Darktrace cyber analysts are world-class experts in threat intelligence, threat hunting and incident response, and provide 24/7 SOC support to thousands of Darktrace customers around the globe. Inside the SOC is exclusively authored by these experts, providing analysis of cyber incidents and threat trends, based on real-world experience in the field.
Written by
Max Heinemeyer
Global Field CISO
Share
14
Jan 2020
The FBI estimates that, on average, more than 4,000 ransomware attacks have occurred every day since 2016. Operating at machine speeds, ransomware is capable of wreaking havoc on a digital enterprise within mere seconds. And unfortunately, traditional security tools are only programmed to detect known cyber-threats using rules and signatures – leaving them blind to tailored and novel ransomware threats that have never been seen before in the wild.
Because Darktrace’s fundamental approach to cyber defense does not rely on rules and signatures to identify emerging threats, it is in a unique position to neutralize novel attacks. In one recent customer environment, Darktrace RESPOND (formerly known as 'Antigena') stopped a previously-unknown ‘zero-day’ ransomware attack targeting an electronics manufacturer. Even when deployed over a fraction of the digital estate, Darktrace RESPOND was able to neutralize this never-before-seen ransomware strain before it could do any damage.
Imperfect visibility, perfect response
While Darktrace provides 100% coverage of the entire digital infrastructure, from email and cloud to IoT and networks, business challenges sometimes prevent users from obtaining full visibility into their environment. However, even when working with imperfect data and suboptimal coverage, Cyber AI can still identify ongoing threats as they emerge. In the below attack, Darktrace was not covering the initial stages of the attack lifecycle, including the initial infection and command & control establishment – yet the AI was able to autonomously respond within seconds, before the attack escalated into a crisis.
Anatomy of a ransomware attack
In this example, Darktrace’s AI identified patient zero deviating significantly from its typical pattern of internal behavior. This was illustrated by a spike in the pattern of regular connections made by patient zero and a series of high-confidence alerts firing in quick succession. These included:
Compromise / Ransomware / Suspicious SMB Activity — triggers when a device begins making unusual SMB connections across the organization
Antigena Ransomware Block — triggers Antigena to take an action when the behavior is significantly similar to ransomware
Device / Reverse DNS Sweep — triggers when a device makes unusual reverse DNS lookups, a tactic often used during reconnaissance
Figure 1: Several Darktrace alerts fire, and a deviation from the regular pattern of life is visible
Indeed, not only was the device observed making an unexpectedly large number of connections, but it was also reading and writing a large number of SMB files and transferring this data internally to a server it did not usually communicate with. The spike in internal connections between patient zero and the server was a strong indicator of malware attempting to move laterally through the network.
Figure 2: Four model breaches observed on October 30th and a dotted line representing Antigena’s actions
Further investigation into the SMB activity revealed that hundreds of Dropbox-related files were accessed on SMB shares that the device had not previously accessed. Moreover, several of these files started becoming encrypted, appended with a [HELP_DECRYPT] extension.
Figure 3: Darktrace detects SMB activity relating to Dropbox files
Fortunately, Darktrace RESPOND was in Active Mode, and kicked in a second later, enforcing the usual pattern of life by blocking anomalous connections for five minutes, immediately stopping the encryption. By the time Darktrace’s AI took action, only four of these files were successfully encrypted.
Figure 4: Darktrace RESPOND kicks in 1 second after ransomware was detected
Figure 5: More Antigena (RESPOND) alerts and a clear indication of the unusual activity detected
RESPOND then took a second action to stop the ransomware from spreading to other devices. The combination of various anomalous activities was sufficient evidence for Autonomous Response to neutralize the threat: patient zero was quarantined for 24 hours, unable to connect to the server or any other device on the network.
Figure 6: Darktrace stops the infected device from conducting lateral movement & ransom activity
Darktrace RESPOND therefore not only stopped the encryption activity in its tracks, but also prevented the attackers from moving laterally across the network unimpeded – either by scanning, using harvested admin credentials, or performing internal reconnaissance. Autonomous Response initiated a surgical intervention that halted the malware’s spread, all while allowing normal business operations to continue.
No signatures, no problem
Crucially, this strain of ransomware was not associated with any publicly known indicators of compromise such as blacklisted command & control domains or malware file hashes. Darktrace was able to detect this never-before-seen attack based purely on its comprehensive understanding of the normal pattern of life for every device and user within the organization. Once the deviation from this normal behavior was identified, Antigena was able to stop it immediately – without relying on rules, signatures, or historical data. With autonomous response acting decisively and immediately, the security team had enough time to catch up and perform hands-on incident response work.
Darktrace’s AI provides a potent combination: Darktrace DETECT's capacity to reveal deviations in a device’s behavior together with RESPOND acting to block connections and contain the ransomware from spreading across the enterprise. AI-enabled Autonomous Response neutralized the threat by recognizing the lethal recipe of these unusual internal alerts and taking targeted action against the ransomware. This stealthy strain of ransomware is unlikely to have been noticed, let alone stopped, by a security team reliant on legacy tools.
The Return-On-Security-Investment (ROSI) is often discussed when it comes to cyber security expenditure, and this incident provides a great example of the ROSI manifesting itself – recent ransomware attacks usually demand hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of ransom payments. Without Darktrace RESPOND containing the threat at an early stage, it is likely that thousands of files would have been encrypted. By relying on Cyber AI, the company was able to take back the advantage over an ever-evolving adversary, saving time, money, resources, and – perhaps most critically – the company’s reputation.
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.
AI is a contributing member of nearly every modern cybersecurity team. As we discussed earlier in this blog series, rapid AI adoption is expanding the attack surface in ways that security professionals have never before experienced while also empowering attackers to operate at unprecedented speed and scale. It’s only logical that defenders are harnessing the power of AI to fight back.
After all, AI can help cybersecurity teams spot the subtle signs of novel threats before humans can, investigate events more quickly and thoroughly, and automate response. But although AI has been widely adopted, this technology is also frequently misunderstood, and occasionally viewed with suspicion.
For CISOs, the cybersecurity marketplace can be noisy. Making sense of competing vendors’ claims to distinguish the solutions that truly deliver on AI’s full potential from those that do not isn’t always easy. Without a nuanced understanding of the different types of AI used across the cybersecurity stack, it is difficult to make informed decisions about which vendors to work with or how to gain the most value from their solutions. Many security leaders are turning to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) for guidance and support.
The right kinds of AI in the right places?
Back in 2024, when we first conducted this annual survey, more than a quarter of respondents were only vaguely familiar with generative AI or hadn’t heard of it at all. Today, GenAI plays a role in 77% of security stacks. This percentage marks a rapid increase in both awareness and adoption over a relatively short period of time.
According to security professionals, different types of AI are widely integrated into cybersecurity tooling:
67% report that their organization’s security stack uses supervised machine learning
67% report that theirs uses agentic AI
58% report that theirs uses natural language processing (NLP)
35% report that theirs uses unsupervised machine learning
But their responses suggest that organizations aren’t always using the most valuable types of AI for the most relevant use cases.
Despite all the recent attention AI has gotten, supervised machine learning isn’t new. Cybersecurity vendors have been experimenting with models trained on hand-labeled datasets for over a decade. These systems are fed large numbers of examples of malicious activity – for instance, strains of ransomware – and use these examples to generalize common indicators of maliciousness – such as the TTPs of multiple known ransomware strains – so that the models can identify similar attacks in the future. This approach is more effective than signature-based detection, since it isn’t tied to an individual byte sequence or file hash. However, supervised machine learning models can miss patterns or features outside the training data set. When adversarial behavior shifts, these systems can’t easily pivot.
Unsupervised machine learning, by contrast, can identify key patterns and trends in unlabeled data without human input. This enables it to classify information independently and detect anomalies without needing to be taught about past threats. Unsupervised learning can continuously learn about an environment and adapt in real time.
One key distinction between supervised and unsupervised machine learning is that supervised learning algorithms require periodic updating and re-training, whereas unsupervised machine learning trains itself while it works.
The question of trust
Even as AI moves into the mainstream, security professionals are eyeing it with a mix of enthusiasm and caution. Although 89% say they have good visibility into the reasoning behind AI-generated outputs, 74% are limiting AI’s ability to take autonomous action in their SOC until explainability improves. 86% do not allow AI to take even small remediation actions without human oversight.
This model, commonly known as “human in the loop,” is currently the norm across the industry. It seems like a best-of-both-worlds approach that allows teams to experience the benefits of AI-accelerated response without relinquishing control – or needing to trust an AI system.
Keeping humans somewhat in the loop is essential for getting the best out of AI. Analysts will always need to review alerts, make judgement calls, and set guardrails for AI's behavior. Their input helps AI models better understand what “normal” looks like, improving their accuracy over time.
However, relying on human confirmation has real costs – it delays response, increases the cognitive burden analysts must bear, and creates potential coverage gaps when security teams are overwhelmed or unavailable. The traditional model, in which humans monitor and act on every alert, is no longer workable at scale.
If organizations depend too heavily on in-the-loop humans, they risk recreating the very problem AI is meant to solve: backlogs of alerts waiting for analyst review. Removing the human from the loop can buy back valuable time, which analysts can then invest in building a proactive security posture. They can also focus more closely on the most critical incidents, where human attention is truly needed.
Allowing AI to operate autonomously requires trust in its decision-making. This trust can be built gradually over time, with autonomous operations expanding as trust grows. But it also requires knowledge and understanding of AI — what it is, how it works, and how best to deploy it at enterprise scale.
Looking for help in all the right places
To gain access to these capabilities in a way that’s efficient and scalable, growing numbers of security leaders are looking for outsourced support. In fact, 85% of security professionals prefer to obtain new SOC capabilities in the form of a managed service.
This makes sense: Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) can deliver deep, continuously available expertise without the cost and complexity of building an in-house team. Outsourcing also allows organizations to scale security coverage up or down as needs change, stay current with evolving threats and regulatory requirements, and leverage AI-native detection and response without needing to manage the AI tools themselves.
Preferences for MSSP-delivered security operations are particularly strong in the education, energy (87%), and healthcare sectors. This makes sense: all are high-value targets for threat actors, and all tend to have limited cybersecurity budgets, so the need for a partner who can deliver affordable access to expertise at scale is strong. Retailers also voiced a strong preference for MSSP-delivered services. These companies are tasked with managing large volumes of consumer personal and financial data, and with transforming an industry traditionally thought of as a late adopter to a vanguard of cyber defense. Technology companies, too, have a marked preference for SOC capabilities delivered by MSSPs. This may simply be because they understand the complexity of the threat landscape – and the advantages of specialized expertise — so well.
In order to help as many organizations as possible – from major enterprises to small and midmarket companies – benefit from enterprise-grade, AI-native security, Darktrace is making it easier for MSSPs to deliver its technology. The ActiveAI Security Portal introduces an alert dashboard designed to increase the speed and efficiency of alert triage, while a new AI-powered managed email security solution is giving MSSPs an edge in the never-ending fight against advanced phishing attacks – helping partners as well as organizations succeed on the frontlines of cyber defense.
Explore the full State of AI Cybersecurity 2026 report for deeper insights into how security leaders are responding to AI-driven risks.
When Open Source Is Weaponized: Analysis of a Trojanized 7 Zip Installer
Background of the malicious 7-Zip installer, and assessing its Impact
Early in 2026, external researchers disclosed a malicious distribution campaign leveraging a trojanized installer masquerading itself as a legitimate 7‑Zip utility. Evidence suggests the campaign was active as of January 2026, during which victims were served a fake installer from 7zip[.]com, a highly convincing typo-squatted domain impersonating the official 7‑Zip distribution site (7-zip[.]org).
Initial access is typically achieved through social engineering and search‑engine abuse, including YouTube tutorial content that explicitly referenced the impersonated domain as the download source. Notably, several reports observed the installer delivered a modified but functional build of 7‑Zip (7zfm.exe) to reduce suspicion and preserve expected user behavior.
However, the installer also dropped additional payloads, such as Uphero.exe, hero.exe, and hero.dll, which are not part of the legitimate 7‑Zip software package. Once installed and executed, these payloads allow the attacker to establish persistence and configure the infected host as a proxy node under their control. This facilitates malicious activities such as traffic relaying, anonymizing infrastructure, and the delivery of secondary payloads [1] [2].
Overall, this attack illustrates a proxyware-style attack that abuses implicit trust in widely deployed third‑party tools while exploiting unconventional delivery vectors such as instructional media. By closely imitating legitimate software behavior and branding, the threat actors significantly reduced user suspicion and increased the likelihood of widespread, undetected compromise.
Threat overview
Darktrace observed multiple customers affected by the malicious 7‑Zip installer between January 12 and January 22, impacting organizations across the Americas (AMS), Asia‑Pacific & Japan (APJ), and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) regions. The activity targeted customers across various sectors, including Human health and social work activities, Manufacturing, Education, and Information and communication.
The following use case highlights a device on one customer network making external connections associated with malicious 7-Zip update activity observed between January 7 and January 18, 2026. This behavior included connectivity to the malicious domain 7zip[.]com, followed by command-and control (C2) activity involving "smshero"-themed domains, as well as outbound proxy connections over ports 1000 and 1002.
Initial Connectivity to 'update[.]7zip[.]com':
Figure 1: Initial Beaconing to Young Endpoint alert behavior, involving the known tunnel/proxy endpoint ‘79.127.221[.]47’.
Starting on January 7, Darktrace / NETWORK detected the device making repeated beaconing connections to the endpoint 79.127.221[.]47 over the destination port 1000. The use of this port aligns with open-source intelligence (OSINT) reporting that hero[.]exe establishes outbound proxy connections via non-standard ports such as 1000 and 1002 [1].
Figure 2: Darktrace observed TLS beaconing alerts to the known trojanized installer, update[.]7zip[.]com · 98.96.229[.]19, over port 443 on January 7th.
Later the same day, the device initiated TLS beaconing to the endpoint update.7zip[.]com. This is more than likely a common source of compromise, where victims unknowingly installed a modified build of the tool alongside additional malicious components. The campaign then progressed into the next attack phase, marked by established connectivity to various C2 domains.
Beaconing Activity to "smshero"-themed domains
Darktrace subsequently observed the same infected device connecting to various C2 domains used to retrieve configuration data. As such, these external hostnames were themed around the string “smshero”, for example ‘smshero[.]co’.
Figure 3: On January 8th, Darktrace observed SSL beaconing to a rare destination which was attributed to a known ‘config/control domain’, nova[.]smshero[.]ai.
The following day, on January 8, the device exhibited its first connectivity to a "smshero"-themed endpoint, which has since been identified as being associated with rotating C2 servers [1] [3]. Similar beaconing activity continued over the following days, with Darktrace identifying C2 connectivity to update[.]7zip[.]com over port 443, alongside additional connections to “smshero”‑themed endpoints such as zest.hero-sms[.]ai, flux.smshero[.]cc, and glide.smshero[.]cc between January 9 and January 15.
Figure 4: Darktrace later observed continued beaconing alerts over a 4-day interval to additional rare destinations attributed to a known ‘config/control domain’, zest[.]hero-sms[.]ai & glide[.]smshero[.]cc.
Proxied connectivity over destination ports
The primary objective of this campaign is believed to be proxyware, whereby third-party traffic is routed through victim devices to potentially obfuscate malicious activity. Devices were also observed communicating with rare external IPs hosted on Cloudflare and DataCamp Limited ASNs, establishing outbound proxy connections over the non-standard ports 1000 and 1002 [1].
OSINT sources also indicate that connections over these ports leveraged an XOR-encoded protocol (key 0x70) designed to obscure control messages. While the end goal of the campaign remains unclear, residential proxy networks can be abused to evade security rules and facilitate further unauthorized activities, including phishing and malware distribution [1][3].
Specifically, on January 8, Darktrace observed the device engaging in low-and-slow data exfiltration to the IP 79.127.221[.]47, which had first been observed the previous day, over port 1000. Proxyware typically installs an agent that routes third‑party traffic through an end-user’s device, effectively turning it into a residential proxy exit node. This activity likely represents the system actively communicating outbound data to an entity that controls its behavior.
Figure 5: Darktrace later observed a ‘Low and Slow Exfiltration to IP’ alert, involving the known tunnel/proxy endpoint ‘79.127.221[.]47’.
Similar activity continued between January 10 and January 18, with Darktrace detecting threat actors attempting to exfiltrate significant volumes of data to 79.127.221[.]47 over destination port 1000.
Throughout the course of this incident, Darktrace’s Cyber AI Analyst launched several autonomous investigations, analyzing each anomalous event and ultimately painting a detailed picture of the attack timeline. These investigations correlated multiple incidents based on Darktrace detections observed between January 7 and January 19. Cyber AI Analyst identified anomalous variables such as repeated connections to unusual endpoints involving data uploads and downloads, with particular emphasis on HTTP and SSL connectivity.
Figure 6: Darktrace AI Analyst Coverage, showcasing multiple incident events that occurred on January 7th & 8th, highlighting associated malicious 7-zip behaviors.
Figure 7: Darktrace AI Analyst Endpoint Details from the given ‘Unusual Repeated Connections’ Incident Event, including the known tunnel/proxy endpoint.
Figure 8: Darktrace AI Analyst Coverage, showcasing additional incident events that occurred on January 12th through 18th, highlighting malicious 7-zip behaviors and SSL connectivity.
Darktrace’s Autonomous Response
At several stages throughout the attack, Darktrace implemented Autonomous Response actions to help contain the suspicious activity as soon as it was identified, providing the customer’s security team with additional time to investigate and remediate. Between January 7 and January 18, Darktrace blocked a wide range of malicious activity, including beaconing connections to unusual endpoints, small data exfiltration attempts, and larger egress efforts, ultimately preventing the attacker from progressing through multiple stages of the attack or achieving their objectives.
Figure 9: Darktrace Autonomous Response Action Coverage showcasing connection block connection events including various endpoints that occurred on January 7th.
Figure 10: Darktrace Antigena (Autonomous Response) Model Alert Coverage, showcasing a Antigena Suspicious Activity Block alert occurred on January 10th as a result of the Low and Slow Exfiltration to IP model alert.
Figure 11: Additional Darktrace Antigena (Autonomous Response) Model Alert Coverage, showcasing a Antigena Large Data Volume Outbound Block alert occurred on January 18th as a result of the Uncommon 1 GiB Outbound model alert.
Conclusion
The malicious 7‑Zip installer underscores how attackers continue to weaponize trust in widely used, legitimate software to gain initial access while evading user suspicion. By exploiting familiar and commonly installed services, this type of attack demonstrates that even routine actions, such as installing compression software, can become high‑risk events when defenses or user awareness are insufficient.
This campaign further emphasizes the urgent need for strict software validation and continuous network monitoring. Modern threats no longer rely solely on obscure tools or overtly malicious behavior. Instead, they increasingly blend seamlessly into everyday operations, making detection more challenging.
In this case, Darktrace / NETWORK was able to identify the anomalous activity and Autonomous Response actions in a timely manner, enabling the customer to be quickly notified and providing crucial additional time to investigate further.
In summary, the abuse of a trojanized 7‑Zip installer highlights a concerning shift in modern threat tactics, where trusted and widely deployed tools can serve as primary delivery mechanisms for system compromise. This reality reinforces that proactive detection, continuous monitoring, and strong security awareness are not optional but essential.
Credit to Justin Torres, Senior Cyber Analyst, David Moreira da Silva, Cyber Analyst, Emma Foulger, Global Threat Research Operations Lead.
![Initial Beaconing to Young Endpoint alert behavior, involving the known tunnel/proxy endpoint ‘79.127.221[.]47’.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/626ff4d25aca2edf4325ff97/6a0b527a7ecc78423d4fdbc6_Screenshot%202026-05-18%20at%2010.55.03%E2%80%AFAM.png)
![Darktrace observed TLS beaconing alerts to the known trojanized installer, update[.]7zip[.]com · 98.96.229[.]19, over port 443 on January 7th.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/626ff4d25aca2edf4325ff97/6a0b529557224d073e49becd_Screenshot%202026-05-18%20at%2010.55.29%E2%80%AFAM.png)
![On January 8th, Darktrace observed SSL beaconing to a rare destination which was attributed to a known ‘config/control domain’, nova[.]smshero[.]ai.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/626ff4d25aca2edf4325ff97/6a0b52ca6bdc2e2e6451446a_Screenshot%202026-05-18%20at%2010.56.22%E2%80%AFAM.png)
![Darktrace later observed continued beaconing alerts over a 4-day interval to additional rare destinations attributed to a known ‘config/control domain’, zest[.]hero-sms[.]ai & glide[.]smshero[.]cc.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/626ff4d25aca2edf4325ff97/6a0b52eed2e7185a03c382e7_Screenshot%202026-05-18%20at%2010.56.59%E2%80%AFAM.png)
