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August 9, 2022

Cyber Tactics in the Russo-Ukrainian Conflict

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09
Aug 2022
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has led to fears of a full-scale cyberwar. Learn the cyber attack tactics used, hacking groups involved, and more!

Introduction

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, cyber communities around the world have been witnessing what can be called a ‘renaissance of cyberwarfare' [1]. Rather than being financially motivated, threat actors are being guided by political convictions to defend allies or attack their enemies. This blog reviews some of the main threat actors involved in this conflict and their ongoing tactics, and advises on how organizations can best protect themselves. Darktrace’s preliminary assessments predicted that attacks would be observed globally with a focus on pro-Ukrainian nations such as North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members and that identified Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups would develop new and complex malware deployed through increasingly sophisticated attack vectors. This blog will show that many of these assessments had unexpected outcomes.

Context for Conflict 

Cyber confrontation between Russia and Ukraine dates back to 2013, when Viktor Yanukovych, (former President of Ukraine) rejected an EU trade pact in favour of an agreement with Russia. This sparked mass protests leading to his overthrow, and shortly after, Russian troops annexed Crimea and initiated the beginning of Russian-Ukrainian ground and cyber warfare. Since then, Russian threat actors have been periodically targeting Ukrainian infrastructure. One of the most notable examples of this, an attack against their national power grid in December 2015, resulted in power outages for approximately 255,000 people in Ukraine and was later attributed to the Russian hacking group Sandworm [2 & 3]. 

Another well-known attack in June 2017 overwhelmed the websites of hundreds of Ukrainian organizations using the infamous NotPetya malware. This attack is still considered the most damaging cyberattack in history, with more than €10 billion euros in financial damage [4]. In February 2022, countries witnessed the next stage of cyberwar against Ukraine with both new and familiar actors deploying various techniques to target their rival’s critical infrastructure. 

Tactic 1: Ransomware

Although some sources suggest US ransomware incidents and expectations of ransom may have declined during the conflict, ransomware still remained a significant tactic deployed globally across this period [5] [6] [7]. A Ukrainian hacking group, Network Battalion 65 (NB65), used ransomware to attack the Russian state-owned television and radio broadcasting network VGTRK. NB65 managed to steal 900,000 emails and 4000 files, and later demanded a ransom which they promised to donate to the Ukrainian army. This attack was unique because the group used the previously leaked source code of Conti, another infamous hacker group that had pledged its support to the Russian government earlier in the conflict. NB65 modified the leaked code to make unique ransomware for each of its targets [5]. 

Against expectations, Darktrace’s customer base appeared to deviate from these ransom trends. Analysts have seen relatively unsophisticated ransomware attacks during the conflict period, with limited evidence to suggest they were connected to any APT activity. Between November 2021 and June 2022, there were 51 confirmed ransomware compromises across the Darktrace customer base. This represents an increase of 43.16% compared to the same period the year before, accounting for relative customer growth. Whilst this suggests an overall growth in ransom cases, many of these confirmed incidents were unattributed and did not appear to be targeting any particular verticals or regions. While there was an increase in the energy sector, this could not be explicitly linked to the conflict. 

The Darktrace DETECT family has a variety of models related to ransomware visibility:

Darktrace Detections for T1486 (Data Encrypted for Impact):

- Compromise / Ransomware / Ransom or Offensive Words Written to SMB

- Compromise / Ransomware / Suspicious SMB Activity

- Anomalous Connection / Sustained MIME Type Conversion

- Unusual Activity / Sustained Anomalous SMB Activity

- Compromise / Ransomware / Suspicious SMB File Extension

- Unusual Activity / Anomalous SMB Read & Write

- Unusual Activity / Anomalous SMB Read & Write from New Device

- SaaS / Resource / SaaS Resources with Additional Extensions

- Compromise / Ransomware / Possible Ransom Note Read

- [If RESPOND is enabled] Antigena / Network / External Threat / Antigena Ransomware Block

Tactic 2: Wipers

One of the largest groups of executables seen during the conflict were wipers. On the eve of the invasion, Ukrainian organizations were targeted by a new wiper malware given the name “HermeticWiper”. Hermetic refers to the name of the Cyprian company “Hermetica Digital Ltd.” which was used by attackers to request a code signing certificate [6]. Such a digital certificate is used to verify the ownership of the code and that it has not been altered. The 24-year-old owner of Hermetica Digital says he had no idea that his company was abused to retrieve a code signing certificate [7]. 

HermeticWiper consists of three components: a worm, decoy ransomware and the wiper malware. The custom worm designed for HermeticWiper was used to spread the malware across the network of its infected machines. ESET researchers discovered that the decoy ransomware and the wiper were released at the same time [8]. The decoy ransomware was used to make it look like the machine was hit by ransomware, when in reality the wiper was already permanently wiping data from the machines. In the attack’s initial stage, it bypasses Windows security features designed to prevent overwriting boot records by installing a separate driver. After wiping data from the machine, HermeticWiper prevents that data from being re-fragmented and overwrites the files to fragment it further. This is done to make it more challenging to reconstruct data for post-compromise forensics [9]. Overall, the function and purpose of HermeticWiper seems similar to that of NotPetya ransomware. 

HermeticWiper is not the only conflict-associated wiper malware which has been observed. In January 2022, Microsoft warned Ukrainian customers that they detected wiper intrusion activity against several European organizations. One example of this was the MBR (Master Boot Record) wiper. This type of wiper overwrites the MBR, the disk sector that instructs a computer on how to load its operating system, with a ransomware note. In reality, the note is a misdirection and the malware destroys the MBR and targeted files [10].  

One of the most notable groups that used wiper malware was Sandworm. Sandworm is an APT attributed to Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency, GRU. The group has been active since 2009 and has used a variety of TTPs within their attacks. They have a history of targeting Ukraine including attacks in 2015 on Ukraine’s energy distribution companies and in 2017 when they used the aforementioned NotPetya malware against several Ukrainian organizations [11]. Another Russian (or pro-Russian) group using wiper malware to target Ukraine is DEV-0586. This group targeted various Ukrainian organizations in January 2022 with Whispergate wiper malware. This type of wiper malware presents itself as ransomware by displaying a file instructing the victim to pay Bitcoin to have their files decrypted [12].  

Darktrace did not observe any confirmed cases of HermeticWiper nor other conflict-associated wipers (e.g IsaacWiper and CaddyWiper) within the customer base over this period. Despite this, Darktrace DETECT has a variety of models related to wipers and data destruction:

Darktrace Detections for T1485 (Data Destruction)- this is the main technique exploited during wiper attacks

- Unusual Activity / Anomalous SMB Delete Volume

- IaaS / Unusual Activity / Anomalous AWS Resources Deleted

- IaaS / Storage / S3 Bucket Delete

- SaaS / Resource / Mass Email Deletes from Rare Location

- SaaS / Resource / Anomalous SaaS Resources Deleted

- SaaS / Resource / Resource Permanent Delete

- [If RESPOND is enabled] Antigena / Network / Manual / Enforce Pattern of Life

- [If RESPOND is enabled] Antigena / SaaS / Antigena Unusual Activity Block

Tactic 3: Spear-Phishing

Another strategy that some threat actors employ is spear-phishing. Targeting can be done using email, social media, messaging, or other platforms.

The hacking group Armageddon (also known as Gamaredon) has been responsible for several spear-phishing attacks during the crisis, primarily targeting individuals involved in the Ukrainian Government [13]. Since the beginning of the war, the group has been sending out a large volume of emails containing an HTML file which, if opened, downloads and launches a RAR payload. Those who click the attached link download an HTA with a PowerShell script which obtains the final Armageddon payload. Using the same strategy, the group is also targeting governmental agencies in the European Union [14]. With high-value targets, the need to improve teaching around phishing identification to minimize the chance of being caught in an attacker's net is higher than ever. 

In comparison to the wider trends, Darktrace analysts again saw little-to-no evidence of conflict-associated phishing campaigns affecting customers. Those phishing attempts which did target customers were largely not conflict-related. In some cases, the conflict was used opportunistically, such as when one customer was targeted with a phishing email referencing Russian bank exclusions from the SWIFT payment system (Figures 1 and 2). The email was identified by Darktrace/Email as a probable attempt at financial extortion and inducement - in this case the company received a spoofed email from a major bank’s remittance department.  

Figure 1- Screencap of targeted phishing email sent to Darktrace customer
Figure 2- Attached file contains soliciting reference to SWIFT, a money payment system which select Russian banks were removed from because of the conflict [15]

 Although the conflict was used as a reference in some examples, in most of Darktrace’s observed phishing cases during the conflict period there was little-to-no evidence to suggest that the company being targeted nor the threat actor behind the phishing attempt was associated with or attributable to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

However, Darktrace/Email has several model categories which pick up phishing related threats:

Sample of Darktrace for Email Detections for T1566 (Phishing)- this is the overarching technique exploited during spear-phishing events

Model Categories:

- Inducement

- Internal / External User Spoofing

- Internal / External Domain Spoofing

- Fake Support

- Link to Rare Domains

- Link to File Storage

- Redirect Links

- Anomalous / Malicious Attachments

- Compromised Known Sender

Specific models can be located on the Email Console

 

Tactic 4: Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS)

Another tactic employed by both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian threat actors was DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. Both pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine actors were seen targeting critical infrastructure, information resources, and governmental platforms with mass DDoS attacks. The Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, called on an IT Army of underground Ukrainian hackers and volunteers to protect Ukraine's critical infrastructure and conduct DDoS attacks against Russia [16]. As of 1 August 2022, more than two hundred thousand people are subscribed to the group's official Telegram channel, where potential DDoS targets are announced [17].

Darktrace observed similar pro-Ukraine DDoS behaviors within a variety of customer environments. These DDoS campaigns appeared to involve low-volume individual support combined with crowd-sourced DDoS activity. They were hosted on a range of public-sourced DDoS sites and seemed to share sentiments of groups such as the IT Army of Ukraine (Figure 3).

Figure 3- Example DDoS outsource domain with unusual TLD 

From the Russian side, one of the prominent newly emerged groups, Killnet, is striking back, launching several massive DDoS attacks against the critical infrastructure of countries that provide weaponry to Ukraine [18 & 19]. Today, the number of supporters of Killnet has grown to eighty-four thousand on their Telegram channel. The group has already launched a number of mass attacks on several NATO states, including Germany, Poland, Italy, Lithuania and Norway. This shows the conflict has attracted new and fast-growing groups with large backing and the capacity to undertake widespread attacks. 

DETECT has several models to identify anomalous DoS/DDoS activity:

Darktrace Detection for T1498 (Network Denial of Service)- this is the main technique exploited during DDoS attacks

- Device / Anomaly Indicators / Denial of Service Activity Indicator

- Anomalous Server Activity / Possible Denial of Service Activity

- [If RESPOND is enabled] Antigena / Network / External Threat / Antigena Suspicious Activity Block

What did Darktrace observe?

Darktrace’s cross-fleet detections were largely contrary to expectations. Analysts did not see large-scale complex conflict-linked attacks utilizing either conflict-associated ransomware, malware, or other TTPs. Instead, cyber incidents observed were largely opportunistic, using malware that could be purchased through Malware-as-a-Service models and other widely available toolkits, (rather than APT or conflict-attributable attacks). Overall, this is not to say there have been no repercussions from the conflict or that opportunistic attacks will cease, but evidence suggests that there were fewer wider cyber consequences beyond the initial APT-based attacks seen in the public forum. 

Another trend expected since the beginning of the conflict was targeted responses to sanction announcements focusing on NATO businesses and governments. Analysts, however, saw the limited reactive actions, with little-to-no direct impact from sanction announcements. Although cyber-attacks on some NATO organizations did take place, they were not as widespread or impactful as expected. Lastly, it was thought that exposure to new and sophisticated exploits would increase and be used to weaken NATO nations - especially corporations in critical industries. However, analysts observed relatively common exploits deployed indiscriminately and opportunistically. Overall, with the wider industry expecting chaos, Darktrace analysts did not see the crisis taken advantage of to target wider businesses outside of Ukraine. Based on this comparison between expectations and reality, the conflict has demonstrated the danger of  falling prey to confirmation bias and the need to remain vigilant and expect the unexpected. It may be possible to say that cyberwar is ‘cold’ right now, however the element of surprise is always present, and it is better to be prepared to protect yourself and your organization.    

What to Expect from the Future

As cyberattacks continue to become less monetarily and physically costly, it is to be expected that they will increase in frequency. Even after a political ceasefire is established, hacking groups can harbour resentment and continue their attacks, though possibly on a smaller scale.  

Additionally, the longer this conflict continues, the more sophisticated hacking groups’s attacks may become. In one of their publications, Killnet shared with subscribers that they had created ‘network weaponry’ powerful enough to simultaneously take down five European countries (Figure 4) [20]. Whether or not this claim is true, it is vital to be prepared. The European Union and the United States have supported Ukraine since the start of the invasion, and the EU has also stated that it is considering providing further assistance to help Ukraine in cyberspace [21].

Figure 4- Snapshot of Killnet Telegram announcement

How to Protect Against these Attacks

In the face of wider conflict and cybersecurity tensions, it is crucial that organizations evaluate their security stack and practise the following: 

·       Know what your critical assets are and what software is running on them. 

·       Keep your software up to date. Prioritize patching critical and high vulnerabilities that allow remote code execution. 

·       Enforce Multifactor Authentication (MFA) to the greatest extent possible. 

·       Require the use of a password manager to generate strong and unique passwords for each separate account. 

·       Backup all the essential files on the cloud and external drives and regularly maintain them. 

·       Train your employees to recognize phishing emails, suspicious websites, infected links or other abnormalities to prevent successful compromise of email accounts. 

In order to prevent an organization from suffering damage due to one of the attacks mentioned above, a full-circle approach is needed. This defence starts with a thorough understanding of the attack surface to provide timely mitigation. This can be supported by Darktrace products: 

·       As shown throughout this blog, Darktrace DETECT and Darktrace/Email have several models relating to conflict-associated TTPs and attacks. These help to quickly alert security teams and provide visibility of anomalous behaviors.

·       Darktrace PREVENT/ASM helps to identify vulnerable external-facing assets. By patching and securing these devices, the risk of exploit is drastically reduced.

·       Darktrace RESPOND and RESPOND/Email can make targeted actions to a range of threats such as blocking incoming DDoS connections or locking malicious email links.

Thanks to the Darktrace Threat Intelligence Unit for their contributions to this blog.

Appendices 

Reference List

[1] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/vladimir-putins-ukraine-invasion-is-the-worlds-first-full-scale-cyberwar/ 

[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-cybersecurity-idUSKCN0VY30K

[3] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-cybersecurity-sandworm-idUSKBN0UM00N20160108

[4 & 11] https://www.wired.com/story/notpetya-cyberattack-ukraine-russia-code-crashed-the-world/ 

[5] https://www.scmagazine.com/analysis/ransomware/despite-hopes-for-decline-ransomware-attacks-increased-during-russia-ukraine-conflict

[6] https://ransomware.org/blog/has-the-ukraine-conflict-disrupted-ransomware-attacks/

[7] https://www.cfr.org/blog/financial-incentives-may-explain-perceived-lack-ransomware-russias-latest-assault-ukraine

[8] https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-use-contis-leaked-ransomware-to-attack-russian-companies/ 

[9] https://voi.id/en/technology/138937/hermetica-owner-from-cyprus-didnt-know-his-server-was-used-in-malicious-malware-attack-in-ukraine 

[10] https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-cyber-cyprus-idCAKBN2KT2QI 

[11] https://www.eset.com/int/about/newsroom/press-releases/research/eset-research-ukraine-hit-by-destructive-attacks-before-and-during-the-russian-invasion-with-hermet/ 

[12] https://blog.malwarebytes.com/threat-intelligence/2022/03/hermeticwiper-a-detailed-analysis-of-the-destructive-malware-that-targeted-ukraine/ 

[13] https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/01/15/destructive-malware-targeting-ukrainian-organizations/ 

[15] https://www.cisa.gov/uscert/ncas/alerts/aa22-057a 

[16] https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0047/ 

[17] https://cyware.com/news/ukraine-cert-warns-of-increasing-attacks-by-armageddon-group-850081f8 

[18] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60521822

[19] https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/11/russia-cyberwarfare-us-ukraine-volunteer-hackers-it-army/

[20] https://t.me/itarmyofukraine2022

[21] https://www.csoonline.com/article/3664859/russian-ddos-attack-on-lithuania-was-planned-on-telegram-flashpoint-says.html

[19 & 20] https://flashpoint.io/blog/killnet-kaliningrad-and-lithuanias-transport-standoff-with-russia/ 

[21] https://presidence-francaise.consilium.europa.eu/en/news/member-states-united-in-supporting-ukraine-and-strengthening-the-eu-s-telecommunications-and-cybersecurity-resilience/ 

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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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February 7, 2025

RansomHub revisited: New front-runner in the ransomware-as-a-service marketplace

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In a previous Inside the SOC blog, Darktrace investigated RansomHub and its growing impact on the threat landscape due to its use by the ShadowSyndicate threat group. Here, RansomHub is revisited with new insights on this ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) platform that has rapidly gained traction among threat actors of late.

In recent months, Darktrace’s Threat Research team has noted a significant uptick in potential compromises affecting the fleet, indicating that RansomHub is becoming a preferred tool for cybercriminals.  This article delves into the increasing adoption of RansomHub, the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) employed by its affiliates, and the broader implications for organizations striving to protect their systems.

RansomHub overview & background

One notable threat group to have transitioned from ALPHV (BlackCat)-aligned operations to RansomHub-aligned operations is ScatteredSpider [1]. The adoption of RansomHub by ScatteredSpider and other threat actors suggests a possible power shift among threat groups, given the increasing number of cybercriminals adopting it, including those who previously relied on ALPHV’s malware code [2].

ALPHV was a RaaS strain used by cybercriminals to breach Change Healthcare in February 2024 [2]. However, there are claims that the ransom payment never reached the affiliate using ALPHV, leading to a loss of trust in the RaaS. Around the same time, Operation Cronos resulted in the shutdown of LockBit and the abandonment of its affiliates [2]. Consequently, RansomHub emerged as a prominent RaaS successor.

RansomHub targets

The RansomHub ransomware group has been observed targeting various sectors, including critical infrastructure, financial and government services, and the healthcare sector [4]. They use ransomware variants rewritten in GoLang to target both Windows and Linux systems [5]. RansomHub is known for employing double extortion attacks, encrypting data using “Curve25519” encryption [6].

RansomHub tactics and techniques

The attackers leverage phishing attacks and social engineering techniques to lure their victims. Once access is gained, they use sophisticated tools to maintain control over compromised networks and exploit vulnerabilities in systems like Windows, Linux, ESXI, and NAS.

In more recent RansomHub attacks, tools such as Atera and Splashtop have been used to facilitate remote access, while NetScan has been employed to discover and retrieve information about network devices [7].

External researchers have observed that RansomHub uses several legitimate tools, or a tactic known as Living-off-the-Land (LOTL), to carry out their attacks. These tools include:

  • SecretServerSecretStealer: A PowerShell script that allows for the decryption of passwords [1].
  • Ngrok: A legitimate reverse proxy tool that creates a secure tunnel to servers located behind firewalls, used by the group for lateral movement and data exfiltration.
  • Remmina: An open-source remote desktop client for POSIX-based operating systems, enabling threat actors to access remote services [1].

By using these legitimate tools instead of traditional malware, RansomHub can avoid detection and maintain a lower profile during their operations.

Darktrace’s Coverage of RansomHub

Darktrace’s Security Operations Center (SOC) detected several notable cases of likely RansomHub activity across the customer base in recent months. In all instances, threat actors performed network scanning and brute force activities.

During the investigation of a confirmed RansomHub attack in January 2025, the Darktrace Threat Research team identified multiple authentication attempts as attackers tried to retrieve valid credentials. It is plausible that the attackers gained entry to customer environments through their Remote Desktop (RD) web server. Following this, various RDP connections were made to pivot to other devices within the network.

The common element among the cases investigated was that, in most instances, devices were seen performing outgoing connections to splashtop[.]com, a remote access and support software service, after the scanning activity had occurred. On one customer network, following this activity, the same device was seen connecting to the domain agent-api[.]atera[.]com and IP 20.37.139[.]187, which are seemingly linked to Atera, a Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tool.

Model Alert Log of an affected device making connections to *atera[.]com.
Figure 1: Model Alert Log of an affected device making connections to *atera[.]com.

In a separate case, a Darktrace observed a device attempting to perform SMB scanning activity, trying to connect to multiple internal devices over port 445. Cyber AI Analyst was able to detect and correlate these individual connections into a single reconnaissance incident.

Similar connections to Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) tools were also detected in a different customer environment, as alerted by Darktrace’s SOC. Unusual connections to Splashtop and Atera were made from the alerted device. Following this, the same device was observed sending a large volume of data over SSH Rclone to a rare external endpoint on the unusual port 448, triggered multiple models in Darktrace / NETWORK.

Advanced Search graph demonstrating the rarity of the  external IP 38.244.145[.]85  used for data exfiltration.
Figure 2: Advanced Search graph demonstrating the rarity of the  external IP 38.244.145[.]85  used for data exfiltration.
Model Alert Log displaying information related to the suspicious IP, including the port used and its rarity for the network.
Figure 3: Model Alert Log displaying information related to the suspicious IP, including the port used and its rarity for the network.

In the cases observed, data exfiltration occurred alongside the encryption of files likely indicating double extortion tactics. In September 2024, the Darktrace’s Threat Research team identified a 6-digit alphanumeric additional extension similar to “.293ac3”. This case was closely linked to a RansomHub attack, which was also analyzed in a different blog post by Darktrace [8].

Event Log displaying the extension “.293ac3” being appended to encrypted files on an affected customer network.
Figure 4: Event Log displaying the extension “.293ac3” being appended to encrypted files on an affected customer network.

Conclusion

RansomHub exemplifies the evolving RaaS ecosystem, where threat actors capitalize on ready-made platforms to launch sophisticated attacks with ease. The activities observed highlight its growing popularity among cybercriminals. The analysis showed that the different attacks investigated followed a similar pattern of activity.

First, attackers perform reconnaissance activities, including widespread scanning from multiple devices and reverse DNS sweeps. They then use high-privileged credentials to pivot among devices and establish remote connections using RMM tools such as Atera. A common element among most attacks that reached the data encryption stage is the use of a 6-digit alphanumeric extension.

In all cases, Darktrace alerted on the unusual activities observed, creating not only model alerts but also Cyber AI Analyst incidents. Both Darktrace Security Operations Support and Darktrace Managed Threat Detection services provided 24/7 assistance to clients affected by RansomHub. The analyst team continued investigating these incidents, gathering data and IoCs seen in the RansomHub incidents, providing valuable insight and guidance throughout the process.

As RansomHub continues to gain traction, it serves as a stark reminder of the need for robust cybersecurity measures, proactive threat intelligence, and continued vigilance.

Credit to Maria Geronikolou (Cyber Analyst) and Nahisha Nobregas (Senior Cyber Analyst)

Appendices

Darktrace Model Detections

Network Reconnaissance

o   Device / Network Scan

o   Device / ICMP Address Scan

o   Device / RDP Scan

o   Device / Anomalous LDAP Root Searches

o   Anomalous Connection / SMB Enumeration

o   Device / Spike in LDAP Activity

o   Device / Suspicious Network Scan Activity

Lateral Movement

o   Device / Multiple Lateral Movement Model Alerts

o   Device / Increase in New RPC Services

o   Device / New or Uncommon WMI Activity

o   Device / Possible SMB/NTLM Brute Force

o   Device / SMB Session Brute Force (Non-Admin)

o   Device / Anomalous NTLM Brute Force

o   Compliance / Default Credential Usage

o   Compliance / Outgoing NTLM Request from DC

C2 Activity

o   Anomalous Server Activity / Outgoing from Server

o   Anomalous Connection / Multiple Connections to New External TCP Port

o   Unusual Activity / Unusual External Activity

o   Compliance / Remote Management Tool On Server

Data Exfiltration

o   Unusual Activity / Enhanced Unusual External Data Transfer

o   Anomalous Connection / Outbound SSH to Unusual Port

o   Compliance / SSH to Rare External Destination

o   Unusual Activity / Unusual External Data to New Endpoint

o   Unusual Activity / Unusual External Data Transfer

o   Attack Path Modelling / Unusual Data Transfer on Critical Attack Path

o   Compliance / Possible Unencrypted Password File On Server

Autonomous Response Models

-       Antigena / Network / Significant Anomaly / Antigena Significant Anomaly from Client Block

-       Antigena/Network/Insider Threat/Antigena SMB Enumeration Block

-       Antigena / Network / Significant Anomaly / Antigena Alerts Over Time Block

-       Antigena / Network / Significant Anomaly / Antigena Controlled and Model Alert

List of Indicators of Compromise (IoCs)

o   38.244.145[.]85

o   20.37.139[.]187 agent-api.atera[.]com

o   108.157.150[.]120 ps.atera[.]com

o   st-v3-univ-srs-win-3720[.]api[.]splashtop[.]com

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

  • RECONNAISSANCE T1592.004
  • RECONNAISSANCE T1595.002
  • DISCOVERY T1046
  • DISCOVERY T1083
  • DISCOVERY T1135
  • DISCOVERY T1018
  • INITIAL ACCESS T1190
  • CREDENTIAL ACCESS T1110
  • LATERAL MOVEMENT T1210
  • COMMAND AND CONTROL T1001
  • EXFILTRATION T1041
  • EXFILTRATION T1567.002

References

[1] https://www.guidepointsecurity.com/blog/worldwide-web-an-analysis-of-tactics-and-techniques-attributed-to-scattered-spider/

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/16/scattered_spider_ransom/

[3] https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/03/blackcat-ransomware-group-implodes-after-apparent-22m-ransom-payment-by-change-healthcare/

[4] https://thehackernews.com/2024/09/ransomhub-ransomware-group-targets-210.html

[5] https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/news/ransomware-spotlight/ransomware-spotlight-ransomhub

[6] https://areteir.com/article/malware-spotlight-ransomhub-ransomware/
[7] https://www.security.com/threat-intelligence/ransomhub-knight-ransomware

[8] https://darktrace.com/blog/ransomhub-ransomware-darktraces-investigation-of-the-newest-tool-in-shadowsyndicates-arsenal

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Maria Geronikolou
Cyber Analyst

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February 6, 2025

Reimagining Your SOC: Unlocking a Proactive State of Security

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Part 1: How to Achieve Proactive Network Security

Part 2: Overcoming Alert Fatigue with AI-Led Investigations  

While the success of a SOC team is often measured through incident management effectiveness (E.g MTTD, MTTR), a true measure of maturity is the reduction of annual security incidents.

Organizations face an increasing number of alerts each year, yet the best SOC teams place focus on proactive operations which don’t reduce the threshold for what becomes an incident but targets the source risks that prevent them entirely.

Freeing up time to focus on cyber risk management is a challenge in and of itself, we cover this in the previous two blogs in this series (see above). However, when the time comes to manage risk, there are several challenges that are unique when compared to detection & response functions within cybersecurity.

Why do cyber risks matter?

While the volume of reported CVEs is increasing at an alarming rate[1], determining the criticality of each vulnerability is becoming increasingly challenging, especially when the likelihood and impact may be different for each organization. Yet vulnerabilities have stood as an important signpost in traditional security and mitigation strategies. Now, without clear prioritization, potentially severe risks may go unreported, leaving organizations exposed to significant threats.

Vulnerabilities also represent just one area of potential risks. Cyberattacks are no longer confined to a single technology type. They now traverse various platforms, including cloud services, email systems, and networks. As technology infrastructure continues to expand, so does the attack surface, making comprehensive visibility across all technology types essential for reducing risk and preventing multi-vector attacks.

However, achieving this visibility is increasingly difficult as infrastructure grows and the cyber risk market remains oversaturated. This visibility challenge extends beyond technology to include personnel and individual cyber hygiene which can still exacerbate broader cyberattacks whether malicious or not.

Organizations must adopt a holistic approach to preventative security. This includes improving visibility across all technology types, addressing human risks, and mobilizing swiftly against emerging security gaps.

“By 2026, 60% of cybersecurity functions will implement business-impact-focused risk assessment methods, aligning cybersecurity strategies with organizational objectives.” [2]

The costs of a fragmented approach

siloed preventative security measures or technologies
Figure 1: Organizations may have a combination of siloed preventative security measures or technologies in place

Unlike other security tools (like SIEM, NDR or SOAR) which contain an established set of capabilities, cyber risk reduction has not traditionally been defined by a single market, rather a variety of products and practices that each provide their own value and are overwhelming if too many are adopted. Just some examples include:

  • Threat and Vulnerability management: Leverages threat intelligence, CVEs and asset management; however, leaves teams with significant patching workflows, ignores business & human factors and is reliant on the speed of teams to keep up with each passing update.  
  • Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM): Automatically audits the effectiveness of security controls based on industry frameworks but requires careful prioritization and human calculations to set-up effectively. Focuses solely on mobilization.
  • Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS): Automates security posture testing through mock scenarios but require previous prioritization and might not tell you how your specific technologies can be mitigated to reduce that risk.
  • Posture Management technologies: Siloed approaches across Cloud, SaaS, Data Security and even Gen AI that reactively assess misconfigurations and suggest improvements but with only industry frameworks to validate the importance of the risks.
  • Red teaming & Penetration testing: Required by several regulations including (GDPR, HIPPA, PCI, DSS), many organizations hire 'red teams' to perform real breaches in trusted conditions. Penetration tests reveal many flaws, but are not continuous, requiring third-party input and producing long to-do lists with input of broader business risk dependent on the cost of the service.
  • Third-party auditors: Organizations also use third-party auditors to identify assets with vulnerabilities, grade compliance, and recommend improvements. At best, these exercises become tick-box exercises for companies to stay in compliance with the responsibility still on the client to perform further discovery and actioning.

Many of these individual solutions on the market offer simple enhancement, or an automated version of an existing human security task. Ultimately, they lack an understanding of the most critical assets at your organization and are limited in scope, only working in a specific technology area or with the data you provide.

Even when these strategies are complete, implementation of the results require resources, coordination, and buy-in from IT, cybersecurity, and compliance departments. Given the nature of modern business structures, this can be labor and time intensive as responsibilities are shared by organizational segmentation spread across IT, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), and security teams.

Prioritize your true cyber risk with a CTEM approach

Organizations with robust security programs benefit from well-defined policies, standards, key risk indicators (KRIs), and operational metrics, making it easier to measure and report cyber risk accurately.

Implementing a framework like Gartner’s CTEM (Continuous Threat Exposure Management) can help governance by defining the most relevant risks to each organization and which specific solutions meet your improvement needs.

This five-step approach—scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation, and mobilization—encourages focused management cycles, better delegation of responsibilities and a firm emphasis on validating potential risks through technological methods like attack path modeling or breach and attack simulation to add credibility.

Implementing CTEM requires expertise and structure. This begins with an exposure management solution developed uniquely alongside a core threat detection and response offering, to provide visibility of an organization’s most critical risks, whilst linking directly to their incident-based workflows.

“By 2026, organizations prioritizing their security investments, based on a continuous threat exposure management program, will realize a two-third reduction in breaches.” [3]

Achieving a proactive security posture across the whole estate

Unlike conventional tools that focus on isolated risks, Darktrace / Proactive Exposure Management breaks down traditional barriers. Teams can define risk scopes with full, prioritized visibility of the critical risks between: IT/OT networks, email, Active Directory, cloud resources, operational groups, (or even the external attack surface by integrating with Darktrace / Attack Surface Management).

Our innovative, AI-led risk discovery provides a view that mirrors actual attacker methodologies. It does this through advanced algorithms that determine risk based on business importance, rather than traditional device-type prioritization. By implementing a sophisticated damage assessment methodology, security teams don’t just prioritize via severity but instead, the inherent impact, damage, weakness and external exposure of an asset or user.

These calculations also revolutionize vulnerability management by combining industry standard CVE measurements with that organization-specific context to ensure patch management efforts are efficient, rather than an endless list.

Darktrace also integrates MITRE ATT&CK framework mappings to connect all risks through attack path modeling. This offers validation to our AI’s scoring by presenting real world incident scenarios that could occur across your technologies, and the actionable mitigations to mobilize against them.

For those human choke points, security may also deploy targeted phishing engagements. These send real but harmless email ‘attacks’ to test employee susceptibility, strengthening your ability to identify weak points in your security posture, while informing broader governance strategies.

Combining risk with live detection and response

Together, each of these capabilities let teams take the best steps towards reducing risk and the volume of incidents they face. However, getting proactive also sharpens your ability to handle live threats if they occur.  

During real incidents Darktrace users can quickly evaluate the potential impact of affected assets, create their own risk detections based on internal policies, strengthen their autonomous response along critical attack paths, or even see the possible stage of the next attack.

By continually ingesting risk information into live triage workflows, security teams will develop a proactive-first mindset, prioritizing the assets and alerts that have the most impact to the business. This lets them utilize their resource in the most efficient way, freeing up even more time for risk management, mitigation and ensuring continuity for the business.

Whether your organization is laying the foundation for a cybersecurity program or enhancing an advanced one, Darktrace’s self-learning AI adapts to your needs:

  • Foundational stage: For organizations establishing visibility and automating detection and response.
  • Integrated stage: For teams expanding coverage across domains and consolidating tools for simplicity.
  • Proactive stage: For mature security programs enhancing posture with vulnerability management and risk prioritization.

The Darktrace ActiveAI Security Platform empowers security teams to adopt a preventative defense strategy by using Cyber AI Analyst and autonomous response to fuel quicker triage, incident handling and give time back for proactive efforts designed around business impact. The platform encapsulates the critical capabilities that help organizations be proactive and stay ahead of evolving threats.

darktrace proactive exposure management solution brief reduce risk cyber risk

Download the solution brief

Maximize security visibility and reduce risk:

  • Unify risk exposure across all technologies with AI-driven scoring for CVEs, human communications, and architectures.
  • Gain cost and ROI insights on CVE risks, breach costs, patch latency, and blind spots.
  • Strengthen employee awareness with targeted phishing simulations and training.
  • Align proactive and reactive security by assessing device compromises and prevention strategies.
  • Reduce risk with tailored guidance that delivers maximum impact with minimal effort.

Take control of your security posture today. Download here!

References

[1] https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/search, Search all, Statistics, Total matches By Year 2023 against 2024

[2] https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/5598859

[3] https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/gartner-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-for-2024

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About the author
Gabriel Few-Wiegratz
Product Marketing Manager, Exposure Management and Incident Readiness
Your data. Our AI.
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