Blog
/
/
July 27, 2023

Revealing Outlaw's Returning Features & New Tactics

Default blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog image
27
Jul 2023
Darktrace's investigation of the latest Outlaw crypto-mining operation, covering the resurgence of old tactics along with the emergence of new ones.

What is Outlaw Cryptocurrency Mining Operation?

The cybersecurity community has been aware of the threat of Outlaw cryptocurrency mining operation, and its affiliated activities since as early as 2018. Despite its prominence, Outlaw remains largely elusive to researchers and analysts due to its ability to adapt its tactics, procedures, and payloads.

Outlaw gained notoriety in 2018 as security researchers began observing the creation of affiliated botnets.[1][2]  Researchers gave Outlaw  its name based on the English translation of the “Haiduc” tool observed during their initial activity on compromised devices.[3],[4] By 2019, much of the initial Outlaw activity  focused on the targeting of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other internet facing servers, reportedly focusing operations in China and on Chinese devices.[5],[6]  From the outset, mining operations featured as a core element of botnets created by the group.[7] This initial focus may have been a sign of caution by threat actors or a preliminary means of testing procedures and operation efficacy. Regardless, Outlaw actors inevitably expanded scope, targeting larger organizations and a wider range of internet facing devices across geographic scope.

Following a short period of inactivity, security researchers began to observe new Outlaw activity, showcasing additional capabilities such as the ability to kill existing crypto-mining processes on devices, thereby reclaiming devices already compromised by crypto-jacking. [8],[9]

Latest News on Outlaw

Although the more recently observed incidents of Outlaw did demonstrate some new tactics, many of its procedures remained the same, including its unique bundling of payloads that combine crypto-mining and botnet capabilities. [10] In conjunction, the continued use of mining-specific payloads and growth of affiliated botnets has bolstered the belief that Outlaw actors historically prioritizes financial gain, in lieu of overt political objectives.

Given the tendency for malicious actors to share tools and capabilities, true attribution of threat or threat group is extremely difficult in the wild. As such, a genuine survey of activity from the group across a customer base has not always been possible. Therefore, we will present an updated look into more recent activity associated with Outlaw detected across the Darktrace customer base.  

Darktrace vs Outlaw

Since late 2022, Darktrace has observed a rise in probable cyber incidents involving indicators of compromise (IoCs) associated with Outlaw. Given its continued prevalence and relative dearth of information, it is essential to take a renewed look at the latest campaign activity associated with threats like Outlaw to avoid making erroneous assumptions and to ensure the threat posed is correctly characterized.

While being aware of previous IoCs and tactics known to be employed in previous campaigns will go some way to protecting against future Outlaw attacks, it is paramount for organizations to arm themselves with an autonomous intelligent decision maker that can identify malicious activity, based on recognizing deviations from expected patterns of behavior, and take preventative action to effectively defend against such a versatile threat.

Darktrace’s anomaly-based approach to threat detection means it is uniquely positioned to detect novel campaign activity by recognizing subtle deviations in affected devices’ behavior that would have gone unnoticed by traditional security tools relying on rules, signatures and known IoCs.

Outlaw Attack Overview & Darktrace Coverage

From late 2022 through early 2023, Darktrace identified multiple cyber events involving IP addresses, domains, and payloads associated with Outlaw on customer networks. In this recent re-emergence of campaign activity, Darktrace identified numerous attack vectors and IoCs that had previously been associated with Outlaw, however it also observed significant deviations from previous campaigns.

Returning Features

As outlined in a previous blog, past iterations of Outlaw compromises include four identified, distinct phases:

1. Targeting of internet facing devices via SSH brute-forcing

2. Initiation of crypto-mining operations

3. Download of shell script and/or botnet malware payloads

4. Outgoing external SSH scanning to propagate the botnet

Nearly all affected devices analyzed by Darktrace were tagged as internet facing, as identified in previous campaigns, supporting the notion that Outlaw continues to focus on easily exposed devices. In addition to this, Darktrace observed three other core returning features from previous Outlaw campaigns in affected devices between late 2022 and early 2023:

1. Gzip and/or Script Download

2. Beaconing Activity (Command and Control)

3. Crypto-mining

Gzip and/or Script Download

Darktrace observed numerous devices downloading the Dota malware, a strain that is previously known to have been associated with the Outlaw botnet, as either a gzip file or a shell script from rare external hosts.

In some examples, IP addresses that provided the payload were flagged by open-source intelligence (OSINT) sources as having engaged in widespread SSH brute-forcing activities. While the timing of the payload transfer to the device was not consistent, download of gzip files featured prominently during directly observed or potentially affiliated activity. Moreover, Darktrace detected multiple devices performing HTTP requests for shell scripts (.sh) according to detected connection URIs. Darktrace DETECT was able to identify these anomalous connections due to the rarity of the endpoint, payloads, and connectivity for the devices.

Figure 1: Darktrace Cyber AI Analyst technical details summary from an incident during the analysis timeframe that highlights a breach device retrieving the anomalous shell scripts using wget.

Beaconing Activity – Command and Control (C2) Endpoint

Across all Outlaw activity identified by Darktrace, devices engaged in some form of beaconing behavior, rather than one-off connections to IPs associated with Outlaw. While the use of application protocol was not uniform, repeated connectivity to rare external IP addresses related to Outlaw occurred across many analyzed incidents. Darktrace’s Self-Learning AI understood that this beaconing activity represented devices deviating from their expected patterns of life and was able to bring it to the immediate attention of customer security teams.

Figure 2: Model breach log details showing sustained, repeated connectivity to Outlaw affiliated endpoint over port 443, indicating potential C2 activity.

Crypto-mining

In almost every incident of Outlaw identified across the fleet, Darktrace detected some form of cryptocurrency mining activity. Devices affected by Outlaw were consistently observed making anomalous connections to external endpoints associated with crypto-mining operations. Furthermore, the Minergate protocol appeared consistently across hosts; even when devices did not make direct crypto-mining commands, such hosts attempted connections to external entities that were known to support crypto-mining operations.

Figure 3: Advanced Search results showing a sudden spike in mining activity from a device observed connecting to Outlaw-affiliated IP addresses. Such crypto-mining activity was observed consistently across analyzed incidents.

Is Outlaw Using New Tactics?

While in the past, Outlaw activity was identified through a systematic kill chain, recent investigations conducted by Darktrace show significant deviations from this.

For instance, affected devices do not necessarily follow the previously outlined kill chain directly as they did previously. Instead, Darktrace observed affected devices exhibiting these phases in differing orders, repeating steps, or missing out attack phases entirely.

It is essential to study such variation in the kill chain to learn more about the threat of Outlaw and how threat actors are continuing to use it is varying ways. These discrepancies in kill chain elements are likely impacted by visibility into the networks and devices of Darktrace customers, with some relevant activity falling outside of Darktrace’s purview. This is particularly true for internet-exposed devices and hosts that repeatedly performed the same anomalous activity (such as making Minergate requests). Moreover, some devices involved in Outlaw activity may have already been compromised prior to Darktrace’s visibility into the network. As such, these conclusions must be evaluated with a degree of uncertainty.

SSH Activity

Although external SSH connectivity was apparent in some of the incidents detected by Darktrace, it was not directly related to brute-forcing activity. Affected devices did receive anomalous incoming SSH connections, however, wide ranging SSH failed connectivity following the initiation of mining operations by compromised devices was not readily apparent across analyzed compromises. Connections over port 22 were more frequently associated with beaconing and/or C2 activity to endpoints associated with Outlaw, than with potential brute-forcing. As such, Darktrace could not, with high confidence correlate such SSH activity to brute-forcing. This could suggest that threat actors are now portioning or rotation of botnet devices for different operations, for example dividing between botnet expansion and mining operations.

Command line tools

In cases of Outlaw investigated by Darktrace, there was also a degree of variability involving the tools used to retrieve payloads. On the networks of customers affected by Outlaw, Darktrace DETECT identified the use of user agents and command line tools that it considered to be out of character for the network and its devices.

When retrieving the Dota malware payload or shell script data, compromised devices frequently relied on numerous versions of wget and curl user agents. Although the use of such tools as a tactic cannot be definitively linked to the crypto-mining campaign, the employment of varying and/or outdated native command line tools attests to the procedural flexibility of Outlaw campaigns, and its potential for continued evolution.

Figure 4: Breach log data showing use of curl and wget tools to connect to IP addresses associated with Outlaw.

Outlaw in 2023

Given Outlaw’s widespread notoriety and its continued activities, it is likely to remain a prominent threat to organizations and security teams across the threat landscape in 2023 and beyond.

As Darktrace has observed within its customer base from late 2022 through early 2023, activity linked with the Outlaw cryptocurrency mining campaign continues to transpire, offering security teams and research a renewed look at how it has evolved and adapted over the years. While many of its features and tactics appear to have remained consistent, Darktrace has identified numerous signs of Outlaw deviating from its previously known activities.

While relying on previously established IoCs and known tactics from previous campaigns will go some way to protecting an organization’s network from Outlaw compromises, there is a greater need than ever to go further than this. Rather than depending on a list of known-bads or traditional signatures and rules, Darktrace’s anomaly-based approach to threat detection and unparallel autonomous response capabilities mean it is uniquely positioned to DETECT and RESPOND to Outlaw activity, regardless of how it evolves in the future.

Credit to: Adam Potter, Cyber Analyst, Nahisha Nobregas, SOC Analyst, and Ryan Traill, Threat Content Lead

Relevant DETECT Model Breaches:

Compliance / Incoming SSH  

Device / New User Agent and New IP

Device / New User Agent  

Anomalous Connection / New User Agent to IP Without Hostname  

Compromise / Crypto Currency Mining Activity  

Anomalous File / Internet Facing System File Download  

Anomalous Server Activity / New User Agent from Internet Facing System  

Anomalous File / Zip or Gzip from Rare External Location  

Anomalous File / Script from Rare External Location  

Anomalous Connection / Multiple Failed Connections to Rare Endpoint  

Compromise / Large Number of Suspicious Failed Connections  

Anomalous Server Activity / Outgoing from Server  

Compromise / Sustained TCP Beaconing Activity To Rare Endpoint

Indicators of Compromise

Indicator - Type - Description

/dota3.tar.gz​

File  URI​

Outlaw  payload​

/tddwrt7s.sh​

File  URI​

Outlaw  payload​

73e5dbafa25946ed636e68d1733281e63332441d​

SHA1  Hash​

Outlaw  payload​

debian-package[.]center​

Hostname​

Outlaw  C2 endpoint​

161.35.236[.]24​

IP  address​

Outlaw  C2 endpoint​

138.68.115[.]96​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

67.205.134[.]224​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

138.197.212[.]204​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

45.9.148[.]59 ​

IP  address​

Possible  Outlaw C2 endpoint​

45.9.148[.]117​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

45.9.148[.]125​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

45.9.148[.]129​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

45.9.148[.]99 ​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

45.9.148[.]234​

IP  address​

Possible  Outlaw C2 endpoint​

45.9.148[.]236​

IP  address​

Possible  Outlaw C2 endpoint​

159.203.102[.]122​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

159.203.85[.]196​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

159.223.235[.]198​

IP  address​

Outlaw C2  endpoint​

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

Tactic -Technique

Initial Access -T1190  Exploit - Public Facing Application

Command and Control - T1071 - Application - Layer Protocol

T1071.001 - Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols

Impact - T1496 Resource Hijacking

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.
Author
Adam Potter
Senior Cyber Analyst
Book a 1-1 meeting with one of our experts
Share this article

More in this series

No items found.

Blog

/

Cloud

/

April 8, 2025

Cloud Security Evolution: Why Security Teams Are Taking the Lead

person on computer cybersecurityDefault blog imageDefault blog image

Cloud adoption is rapidly on the rise. Gartner estimates that 90% of organizations will adopt hybrid clouds through 2027 [1].  

There are many reasons why organizations are migrating on-premises infrastructure to the cloud. It can increase the speed and scale of computing resources, improve reliability and resilience, and save time by outsourcing the spinning up, patching, and updating of infrastructure.  

However, despite these benefits, it is complex to secure. Public clouds operate with a shared responsibility model, meaning that while the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) maintains the physical infrastructure and services, customer organizations are responsible for their own security and compliance in their cloud deployments.  

This customer responsibility is crucial. Gartner forecasted that through 2025, 99% of cloud security failures would be the customer’s fault [2]. As cloud environments grow, security teams are taking on a greater share of the responsibility to protect these assets.

The many teams involved in cloud security

Several teams work across the cloud, and all of them can contribute to cloud security. For example, basic cyber-hygiene and Identity and Access Management (IAM) should be practiced across teams.  

Not every organization has the same categorization of teams, but some common ones include:

  • Security: assessing and mitigating vulnerabilities, risks, and threats. This team must be ready to identify, investigate, respond, and recover from incidents.
  • Infrastructure and ITOps: deploying and maintaining resources. Security must be considered across all layers of the cloud, including gateways, identity, encryption, and attack surface.
  • Research & development: building cloud-based applications. Security must be baked into code, referenced data, access, APIs, and third-party integrations.
  • DevOps: improving the software development process. Security must be applied to code across the development and production stages.
  • Compliance: adhering to industry standards and frameworks. Security often comes up in compliance regulations.  
  • End users: working in the cloud. Security must be taught through employee training sessions to adopt best practices and increase resistance against threats like phishing or data loss.

Traditionally, many organizations left cloud security to dedicated cloud teams. However, it is becoming more and more common for security teams to take on the responsibilities of securing the cloud. This is also true of organizations undergoing cloud migration and spinning up cloud infrastructure for the first time.

The complexity of cloud security

Most organizations using the cloud today have hybrid and/or multi-cloud deployments. Hybrid deployments combine public and private cloud environments and multi-cloud deployments use a combination of public cloud providers or regions where servers are stored. In fact, Deloitte reports that as many as 85% of businesses, a vast majority, use two or more cloud platforms, and 25% use at least five [3].

While these diverse deployments can boost resiliency, they also complicate security. Multiple environments increase the attack surface and reduce architectural visibility, making misconfigurations, unmanaged access, and inconsistent policies more likely. This complexity creates gaps in security that often require  specialized teams and expert personnel to address.  

Challenges driving security teams’ responsibility

The usual approaches to other types of cybersecurity can’t be applied the exact same way to the cloud. With the inherent dynamism and flexibility of the cloud, the necessary security mindset differs greatly from those for networks or data centers, with which security teams may be more familiar.

For example, IAM is both critical and distinct to cloud computing, and the associated policies, rules, and downstream impacts require intentional care. IAM rules not only govern people, but also non-human entities like service accounts, API keys, and OAuth tokens. These considerations are unique to cloud security, and established teams may need to learn new skills to reduce security gaps in the cloud.

Additionally, there are greater compliance pressures from GDPR, CCPA, and industry-specific regulations. While some companies have dedicated compliance teams, not every organization does and others are not always familiar with working in cloud environments. In these cases, responsibilities may fall to the security team.  

Finally, there has been a rise in sophisticated, cloud-based threats, such as account takeovers and misconfigurations. Preparing, responding to, and recovering from these cloud-specific threats lie with the security team as well.  

Learn more about the top risks and attacks faced in the cloud in the white paper: “Tackling the 11 Biggest Cloud Threats with AI-Powered Defense.

Solutions empowering security teams

The leading role of security teams in cloud security can put a strain on existing resources as well as exacerbate skills gaps. In response, security teams can turn to AI-powered tools like Darktrace / CLOUD to provide real-time detection and response in cloud environments.  

Darktrace uses multi-layered AI to learn normal ‘patterns of life’ for all users, technologies, and resources across the organization, enabling it to recognize the subtlest anomalies that point to an emerging threat.  

The use of AI allows for automation that reduces manual workloads and saves teams time. The self-learning capabilities also help the human team detect subtle indicators that can be hard to spot amid the immense noise of legitimate, day-to-day digital interactions.

With these, Darktrace can respond to both known and novel threats, helping security teams keep pace with today’s sophisticated threats, even if team members feel less confident in cloud environments.  

Crucially, Darktrace / CLOUD can enable proactive risk management as well. Attack Path Modeling for the cloud identifies exposed assets and highlights internal attack paths to give 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 / CLOUD dynamically adjusts its focus based on evolving risks, analyzing misconfigurations, and anomalous activity to prevent potential attacks. Its Entitlement Enumeration capability helps security teams gain visibility into all identities, roles, and permissions, allowing dynamic adjustments to stop insider threats and lateral movement.

In these ways, the AI-powered Darktrace / CLOUD can support security teams as they take on the lion’s share of responsibility in securing the cloud, regardless of any resource limitations or skills gaps.

Conclusion

Cloud security is both vital under the shared responsibility model and complex with hybrid and multi-cloud deployments and strict regulatory demands. While many teams contribute to cloud security, more and more responsibilities are shifting to security teams specifically.

AI-powered solutions that can detect and respond to threats spanning a wide range of risks and attack types can support security teams as they protect dynamic cloud environments. By adopting real-time cloud detection and response tools, security teams have more time to dedicate to proactive projects and high-level tasks as well as reduced burden on less specialized team members.  

Discover how advanced AI solutions like Darktrace / CLOUD can address evolving cloud security needs in the solution brief.  

Read more about the latest trends in cloud security in the blog “Protecting Your Hybrid Cloud: The Future of Cloud Security in 2025 and Beyond.”

References:

1. Gartner, November 19, 2024, “Cloud End-User Spending to Total $723 Billion in 2025”  

2. Gartner, October 10, 2019, “Is the Cloud Secure?

3. Deloitte, December 6, 2022, “Above the clouds: Taming multicloud chaos”  

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

Blog

/

OT

/

April 4, 2025

Darktrace Named as Market Leader in the 2025 Omdia Market Radar for OT Cybersecurity Platforms

Default blog imageDefault blog image

We are pleased to announce that Darktrace / OT has been named a Market Leader in Omdia’s  2025 Market Radar for OT Cybersecurity Platforms. We believe this highlights our unique capabilities in the OT security market and follows similar recognition from Gartner who recently named Darktrace / OT as the sole Visionary in in the Magic Quadrant for Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) Protection Platforms market.

Historically, IT and OT systems have been managed separately, creating challenges due to the differences of priorities between the two domains. While both value availability, IT emphasizes confidentiality and integrity whereas OT focuses on safety and reliability. Organizations are increasingly converging these systems to reap the benefits of automation, efficiency, and productivity (1).

Omdia’s research highlights that decision makers are increasingly prioritizing comprehensive security coverage, centralized management, and advanced cybersecurity capabilities when selecting OT security solutions (1).

Rising productivity demands have driven the convergence of OT, IT, and cloud-connected systems, expanding attack surfaces and exposing vulnerabilities. Darktrace / OT provides a comprehensive OT security solution, purpose-built for critical infrastructure, offering visibility across OT, IoT, and IT assets, bespoke risk management, and industry-leading threat detection and response powered by Self-Learning AITM.

Figure 1: Omdia vendor overview for OT cybersecurity platforms
Figure 1: Omdia vendor overview for OT cybersecurity platforms

An AI-first approach to OT security  

Many OT security vendors have integrated AI into their offerings, often leveraging machine learning for anomaly detection and threat response. However, only a few have a deep-rooted history in AI, with longstanding expertise shaping their approach beyond surface-level adoption.

The Omdia Market Radar recognizes that Darktrace has extensive background in the AI space:

“Darktrace has invested extensively in AI research to fuel its capabilities since 2013 with 200-plus patent applications, providing anomaly detection with a significant level of customization, helping with SOC productivity and efficiency, streamlining to show what matters for OT.” (1)

Unlike other security approaches that rely on existing threat data, Darktrace / OT achieves this through Self-Learning AI that understands normal business operations, detecting and containing known and unknown threats autonomously, thereby reducing Sec Ops workload and ensuring minimal downtime

This approach extends to incident investigations where an industry-first Cyber AI AnalystTM automatically investigates all relevant threats across IT and OT, prioritizes critical incidents, and then summarizes findings in an easily understandable view—bringing production engineers and security analysts together to communicate and quickly take appropriate action.

Balancing autonomous response with human oversight

In OT environments where uptime is essential, autonomous response technology can be approached with apprehension. However, Darktrace offers customizable response actions that can be set to “human confirmation mode.”

Omdia recognizes that our approach provides customizable options for autonomous response:

“Darktrace’s autonomous response functionality enforces normal, expected behavior. This can be automated but does not need to be from the beginning, and it can be fine-tuned. Alternative step-by-step mitigations are clearly laid out step-by-step and updated based on organizational risk posture and current level of progress.” (1)

This approach allows security and production to keep humans-in-the-loop with pre-defined actions for potential attacks, enforcing normal to contain a threat, and allowing production to continue without disruption.  

Bespoke vulnerability and risk management

In the realm of OT security, asset management takes precedent as one of the key focus points for organizations. With a large quantity of assets to manage, practitioners are overwhelmed with information with no real way to prioritize or apply them to their unique environment.

Darktrace / OT is recognized by Omdia as having:

“Advanced risk management capabilities that showcase metrics on impact, exploit difficulty, and estimated cost of an attack […] Given the nascency of this capability (April 2024), it is remarkably granular in depth and insight.” (1)

Enabling this is Darktrace’s unique approach to AI extends to risk management capabilities for OT. Darktrace / OT understands customers’ unique risks by building a comprehensive and contextualized picture that goes beyond isolated CVE scoring. It combines attack path modeling with MITRE ATT&CK  techniques to provide hardening recommendations regardless of patching availability and gives you a clearer view of the potential impact of an attack from APT groups.

Modular, scalable security for industrial environments

Organizations need flexibility when it comes to OT security, some want a fully integrated IT-OT security stack, while others prefer a segregated approach due to compliance or operational concerns. The Darktrace ActiveAI Security Platform offers integrated security across multiple domains, allowing flexibility and unification across IT and OT security. The platform combines telemetry from all areas of your digital estate to detect and respond to threats, including OT, network, cloud, email, and user identities.

Omdia recognizes Darktrace’s expansive coverage across multiple domains as a key reason why organizations should consider Darktrace / OT:

“Darktrace’s modular and platform, approach offer’s integrated security across multiple domains. It offers the option of Darktrace / OT as a separate platform product for those that want to segregate IT and OT cybersecurity or are not yet in a position to secure both domains in tandem. The deployment of Darktrace’s platform is flexible—with nine different deployment options, including physical on-premises, virtual, cloud, and hybrid.” (1)

With flexible deployment options, Darktrace offers security teams the ability to choose a model that works best for their organization, ensuring that security doesn’t have to be a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Conclusion: Why Darktrace / OT stands out in Omdia’s evaluation

Omdia’s 2025 Market Radar for OT Cybersecurity Platforms provides a technical-first, vendor-agnostic evaluation, offering critical insights for organizations looking to strengthen their OT security posture. Darktrace’s recognition as a Market Leader reinforces its unique AI-driven approach, flexible deployment options, and advanced risk management capabilities as key differentiators in an evolving threat landscape.

By leveraging Self-Learning AI, autonomous response, and real-world risk analysis, Darktrace / OT enables organizations to detect, investigate, and mitigate threats before they escalate, without compromising operational uptime.

Read the full report here!

References

  1. www.darktrace.com/resources/darktrace-named-a-market-leader-in-the-2025-omdia-market-radar-for-ot-cybersecurity-platforms
Continue reading
About the author
Pallavi Singh
Product Marketing Manager, OT Security & Compliance
Your data. Our AI.
Elevate your network security with Darktrace AI