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October 1, 2017

Feodo Banking Trojan Threatens Government Network

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01
Oct 2017
Learn how AI detected new Feodo banking Trojan on a government network and the resurgence of the Feodo banking trojan on a government network.

Famous malware like Zeus, Conficker, and CryptoLocker are still some of the most common threats globally. By repurposing and repackaging known threats like these, attackers can create unknown variants that bypass signature-based security tools.

For instance, an older class of banking Trojans – known as Feodo – recently cropped up again on the network of a local US government. However, this particular strain had a key differentiator.

Darktrace detected the malware when it first was downloaded onto the government’s network. After analysis, the malware was found to be consistent with two well-documented Trojans in the Feodo family: Dridex and Emotet.

Traditionally, Trojans in the Feodo family will infect just a single device, but this attack immediately began propagating on the network, spreading to over 200 devices in a matter of hours.

The incident is part of an emerging trend of similar infections, suggesting that the Feodo family of Trojans is undergoing a resurgence, but this time retooled with ability to rapidly spread across the network.

Darktrace first detected the threat when an internal device made a series of anomalous SSL connections to IPs with self-signed certificates. The abnormal connections were a deviation from what Darktrace’s AI algorithms had learned to be normal, triggering Darktrace to raise the first in a series of alerts.

Time: 2017-04-26 11:38:05 [UTC]
Source: 172.16.14.39
Destination: 76.164.161.46
Destination Port: 995
Protocol: SSL
Version: TLSv12 [Considered HIGH security]
Cipher: TLS_RSA_WI TH_AES_256_ GCM_SHA384 [Considered HIGH security]
UID: CbenK822ViUMxJok00

The identical IP certificate subject and issuer:
Subject: CN=euwtrdjuee.biz,OU=Tslspyqh Dfxdekt Brftapckwr,O=Kaqt Aooscr LLC.,street=132 Vfjteuadivm Fklhnxdmza.,L=Elqazgap Nvax,ST=XI,C=PO
Issuer: CN=euwtrdjuee.biz,OU=Tslspyqh Dfxdekt Brftapckwr,O=Kaqt Aooscr LLC.,street=132 Vfjteuadivm Fklhnxdmza.,L=Elqazgap Nvax,ST=XI,C=PO

The device proceeded to download an anomalous ZIP file from an unusual external server. The email purported to be a notification from FedEx, and the file was disguised as an attachment containing tracking numbers. The download was nearly identical to the malicious files usually seen in Dridex and Emotet infections.

Time: 2017-04-28 16:01:03 [UTC]
Source: 172.16.14.39
Destination: 89.38.128.232
Destination Port: 80/tcp
Protocol: HTTP
Path: hxxp://XX[.]ro/UPS__Ship__Notification__Tracking__Number__2SM099383266006810/Y0894C/FEDEX-TRACK/track-tracknumbers-673639733202/
Filename: fedex-track-tracknumbers-133977976498-language-en.zip
Mime Type: application/zip

After downloading the ZIP, the device wrote an executable file to a second device via SMB. This strongly suggested that the infection was spreading, and quickly.

Time: 2017-04-28 16:52:57 [UTC]
Source: 172.16.14.39
Destination: 172.16.10.41
Destination Port: 445/tcp
Protocol: SMB
Action: write
Filename: tptzfqa.exe
Path: \\PU12881\C$
Write Size: 65536
UID: Cxq64s3tCi1vq4Uo00

The graph shows the internal connectivity of the initial device. The spike in activity, which includes numerous alerts due to unusual behavior, occurs immediately following the SMB write made by the original device.

Devices across the network started to mimic this activity by performing the same type of SMB write, each time with the same amount of data – 65536B – and a random string of characters followed by the .exe filetype.

Meanwhile, the initial device was flagged for making a large number of SMB and Kerberos login attempts. At this point, the infection had spread to over 200 devices, which were all attempting to bruteforce passwords using the same credentials as the original device, in addition to standard usernames like ‘Administrator’ and ‘misadmin’.

Bruteforcing over SMB is consistent with lateral movement seen in recent instances of Emotet, in which the Trojan was seen with new, built-in functionality designed for network propagation.

As the malware continued to spread in the government network, devices began making anomalous SSL connections without SNI (Server Name Indication).

This series of anomalies represented a massive deviation from the network’s normal ‘pattern of life’, causing the Enterprise Immune System to raise three high-priority alerts in real time: one alert for the SMB session bruteforce, another for the Kerberos activity, and another for the anomalous SSL connections without SNI.

The final anomaly occurred when devices made a flurry of unusual DNS requests for DGA-generated domains, often involving rare TLDs such as .biz and .info. The DNS requests illustrate a sophisticated method to disguise communications to the attacker’s command and control centers. Darktrace’s AI algorithms deemed this domain fluxing activity to be highly unusual compared to ordinary behavior, thus raising one final alert before the security team was able to intervene.

A sample of the DNS requests:

15:33:00 hd12530.mi.SALTEDHAZE.org made a successful DNS request for rbqfkjjemttqumeobxb.org to dc1-2012.mi.[REDACTED].org
15:33:10 hd12530.mi.SALTEDHAZE.org made a successful DNS request for tmmiqtsdnkjdcqr.biz to dc1-2012.mi.SALTEDHAZE.org
15:33:20 hd12530.mi.SALTEDHAZE.org made a successful DNS request for mehqdlodsgggehchxdwfsmmoq.biz to dc1-2012.mi.SALTEDHAZE.org

Taken on their own, each of these anomalies could be explained as an isolated incident or perhaps a false-positive. But taken together, they form a broader picture of a widespread and aggressive infection, in which an external hacker had taken control of over 200 devices and was using them to attempt to harvest the users’ banking credentials and transfer funds into their own account.

In accordance with the Feodo family of banking Trojans, the malware was likely attempting to steal banking credentials by intercepting web form submissions. Yet, by adding the ability to spread through the network, the attacker was able to create a completely novel attack type that circumvented the perimeter security controls and infected over 200 devices.

As the threat progressed, the Enterprise Immune System raised real-time alerts and revealed in-depth details on the nature of the compromise. Using this information, the government’s security team was able to remediate the situation before any banking credentials could be stolen.

To learn more about the threats Darktrace finds, check out our Threat Use Cases page which discusses a host of other novel infections that were stopped by the Enterprise Immune System.

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
Andrew Tsonchev
VP, Security & AI Strategy, Field CISO

Andrew is VP, Security & AI Strategy, Field CISO and advises Darktrace’s strategic customers on advanced threat defense, AI and autonomous response. He has a background in threat analysis and research, and holds a first-class degree in physics from Oxford University and a first-class degree in philosophy from King’s College London. His comments on cyber security and the threat to critical national infrastructure have been reported in international media, including CNBC and the BBC World.

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April 4, 2025

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

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

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Cloud

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April 2, 2025

Fusing Vulnerability and Threat Data: Enhancing the Depth of Attack Analysis

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Cado Security, recently acquired by Darktrace, is excited to announce a significant enhancement to its data collection capabilities, with the addition of a vulnerability discovery feature for Linux-based cloud resources. According to Darktrace’s Annual Threat Report 2024, the most significant campaigns observed in 2024 involved the ongoing exploitation of significant vulnerabilities in internet-facing systems. Cado’s new vulnerability discovery capability further deepens its ability to provide extensive context to security teams, enabling them to make informed decisions about threats, faster than ever.

Deep context to accelerate understanding and remediation

Context is critical when understanding the circumstances surrounding a threat. It can also take many forms – alert data, telemetry, file content, business context (for example asset criticality, core function of the resource), and risk context, such as open vulnerabilities.

When performing an investigation, it is common practice to understand the risk profile of the resource impacted, specifically determining open vulnerabilities and how they may relate to the threat. For example, if an analyst is triaging an alert related to an internet-facing Webserver running Apache, it would greatly benefit the analyst to understand open vulnerabilities in the Apache version that is running, if any of them are exploitable, whether a fix is available, etc. This dataset also serves as an invaluable source when developing a remediation plan, identifying specific vulnerabilities to be prioritised for patching.

Data acquisition in Cado

Cado is the only platform with the ability to perform full forensic captures as well as utilize instant triage collection methods, which is why fusing host-based artifact data with vulnerability data is such an exciting and compelling development.

The vulnerability discovery feature can be run as part of an acquisition – full or triage – as well as independently using a fast ‘Scan only’ mode.

Figure 1: A fast vulnerability scan being performed on the acquired evidence

Once the acquisition has completed, the user will have access to a ‘Vulnerabilities’ table within their investigation, where they are able to view and filter open vulnerabilities (by Severity, CVE ID, Resource, and other properties), as well as pivot to the full Event Timeline. In the Event Timeline, the user will be able to identify whether there is any malicious, suspicious or other interesting activity surrounding the vulnerable package, given the unified timeline presents a complete chronological dataset of all evidence and context collected.

Figure 2: Vulnerabilities discovered on the acquired evidence
Figure 3: Pivot from the Vulnerabilities table to the Event Timeline provides an in-depth view of file and process data associated with the vulnerable package selected. In this example, Apache2.

Future work

In the coming months, we’ll be releasing initial versions of highly anticipated integrations between Cado and Darktrace, including the ability to ingest Darktrace / CLOUD alerts which will automatically trigger a forensic capture (as well as a vulnerability discovery) of the impacted assets.

To learn more about how Cado and Darktrace will combine forces, request a demo today.

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About the author
Paul Bottomley
Director of Product Management, Cado
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