threat hunt in the energy sector with experimental models

In Darktrace’s recent Threat Research report “AI & Cybersecurity: The state of cyber in UK and US energy sectors” Darktrace’s Threat Research team crafted hypothesis-driven threat hunts, building experimental models and investigating existing models to test them and detect malicious activity across Darktrace customers in the energy sector.

For one of the hunts, which hypothesised utilization of PerfectData software and multi-factor authentication (MFA) bypass to compromise user accounts and destruct data, an experimental model was created to detect a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) user performing activity relating to 'PerfectData Software’, known to allow a threat actor to exfiltrate whole mailboxes as a PST file. Experimental model alerts caused by this anomalous activity were analyzed, in conjunction with existing SaaS and email-related models that would indicate a multi-stage attack in line with the hypothesis.

Whilst hunting, Darktrace researchers found multiple model alerts for this experimental model associated with PerfectData software usage, within energy sector customers, including an oil and gas investment company, as well as other sectors. Upon further investigation, it was also found that in June 2024, a malicious actor had targeted a renewable energy infrastructure provider via a PerfectData Software attack and demonstrated intent to conduct an Operational Technology (OT) attack.

The actor logged into Azure AD from a rare US IP address. They then granted Consent to ‘eM Client’ from the same IP. Shortly after, the actor granted ‘AddServicePrincipal’ via Azure to PerfectData Software. Two days later, the actor created a  new email rule from a London IP to move emails to an RSS Feed Folder, stop processing rules, and mark emails as read. They then accessed mail items in the “\Sent” folder from a malicious IP belonging to anonymization network,  Private Internet Access Virtual Private Network (PIA VPN) [1]. The actor then conducted mass email deletions, deleting multiple instances of emails with subject “[Name] shared "[Company Name] Proposal" With You” from the  “\Sent folder”. The emails’ subject suggests the email likely contains a link to file storage for phishing purposes. The mass deletion likely represented an attempt to obfuscate a potential outbound phishing email campaign.

The Darktrace Model Alert that triggered for the mass deletes of the likely phishing email containing a file storage link.
Figure 1: The Darktrace Model Alert that triggered for the mass deletes of the likely phishing email containing a file storage link.

A month later, the same user was observed downloading mass mLog CSV files related to proprietary and Operational Technology information. In September, three months after the initial attack, another mass download of operational files occurred by this actor, pertaining to operating instructions and measurements, The observed patience and specific file downloads seemingly demonstrated an intent to conduct or research possible OT attack vectors. An attack on OT could have significant impacts including operational downtime, reputational damage, and harm to everyday operations. Darktrace alerted the impacted customer once findings were verified, and subsequent actions were taken by the internal security team to prevent further malicious activity.

Conclusion

Harnessing the power of different tools in a security stack is a key element to cyber defense. The above hypothesis-based threat hunt and custom demonstrated intent to conduct an experimental model creation demonstrates different threat hunting approaches, how Darktrace’s approach can be operationalized, and that proactive threat hunting can be a valuable complement to traditional security controls and is essential for organizations facing increasingly complex threat landscapes.

Credit to Nathaniel Jones (VP, Security & AI Strategy, Field CISO at Darktrace) and Zoe Tilsiter (EMEA Consultancy Lead)

References

  1. https://spur.us/context/191.96.106.219

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About the author
Nathaniel Jones
VP, Security & AI Strategy, Field CISO

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May 6, 2025

Combatting the Top Three Sources of Risk in the Cloud

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With cloud computing, organizations are storing data like intellectual property, trade secrets, Personally Identifiable Information (PII), proprietary code and statistics, and other sensitive information in the cloud. If this data were to be accessed by malicious actors, it could incur financial loss, reputational damage, legal liabilities, and business disruption.

Last year data breaches in solely public cloud deployments were the most expensive type of data breach, with an average of $5.17 million USD, a 13.1% increase from the year before.

So, as cloud usage continues to grow, the teams in charge of protecting these deployments must understand the associated cybersecurity risks.

What are cloud risks?

Cloud threats come in many forms, with one of the key types consisting of cloud risks. These arise from challenges in implementing and maintaining cloud infrastructure, which can expose the organization to potential damage, loss, and attacks.

There are three major types of cloud risks:

1. Misconfigurations

As organizations struggle with complex cloud environments, misconfiguration is one of the leading causes of cloud security incidents. These risks occur when cloud settings leave gaps between cloud security solutions and expose data and services to unauthorized access. If discovered by a threat actor, a misconfiguration can be exploited to allow infiltration, lateral movement, escalation, and damage.

With the scale and dynamism of cloud infrastructure and the complexity of hybrid and multi-cloud deployments, security teams face a major challenge in exerting the required visibility and control to identify misconfigurations before they are exploited.

Common causes of misconfiguration come from skill shortages, outdated practices, and manual workflows. For example, potential misconfigurations can occur around firewall zones, isolated file systems, and mount systems, which all require specialized skill to set up and diligent monitoring to maintain

2. Identity and Access Management (IAM) failures

IAM has only increased in importance with the rise of cloud computing and remote working. It allows security teams to control which users can and cannot access sensitive data, applications, and other resources.

Cybersecurity professionals ranked IAM skills as the second most important security skill to have, just behind general cloud and application security.

There are four parts to IAM: authentication, authorization, administration, and auditing and reporting. Within these, there are a lot of subcomponents as well, including but not limited to Single Sign-On (SSO), Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).

Security teams are faced with the challenge of allowing enough access for employees, contractors, vendors, and partners to complete their jobs while restricting enough to maintain security. They may struggle to track what users are doing across the cloud, apps, and on-premises servers.

When IAM is misconfigured, it increases the attack surface and can leave accounts with access to resources they do not need to perform their intended roles. This type of risk creates the possibility for threat actors or compromised accounts to gain access to sensitive company data and escalate privileges in cloud environments. It can also allow malicious insiders and users who accidentally violate data protection regulations to cause greater damage.

3. Cross-domain threats

The complexity of hybrid and cloud environments can be exploited by attacks that cross multiple domains, such as traditional network environments, identity systems, SaaS platforms, and cloud environments. These attacks are difficult to detect and mitigate, especially when a security posture is siloed or fragmented.  

Some attack types inherently involve multiple domains, like lateral movement and supply chain attacks, which target both on-premises and cloud networks.  

Challenges in securing against cross-domain threats often come from a lack of unified visibility. If a security team does not have unified visibility across the organization’s domains, gaps between various infrastructures and the teams that manage them can leave organizations vulnerable.

Adopting AI cybersecurity tools to reduce cloud risk

For security teams to defend against misconfigurations, IAM failures, and insecure APIs, they require a combination of enhanced visibility into cloud assets and architectures, better automation, and more advanced analytics. These capabilities can be achieved with AI-powered cybersecurity tools.

Such tools use AI and automation to help teams maintain a clear view of all their assets and activities and consistently enforce security policies.

Darktrace / CLOUD is a Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) solution that makes cloud security accessible to all security teams and SOCs by using AI to identify and correct misconfigurations and other cloud risks in public, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments.

It provides real-time, dynamic architectural modeling, which gives SecOps and DevOps teams a unified view of cloud infrastructures to enhance collaboration and reveal possible misconfigurations and other cloud risks. It continuously evaluates architecture changes and monitors real-time activity, providing audit-ready traceability and proactive risk management.

Real-time visibility into cloud assets and architectures built from network, configuration, and identity and access roles. In this unified view, Darktrace / CLOUD reveals possible misconfigurations and risk paths.
Figure 1: Real-time visibility into cloud assets and architectures built from network, configuration, and identity and access roles. In this unified view, Darktrace / CLOUD reveals possible misconfigurations and risk paths.

Darktrace / CLOUD also offers attack path modeling for the cloud. It can identify exposed assets and highlight internal attack paths to get a dynamic view of the riskiest paths across cloud environments, network environments, and between – enabling security teams to prioritize based on unique business risk and address gaps to prevent future attacks.  

Darktrace’s Self-Learning AI ensures continuous cloud resilience, helping teams move from reactive to proactive defense.

[related-resource]

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About the author
Pallavi Singh
Product Marketing Manager, OT Security & Compliance
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