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December 4, 2025

Atomic Stealer: Darktrace’s Investigation of a Growing macOS Threat

Atomic Stealer is rapidly emerging as a significant macOS threat, using infostealing and backdoor capabilities to target Apple users worldwide. Darktrace observed campaigns in 24 countries, detecting activity across multiple kill chain stages and providing recommended actions to contain attacks.
Inside the SOC
Darktrace cyber analysts are world-class experts in threat intelligence, threat hunting and incident response, and provide 24/7 SOC support to thousands of Darktrace customers around the globe. Inside the SOC is exclusively authored by these experts, providing analysis of cyber incidents and threat trends, based on real-world experience in the field.
Written by
Isabel Evans
Cyber Analyst
Atomic Stealer: Darktrace’s Investigation of a Growing macOS ThreatDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog image
04
Dec 2025

The Rise of Infostealers Targeting Apple Users

In a threat landscape historically dominated by Windows-based threats, the growing prevalence of macOS information stealers targeting Apple users is becoming an increasing concern for organizations. Infostealers are a type of malware designed to steal sensitive data from target devices, often enabling attackers to extract credentials and financial data for resale or further exploitation. Recent research identified infostealers as the largest category of new macOS malware, with an alarming 101% increase in the last two quarters of 2024 [1].

What is Atomic Stealer?

Among the most notorious is Atomic macOS Stealer (or AMOS), first observed in 2023. Known for its sophisticated build, Atomic Stealer can exfiltrate a wide range of sensitive information including keychain passwords, cookies, browser data and cryptocurrency wallets.

Originally marketed on Telegram as a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS), Atomic Stealer has become a popular malware due to its ability to target macOS. Like other MaaS offerings, it includes services like a web panel for managing victims, with reports indicating a monthly subscription cost between $1,000 and $3,000 [2]. Although Atomic Stealer’s original intent was as a standalone MaaS product, its unique capability to target macOS has led to new variants emerging at an unprecedented rate

Even more concerning, the most recent variant has now added a backdoor for persistent access [3]. This backdoor presents a significant threat, as Atomic Stealer campaigns are believed to have reached an around 120 countries. The addition of a backdoor elevates Atomic Stealer to the rare category of backdoor deployments potentially at a global scale, something only previously attributed to nation-state threat actors [4].

This level of sophistication is also evident in the wide range of distribution methods observed since its first appearance; including fake application installers, malvertising and terminal command execution via the ClickFix technique. The ClickFix technique is particularly noteworthy: once the malware is downloaded onto the device, users are presented with what appears to be a legitimate macOS installation prompt. In reality, however, the user unknowingly initiates the execution of the Atomic Stealer malware.

This blog will focus on activity observed across multiple Darktrace customer environments where Atomic Stealer was detected, along with several indicators of compromise (IoCs). These included devices that successfully connected to endpoints associated with Atomic Stealer, those that attempted but failed to establish connections, and instances suggesting potential data exfiltration activity.

Darktrace’s Coverage of Atomic Stealer

As this evolving threat began to spread across the internet in June 2025, Darktrace observed a surge in Atomic Stealer activity, impacting numerous customers in 24 different countries worldwide. Initially, most of the cases detected in 2025 affected Darktrace customers within the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. However, later in the year, Darktrace began to observe a more even distribution of cases across EMEA, the Americas (AMS), and Asia Pacific (APAC). While multiple sectors were impacted by Atomic Stealer, Darktrace customers in the education sector were the most affected, particularly during September and October, coinciding with the return to school and universities after summer closures. This spike likely reflects increased device usage as students returned and reconnected potentially compromised devices to school and campus environments.

Starting from June, Darktrace detected multiple events of suspicious HTTP activity to external connections to IPs in the range 45.94.47.0/24. Investigation by Darktrace’s Threat Research team revealed several distinct patterns ; HTTP POST requests to the URI “/contact”, identical cURL User Agents and HTTP requests to “/api/tasks/[base64 string]” URIs.

Within one observed customer’s environment in July, Darktrace detected two devices making repeated initiated HTTP connections over port 80 to IPs within the same range. The first, Device A, was observed making GET requests to the IP 45.94.47[.]158 (AS60781 LeaseWeb Netherlands B.V.), targeting the URI “/api/tasks/[base64string]” using the “curl/8.7.2” user agent. This pattern suggested beaconing activity and triggered the ‘Beaconing Activity to External Rare' model alert in Darktrace / NETWORK, with Device A’s Model Event Log showing repeated connections. The IP associated with this endpoint has since been flagged by multiple open-source intelligence (OSINT) vendors as being associated with Atomic Stealer [5].

Darktrace’s detection of Device A showing repeated connections to the suspicious IP address over port 80, indicative of beaconing behavior.
Figure 1: Darktrace’s detection of Device A showing repeated connections to the suspicious IP address over port 80, indicative of beaconing behavior.

Darktrace’s Cyber AI Analyst subsequently launched an investigation into the activity, uncovering that the GET requests resulted in a ‘503 Service Unavailable’ response, likely indicating that the server was temporarily unable to process the requests.

Cyber AI Analyst Incident showing the 503 Status Code, indicating that the server was temporarily unavailable.
Figure 2: Cyber AI Analyst Incident showing the 503 Status Code, indicating that the server was temporarily unavailable.

This unusual activity prompted Darktrace’s Autonomous Response capability to recommend several blocking actions for the device in an attempt to stop the malicious activity. However, as the customer’s Autonomous Response configuration was set to Human Confirmation Mode, Darktrace was unable to automatically apply these actions. Had Autonomous Response been fully enabled, these connections would have been blocked, likely rendering the malware ineffective at reaching its malicious command-and-control (C2) infrastructure.

Autonomous Response’s suggested actions to block suspicious connectivity on Device A in the first customer environment.
Figure 3: Autonomous Response’s suggested actions to block suspicious connectivity on Device A in the first customer environment.

In another customer environment in August, Darktrace detected similar IoCs, noting a device establishing a connection to the external endpoint 45.94.47[.]149 (ASN: AS57043 Hostkey B.V.). Shortly after the initial connections, the device was observed making repeated requests to the same destination IP, targeting the URI /api/tasks/[base64string] with the user agent curl/8.7.1, again suggesting beaconing activity. Further analysis of this endpoint after the fact revealed links to Atomic Stealer in OSINT reporting [6].

Cyber AI Analyst investigation finding a suspicious URI and user agent for the offending device within the second customer environment.
Figure 4:  Cyber AI Analyst investigation finding a suspicious URI and user agent for the offending device within the second customer environment.

As with the customer in the first case, had Darktrace’s Autonomous Response been properly configured on the customer’s network, it would have been able to block connectivity with 45.94.47[.]149. Instead, Darktrace suggested recommended actions that the customer’s security team could manually apply to help contain the attack.

Autonomous Response’s suggested actions to block suspicious connectivity to IP 45.94.47[.]149 for the device within the second customer environment.
Figure 5: Autonomous Response’s suggested actions to block suspicious connectivity to IP 45.94.47[.]149 for the device within the second customer environment.

In the most recent case observed by Darktrace in October, multiple instances of Atomic Stealer activity were seen across one customer’s environment, with two devices communicating with Atomic Stealer C2 infrastructure. During this incident, one device was observed making an HTTP GET request to the IP 45.94.47[.]149 (ASN: AS60781 LeaseWeb Netherlands B.V.). These connections targeted the URI /api/tasks/[base64string, using the user agent curl/8.7.1.  

Shortly afterward, the device began making repeated connections over port 80 to the same external IP, 45.94.47[.]149. This activity continued for several days until Darktrace detected the device making an HTTP POST request to a new IP, 45.94.47[.]211 (ASN: AS57043 Hostkey B.V.), this time targeting the URI /contact, again using the curl/8.7.1 user agent. Similar to the other IPs observed in beaconing activity, OSINT reporting later linked this one to information stealer C2 infrastructure [7].

Darktrace’s detection of suspicious beaconing connectivity with the suspicious IP 45.94.47.211.
Figure 6: Darktrace’s detection of suspicious beaconing connectivity with the suspicious IP 45.94.47.211.

Further investigation into this customer’s network revealed that similar activity had been occurring as far back as August, when Darktrace detected data exfiltration on a second device. Cyber AI Analyst identified this device making a single HTTP POST connection to the external IP 45.94.47[.]144, another IP with malicious links [8], using the user agent curl/8.7.1 and targeting the URI /contact.

Cyber AI Analyst investigation finding a successful POST request to 45.94.47[.]144 for the device within the third customer environment.
Figure 7:  Cyber AI Analyst investigation finding a successful POST request to 45.94.47[.]144 for the device within the third customer environment.

A deeper investigation into the technical details within the POST request revealed the presence of a file named “out.zip”, suggesting potential data exfiltration.

Advanced Search log in Darktrace / NETWORK showing “out.zip”, indicating potential data exfiltration for a device within the third customer environment.
Figure 8: Advanced Search log in Darktrace / NETWORK showing “out.zip”, indicating potential data exfiltration for a device within the third customer environment.

Similarly, in another environment, Darktrace was able to collect a packet capture (PCAP) of suspected Atomic Stealer activity, which revealed potential indicators of data exfiltration. This included the presence of the “out.zip” file being exfiltrated via an HTTP POST request, along with data that appeared to contain details of an Electrum cryptocurrency wallet and possible passwords.

Read more about Darktrace’s full deep dive into a similar case where this tactic was leveraged by malware as part of an elaborate cryptocurrency scam.

PCAP of an HTTP POST request showing the file “out.zip” and details of Electrum Cryptocurrency wallet.
Figure 9: PCAP of an HTTP POST request showing the file “out.zip” and details of Electrum Cryptocurrency wallet.

Although recent research attributes the “out.zip” file to a new variant named SHAMOS [9], it has also been linked more broadly to Atomic Stealer [10]. Indeed, this is not the first instance where Darktrace has seen the “out.zip” file in cases involving Atomic Stealer either. In a previous blog detailing a social engineering campaign that targeted cryptocurrency users with the Realst Stealer, the macOS version of Realst contained a binary that was found to be Atomic Stealer, and similar IoCs were identified, including artifacts of data exfiltration such as the “out.zip” file.

Conclusion

The rapid rise of Atomic Stealer and its ability to target macOS marks a significant shift in the threat landscape and should serve as a clear warning to Apple users who were traditionally perceived as more secure in a malware ecosystem historically dominated by Windows-based threats.

Atomic Stealer’s growing popularity is now challenging that perception, expanding its reach and accessibility to a broader range of victims. Even more concerning is the emergence of a variant embedded with a backdoor, which is likely to increase its appeal among a diverse range of threat actors. Darktrace’s ability to adapt and detect new tactics and IoCs in real time delivers the proactive defense organizations need to protect themselves against emerging threats before they can gain momentum.

Credit to Isabel Evans (Cyber Analyst), Dylan Hinz (Associate Principal Cyber Analyst)
Edited by Ryan Traill (Analyst Content Lead)

Appendices

References

1.     https://www.scworld.com/news/infostealers-targeting-macos-jumped-by-101-in-second-half-of-2024

2.     https://www.kandji.io/blog/amos-macos-stealer-analysis

3.     https://www.broadcom.com/support/security-center/protection-bulletin/amos-stealer-adds-backdoor

4.     https://moonlock.com/amos-backdoor-persistent-access

5.     https://www.virustotal.com/gui/ip-address/45.94.47.158/detection

6.     https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/25/i/an-mdr-analysis-of-the-amos-stealer-campaign.html

7.     https://www.virustotal.com/gui/ip-address/45.94.47.211/detection

8.     https://www.virustotal.com/gui/ip-address/45.94.47.144/detection

9.     https://securityaffairs.com/181441/malware/over-300-entities-hit-by-a-variant-of-atomic-macos-stealer-in-recent-campaign.html

10.   https://binhex.ninja/malware-analysis-blogs/amos-stealer-atomic-stealer-malware.html

Darktrace Model Detections

Darktrace / NETWORK

  • Compromise / Beaconing Activity To External Rare
  • Compromise / HTTP Beaconing to New IP
  • Compromise / HTTP Beaconing to Rare Destination
  • Anomalous Connection / New User Agent to IP Without Hostname
  • Device / New User Agent
  • Compromise / Sustained TCP Beaconing Activity To Rare Endpoint
  • Compromise / Slow Beaconing Activity To External Rare
  • Anomalous Connection / Posting HTTP to IP Without Hostname
  • Compromise / Quick and Regular Windows HTTP Beaconing

Autonomous Response

  • Antigena / Network / Significant Anomaly::Antigena Alerts Over Time Block
  • Antigena / Network / Significant Anomaly::Antigena Significant Anomaly from Client Block
  • Antigena / Network / External Threat::Antigena Suspicious Activity Block

List of IoCs

  • 45.94.47[.]149 – IP – Atomic C2 Endpoint
  • 45.94.47[.]144 – IP – Atomic C2 Endpoint
  • 45.94.47[.]158 – IP – Atomic C2 Endpoint
  • 45.94.47[.]211 – IP – Atomic C2 Endpoint
  • out.zip - File Output – Possible ZIP file for Data Exfiltration

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping:

Tactic –Technique – Sub-Technique

Execution - T1204.002 - User Execution: Malicious File

Credential Access - T1555.001 - Credentials from Password Stores: Keychain

Credential Access - T1555.003 - Credentials from Web Browsers

Command & Control - T1071 - Application Layer Protocol

Exfiltration - T1041 - Exfiltration Over C2 Channel

Inside the SOC
Darktrace cyber analysts are world-class experts in threat intelligence, threat hunting and incident response, and provide 24/7 SOC support to thousands of Darktrace customers around the globe. Inside the SOC is exclusively authored by these experts, providing analysis of cyber incidents and threat trends, based on real-world experience in the field.
Written by
Isabel Evans
Cyber Analyst

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March 18, 2026

When Reality Diverges from the Playbook: Darktrace Identifies Encryption in a World Leaks Ransomware Attack

EaaS, World Leaks, a rebrand of Hunters International, are known for their extortion-only attack model, abandoning the tactic of file encryption. However, contrary to these claims, Darktrace detected a World Leaks compromise where a ransomware payload was deployed, and customer data was encrypted.Default blog imageDefault blog image

As-a-Service Cybercrime Models

As-a-Service cybercrime models reduce the barrier to entry for cyber criminals as they no longer need expertise in every domain. Threat actors can increasingly outsource or supplement missing skills through the broader cybercrime-as-a-service ecosystem, and thus these models continue to grow in popularity within the cybercriminal underground. This has led to multiple templates in this sphere, such as Phishing-as-a-Service, Botnet-as-a-Service, DDoS-as-a-Service, and notably Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) [1].

What is Extortion-as-a-Service?

Extortion-as-a-Service (EaaS) businesses function as a formalized way for cyber threat actors to offer extortion services to others for a fee or profit share and represents an evolution of extortion operations from the double-extortion ransomware model. Advancing from the RaaS model, extortion has become a distinct profit stream, separate from the encryption payload. This separation of functions, data theft, negotiation, and publicity, sets the stage for EaaS [1].

The EaaS model reflects a broader trend in cybercriminal activity, in which threat actors increasingly prioritize data theft and public exposure over traditional ransomware encryption. This shift reduces operational complexity while increasing pressure on victims through reputational damage. This approach has become increasingly popular among threat actors as, unlike encryption-based attacks, these operations are more difficult to detect and remediate [2]. It reflects a trend of ‘hack-and-leak’ operations that prioritize stealth, speed, and reputational damage over traditional encryption-based ransomware attacks [3].

World Leaks Overview

World Leaks emerged in early 2024 as a direct rebrand of the Hunters International ransomware group, which was notorious for encrypting victims’ data and demanding payment for decryption keys. In mid-2025, Hunters International shifted to an extortion-only model due to law enforcement scrutiny and reduced profitability, rebranding itself as World Leaks.

World Leaks functions as an affiliate-based EaaS operation which provides proprietary Storage Software exfiltration tooling to affiliates while maintaining a four-platform infrastructure consisting of a main data leak site hosted on the Dark Web where victim data is published, a victim negotiation portal with live chat, an affiliate management panel, and an insider journalist platform granting media outlets 24-hour advance access to stolen data before public release [4]. Since its emergence, World Leaks has published data stolen from dozens of organizations globally on its data leak site, serving both as a pressure tactic and a means for building reputation among cyber criminals.

World Leaks (known associations include Hive Ransomware, Secp0 Ransomware, and UNC6148) have been known to target the industrial (manufacturing) sector, along with healthcare organizations, technology firms and more generally, industries with valuable intellectual property [4]. Victims targeted have spanned multiple countries, with most located in the US, as well as Canada and several countries across Europe [5].

World Leaks’ Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) [3][4]

World Leaks’ typical attack pattern involves the exploitation of credentials with inadequate access controls, e.g. lacking multi-factor authentication (MFA), moving through reconnaissance, lateral movement and data exfiltration, notably without an encryption element.

Initial Access:

Initial access is typically gained through the exploitation of compromised virtual private network (VPN) credentials lacking MFA through valid accounts, as well as phishing campaigns. The targeting of internet-facing VPN infrastructure, RDP, and public-facing applications also represent common attack vectors in World Leaks incidents.

Lateral Movement:

SMB, RDP, and SSH are used for lateral movement via remote services. Notably, the group is also known to use PsExec and Rclone as part of their lateral movement activities.

Persistence:

Registry key modifications, scheduled tasks creation, account manipulation.

Exfiltration:

Data exfiltration is carried out through custom storage software tooling via TOR connections. Cloud storage services used for exfiltration particularly include MEGA. World Leaks also carry out direct data transfer through established command-and-control (C2) infrastructure.

Unlike Hunters International, which combined encryption with extortion, World Leaks claims to have abandoned the use of encryption. Some reports note that operations since January 2025 represent a pivot toward eliminating encryption entirely, instead relying on custom exfiltration tooling with SOCKSv5 proxy and TOR-based communications [4]. However, in early 2026, Darktrace detected an incident that directly contradicted this claim: World Leaks carried out an attack that involved both the exfiltration and encryption of customer data.

Darktrace’s Coverage of World Leaks Ransomware

Organizations today face a growing challenge: keeping pace with increasingly fast-moving threats. This incident highlights a common problem, when time-limited mitigations expire or human security teams cannot respond quickly enough, attackers are often able to regain the upper hand. A recent Darktrace detection of World Leaks ransomware provides a clear example of this challenge in practice.

In January 2026, Darktrace identified the presence of ransomware and data encryption linked to World Leaks within the network of an organization within the healthcare sector. Although Darktrace’s Autonomous Response capability was active in the customer’s environment and initially blocking suspicious connectivity, buying time for the customer to remediate, the attack continued once these mitigative actions expired. Darktrace continued to apply Autonomous Response actions as the attack progressed, working to inhibit the attackers at each stage of the intrusion.

Investigations carried out by Darktrace revealed that threat actors likely gained initial access via a Fortigate appliance in mid-October, indicating a three-month dwell time, before employing living-off-the-land (LOTL) techniques for lateral movement. C2 communications were established using Cloudflare Tunnel (formerly Argo Tunnel). As part of the Actions on Objectives attack phase, a significant volume of data was exfiltrated to the MEGA cloud storage platform, followed by the encryption of customer data.

Initial access/ Lateral movement

Darktrace analysts identified the likely patient-zero device within the network as a Fortigate appliance. In October 2025, this device was seen conducting brute-force activity using the compromised ‘administrator’ credential to gain a foothold deeper within the customer’s environment. Masquerading as a privileged user, the threat actor then went on to launch activity on remote devices via PsExec, a common administrative tool that allows users to execute processes on remote systems without manually installing client software, providing significant power to attackers when abused. Around the time, Darktrace detected an unknown device on the network attempting to authenticate via NTLM. As this device had not previously been seen on the network, it likely belonged to the attacker.

Reconnaissance

As part of the reconnaissance phase of the attack, port and network scanning was carried out in an attempt to identify open UDP and TCP ports within the network.

Lateral movement & C2

Around one month after entering the customer’s network, the World Leaks threat actors began tunnelling activity using Cloudflare Tunnel. Darktrace detected connections to several hostnames including: region2.v2.argotunnel[.]com; h2.cftunnel[.]com; region1.v2.argotunnel[.]com. This tunnelling activity continued until January of 2026, when encryption occurred. Cloudflare tunnels are known to be abused by attackers as they enable the use of temporary infrastructure to scale operations, allowing rapid deployment and teardown. Furthermore, leveraging of Cloudflare’s infrastructure to create these rate-limited tunnels (used to relay traffic from an attacker-controlled server to a local machine) makes such malicious activity harder to detect by both defenders and traditional security measures, particularly those that rely on static blocklists [6].

Further lateral movement was carried out using common remote management tools such as Windows Remote Management (WinRM) RDP, allowing the World Leaks threat actors to access local devices within the victim organization’s network.

As this attack progressed, Darktrace detected multiple files being written over SMB. These files included Windows\Temp\chromeremotedesktophost.msi, which was written from the patient-zero device to another internal device as part of lateral movement efforts. Following this transfer, and prior to subsequent data exfiltration activity, a network server was observed connecting to the hostname remotedesktop-pa[.]googleapis[.]com, an API endpoint required for Chrome Remote Desktop, indicating that Chrome RDP was used by the threat actor in this stage of the attack.

Other files written over SMB included the script programdata\syc\OpenSSHUtils.psm1 (which can be used legitimately to configure OpenSSH) and the executable programdata\syc\ssh‑sk‑helper.exe (a legitimate OpenSSH component used to support security keys). These files were written from the suspected patient‑zero device to an internal domain controller using the ‘administrator’ credential.

Thereafter, SSH connections to external IP address 51.15.109[.]222 were observed, providing another channel between the malicious actors and victim machines. Darktrace recognized that the use of SSH by the devices seen connecting to this IP address was highly anomalous, indicating that this suspicious activity formed part of the attack.

Writes of the script programdata\syc\OpenSSHUtils.psm1 were also observed into January, highlighting the continuation of the attack that had begun three months earlier.

On December 19 and 20, Darktrace detected a DNS server within the customer’s network making anomalous outgoing connections to an external IP address not previously seen in the environment: 193.161.193[.]99. This IP address has been reported by open-source-intelligence (OSINT) as being associated with C2 infrastructure, having been linked to several remote access trojans (RATs) and botnets in the past.

This activity a shift towards the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) model, underscoring the growing trend around As-a-Service Cybercrime models and the increasing the industrialization of botnets. The presence of extensive digital botnets, often leased to other criminal organizations, means the group gaining initial access is not necessarily the same group conducting ransomware deployment or data theft; botnets now act as shared underlying infrastructure enabling multiple forms of cybercriminal activity [7].

Furthermore, connections to this IP address (193.161.193[.]99) were made over port 1194, which is associated with OpenVPN, suggesting that World Leaks may have leveraged it to obfuscate C2 communication with attacker-controlled infrastructure.

Darktrace’s detection of the IP address 193.161.193[.]99, noting that it was first seen within the customer’s network on December 19, 2025.
Figure 1: Darktrace’s detection of the IP address 193.161.193[.]99, noting that it was first seen within the customer’s network on December 19, 2025.

Data exfiltration

In November, Darktrace detected the threat actors carrying out one of their Attack on Objective tactics: data exfiltration. Multiple local devices within the compromised network began transferring data to Backblaze and MEGA domains, both of which provide cloud storage services; 80+GB of data was transferred to MEGA in late December 2025. Endpoints associated with this activity included: backblazeb2[.]com and gfs302n520[.]userstorage[.]mega[.]co[.]nz, as well as related user agents such as AS40401 BACKBLAZE) and MegaClient/10.3.0/64.

Notably, Darktrace researchers identified two known World Leaks TTPs in this attack: the use of MEGA, a known tool abused by the group, and Rclone, a command-line tool used to manage files on cloud storage, which was observed in the user agent of the MEGA data-transfer connections: rclone/v1.69.0 [4].

Cyber AI Analyst Incident highlighting data upload activity to backblaze[.]com endpoints.
Figure 2: Cyber AI Analyst Incident highlighting data upload activity to backblaze[.]com endpoints.\

Ransomware deployment & encryption

The encryption stage of this attack was confirmed by the presence of a ransom note found on the network in a file with a seemingly randomized nine-character string preceding README.txt, attributing the incident to World Leaks, along with an extension with the same nine characters appended to encrypted files. Darktrace also observed SMB writes of files named world.exe and task.bat, with the compromised ‘localadmin’ credential used during the SMB logins. It is likely that these files served as the vector for the ransomware payload.

 Packet Capture (PCAP) of the ransom note claiming that the attack was carried out by World Leaks.
Figure 3: Packet Capture (PCAP) of the ransom note claiming that the attack was carried out by World Leaks.

Conclusion

Though traditional ransomware relies on encryption, recent trends show that cyber threat actors no longer need to rely on noisy encryption tools and can eliminate much of the risk and technical complexity associated with encrypting systems. This is the model reportedly preferred by World Leaks after their rebrand from Hunters International.

In addition to reducing noise around these attacks, extortion‑only operations may be favored by threat actors over encryption‑focused ones for several reasons, including the fact that traditional security tools may struggle to detect data theft compared to encryption, that attackers leave less evidence behind when encryption is avoided, and that the long‑term impacts of stolen data on organizations can be greater than the loss of systems caused by encryption processes, which can be restored [8]. This is supported by analysis of data leak sites suggesting that almost 1,500 incidents in 2025 relied on data theft alone. Attackers can simply steal victim data and attempt to extort a ransom by threatening to publish it, without needing to deploy ransomware at all [9]. Furthermore, although World Leaks aims to function as an affiliate‑based EaaS operation, security teams should remain aware that their affiliates may have different criminal objectives.

Contrary to reports that World Leaks’ typical attack style has an extortion‑only objective, Darktrace detected an incident in which a World Leaks attack did end with the encryption of customer data. This highlights the need for adaptive defenses and reinforces the importance of network defenders staying proactive in the face of attacks, particularly as they may progress in ways that are unexpected compared to previous trends associated with a given threat actor.

Credit to Tiana Kelly (Senior Cyber Analyst and Analyst Manager) and Emily Megan Lim (Senior Cyber Analyst)

Edited by Ryan Traill (Content Manager)

Appendices

IoCs

  • world.exe – Executable File – Possible Ransomware Payload
  • task.bat – Script File – Possible Ransomware Payload
  • ‘^[A-Z][a-z]{3}[A-Z][a-z][A-Z]{3}[.]README[.]txt' – Ransom Note
  • [.]^[A-Z][a-z]{3}[A-Z][a-z][A-Z]{3} – Ransomware file extension

·       51.15.109[.]222 – IP Address - Possible C2 Infrastructure

·       193.161.193[.]99 – IP Address – Probable C2 Infrastructure

Darktrace Model Detections (Enhanced Monitoring models denoted with an asterisk)

·      Device / Attack and Recon Tools

·      Device / Suspicious SMB Scanning Activity

·      Device / Anomalous NTLM Brute Force

·      Compliance / Connection to Tunnelling Service

·      Device / Suspicious New User Agents

·      Device / New or Unusual Remote Command Execution

·      Compliance / SMB Drive Write

·      Anomalous Connection / Uncommon 1 GiB Outbound

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

·      Device / Multiple Lateral Movement Model Alerts*

·      Device / SMB Lateral Movement

·      Unusual Activity / Sustained Anomalous SMB Activity

·      Device / Large Number of Model Alerts

·      Compromise / Ransomware / SMB Reads then Writes with Additional Extensions

·      Compromise / Ransomware / Suspicious SMB Activity*

·      Anomalous File / Internal / Additional Extension Appended to SMB File

·      Unusual Activity / SMB Access Failures

·      Unusual Activity / Enhanced Unusual External Data Transfer*

·      Device / Suspicious File Writes to Multiple Hidden SMB Shares

·      Anomalous Server Activity / Rare External from Server

·      Unusual Activity / Unusual Mega Data Transfer*

·      Device / Possible SMB/NTLM Brute Force

·      Anomalous Connection / Unusual Admin RDP Session

·      Anomalous Connection / Active Remote Desktop Tunnel

·      Anomalous Connection / Data Sent to Rare Domain

·      Anomalous Connection / New or Uncommon Service Control

·      Anomalous Connection / New or Uncommon Service Enumeration

·      Anomalous Connection / Rare WinRM Outgoing

·      Anomalous Connection / SMB Enumeration

·      Anomalous Connection / Unusual Admin RDP Session

·      Anomalous Connection / Unusual Incoming Long Remote Desktop Session

·      Anomalous Connection / Upload via Remote Desktop

·      Anomalous File / Internal / Executable Uploaded to DC

·      Anomalous File / Internal / Unusual SMB Script Write

·      Compliance / SSH to Rare External Destination

·      Device / Anomalous Github Download

·      Device / Anonymous NTLM Logins

·      Device / Network Scan

·      Device / New or Uncommon WMI Activity

·      Device / New User Agent To Internal Server

·      Device / Possible Brute-Force Activity

·      Device / RDP Scan

·      Device / SMB Session Brute Force (Admin)

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

·      Device / Suspicious Network Scan Activity

·      Unusual Activity / Successful Admin Brute-Force Activity

·      Unusual Activity / Unusual External Data to New Endpoint

·      Unusual Activity / Unusual External Data Transfer

·      Unusual Activity / Unusual File Storage Data Transfer

·      User / New Admin Credentials on Server

Cyber AI Analyst Incidents

·      Scanning of Multiple Devices

·      Large Volume of SMB Login Failures to Multiple Devices

·      Suspicious Chain of Administrative Connections

·      SMB Write of Suspicious File

·      Suspicious DCE-RPC Activity

·      Unusual External Data Transfer

·      Unusual External Data Transfer to Multiple Related Endpoints

·      Unusual External Data Transfer to Endpoints

MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

·      Initial Access – T1190 – Exploit Public-Facing Application

·      Defense Evasion, Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation – T1078 – Valid Accounts

·      Resource Development – T1588.001 – Obtain Capabilities: Malware

·      Reconnaissance – T1590.005 – Gather Victim Network Information: IP Addresses

·      Reconnaissance – T1592.004 – Gather Victim Host Information: Client Configurations

·      Reconnaissance – T1595.001 – Active Scanning: Scanning IP Blocks

·      Reconnaissance – T1595.002 – Active Scanning: Vulnerability Scanning

·      Reconnaissance – T1595.003 – Active Scanning: Wordlist Scanning

·      Discovery – T1018 – Remote System Discovery

·      Discovery – T1046 – Network Service Discovery

·      Discovery – T1083 – File and Directory Discovery

·      Discovery – T1135 – Network Share Discovery

·      Command and Control – T1219 – Remote Access Tools

·      Command and Control – T1219.002 – Remote Access Tools: Remote Desktop Software

·      Command and Control – T1571 – Non-Standard Port

·      Command and Control – T1572 – Protocol Tunneling

·      Command and Control – T1573.001 – Encrypted Channel: Symmetric Cryptography

·      Credential Access – T1110 – Brute Force

·      Credential Access – T1110.001 – Brute Force: Password Guessing

·      Defense Evasion – T1006 – Direct Volume Access

·      Defense Evasion – T1564.005 – Hide Artifacts: Hidden File System

·      Defense Evasion – T1564.012 – Hide Artifacts: File/Path Exclusions

·      Execution – T1047 – Windows Management Instrumentation

·      Execution – T1569.002 – System Services: Service Execution

·      Lateral Movement – T1021 – Remote Services

·      Lateral Movement – T1021.001 – Remote Services: Remote Desktop Protocol

·      Lateral Movement – T1021.002 – Remote Services: SMB/Windows Admin Shares

·      Lateral Movement – T1021.006 – Remote Services: Windows Remote Management

·      Lateral Movement – T1080 – Taint Shared Content

·      Lateral Movement – T1210 – Exploitation of Remote Services

·      Lateral Movement – T1570 – Lateral Tool Transfer

·      Collection – T1039 – Data from Network Shared Drive

·      Collection – T1074 – Data Staged

·      Exfiltration – T1041 – Exfiltration Over C2 Channel

·      Exfiltration – T1048 – Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol

·      Exfiltration – T1567.002 – Exfiltration Over Web Service: Exfiltration to Cloud Storage

References

[1] https://www.levelblue.com/blogs/levelblue-blog/extortion-as-a-service-the-latest-threat-actor-criminal-ecosystem/

[2] https://blackpointcyber.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/World-Leaks.pdf

[3] https://blackpointcyber.com/threat-profile/world-leaks-ransomware/

[4] https://www.halcyon.ai/threat-group/worldleaks

[5] https://www.moxfive.com/resources/moxfive-threat-actor-spotlight-world-leaks

[6] https://thehackernews.com/2024/08/cybercriminals-abusing-cloudflare.html

[7] https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/tw/security/news/threat-landscape/the-industrialization-of-botnets-automation-and-scale-as-a-new-threat-infrastructure

[8] https://www.morphisec.com/blog/ransomware-without-encryption-why-pure-exfiltration-attacks-are-surging-and-why-theyre-so-hard-to-catch/

[9] https://sed-cms.broadcom.com/sites/default/files/2026-01/RWN-2026-WP100_1.pdf

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Tiana Kelly
Senior Cyber Analyst & Team Lead

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March 11, 2026

NetSupport RAT: How Legitimate Tools Can Be as Damaging as Malware

NetSupport RAT: How Legitimate Tools Can Be as Damaging as MalwareDefault blog imageDefault blog image

What is NetSupport Manager?

NetSupport Manager is a legitimate IT tool used by system administrators for remote support, monitoring, and management. In use since 1989, NetSupport Manager enables users to remotely access and navigate systems across different platforms and operating systems [1].

What is NetSupport RAT?

Although NetSupport Manager is a legitimate tool that can be used by IT and security professionals, there has been a rising number of cases in which it is abused to gain unauthorized access to victim systems. This misuse has become so prevalent that, in recent years, security researchers have begun referring to NetSupport as a Remote Access Trojan (RAT), a term typically used for malware that enables a threat actor to remotely access or control an infected device [2][3][4].

NetSupport RAT activity summary

The initial stages of NetSupport RAT infection may vary depending on the source of the initial compromise. Using tactics such as the social engineering tactic ClickFix, threat actors attempt to trick users into inadvertently executing malicious PowerShell commands under the guise of resolving a non-existent issue or completing a fake CAPTCHA verification [5]. Other attack vectors such as phishing emails, fake browser updates, malicious websites, search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning, malvertising and drive-by downloads are also employed to direct users to fraudulent pages and fake reCAPTCHA verification checks, ultimately inducing them to execute malicious PowerShell commands [5][6][7]. This leads to the successful installation of NetSupport Manager on the compromised device, which is often placed in non-standard directories such as AppData, ProgramData, or Downloads [3][8].

Once installed, the adversary is able to gain remote access to the affected machine, monitor user activity, exfiltrate data, communicate with the command-and-control (C2) server, and maintain persistence [5]. External research has also highlighted that post-exploitation of NetSupport RAT has involved the additional download of malicious payloads [2][5].

Attack flow diagram highlighting key events across each phase of the attack phase
Figure 1: Attack flow diagram highlighting key events across each phase of the attack phase [2][5].

Darktrace coverage

In November of 2025, suspicious behavior indicative of the malicious abuse of NetSupport Manager was observed on multiple customers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and the Americas (AMS).

While open-source intelligence (OSINT) has reported that, in a recent campaign, a threat actor impersonated government entities to trick users in organizations in the Information Technology, Government and Financial Services sectors in Central Asia into downloading NetSupport Manager [8], approximately a third of Darktrace’s affected customers in November were based in the US while the rest were based in EMEA. This contrast underscores how widely NetSupport Manager is leveraged by threat actors and highlights its accessibility as an initial access tool.  

The Darktrace customers affected were in sectors including Information and Communication, Manufacturing and Arts, entertainment and recreation.

The ClickFix social engineering tactic typically used to distribute the NetSupport RAT is known to target multiple industries, including Technology, Manufacturing and Energy sectors [9]. It also reflects activity observed in the campaign targeting Central Asia, where the Information Technology sector was among those affected [8].

The prevalence of affected Education customers highlights NetSupport’s marketing focus on the Education sector [10]. This suggests that threat actors are also aware of this marketing strategy and have exploited the trust it creates to deploy NetSupport Manager and gain access to their targets’ systems. While the execution of the PowerShell commands that led to the installation of NetSupport Manager falls outside of Darktrace's purview in cases identified, Darktrace was still able to identify a pattern of devices making connections to multiple rare external domains and IP addresses associated with the NetSupport RAT, using a wide range of ports over the HTTP protocol. A full list of associated domains and IP addresses is provided in the Appendices of this blog.

Although OSINT identifies multiple malicious domains and IP addresses as used as C2 servers, signature-based detections of NetSupport RAT indicators of compromise (IoCs) may miss broader activity, as new malicious websites linked to the RAT continue to appear.

Darktrace’s anomaly‑based approach allows it to establish a normal ‘pattern of life’ for each device on a network and identify when behavior deviates from this baseline, enabling the detection of unusual activity even when it does not match known IoCs or tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs).

In one customer environment in late 2025, Darktrace / NETWORK detected a device initiating new connections to the rare external endpoint, thetavaluemetrics[.]com (74.91.125[.]57), along with the use of a previously unseen user agent, which it recognized as highly unusual for the network.

Darktrace’s detection of HTTP POST requests to a suspicious URI and new user agent usage.
Figure 2: Darktrace’s detection of HTTP POST requests to a suspicious URI and new user agent usage.

Darktrace identified that user agent present in connections to this endpoint was the ‘NetSupport Manager/1.3’, initially suggesting legitimate NetSupport Manager activity. Subsequent investigation, however, revealed that the endpoint was in fact a malicious NetSupportRAT C2 endpoint [12]. Shortly after, Darktrace detected the same device performing HTTP POST requests to the URI fakeurl[.]htm. This pattern of activity is consistent with OSINT reporting that details communication between compromised devices and NetSupport Connectivity Gateways functioning as C2 servers [11].

Conclusion

As seen not only with NetSupport Manager but with any legitimate or open‑source software used by IT and security professionals, the legitimacy of a tool does not prevent it from being abused by threat actors. Open‑source software, especially tools with free or trial versions such as NetSupport Manager, remains readily accessible for malicious use, including network compromise. In an age where remote work is still prevalent, validating any anomalous use of software and remote management tools is essential to reducing opportunities for unauthorized access.

Darktrace’s anomaly‑based detection enables security teams to identify malicious use of legitimate tools, even when clear signatures or indicators of compromise are absent, helping to prevent further impact on a network.


Credit to George Kim (Analyst Consulting Lead – AMS), Anna Gilbertson (Senior Cyber Analyst)

Edited by Ryan Traill (Analyst Content Lead)

Appendices

Darktrace Model Alerts

·       Compromise / Suspicious HTTP and Anomalous Activity

·       Compromise / New User Agent and POST

·       Device / New User Agent

·       Anomalous Connection / New User Agent to IP Without Hostname

·       Anomalous Connection / Posting HTTP to IP Without Hostname

·       Anomalous Connection / Multiple Failed Connections to Rare Endpoint

·       Anomalous Connection / Application Protocol on Uncommon Port

·       Anomalous Connection / Multiple HTTP POSTs to Rare Hostname

·       Compromise / Beaconing Activity To External Rare

·       Compromise / HTTP Beaconing to Rare Destination

·       Compromise / Agent Beacon (Medium Period)

·       Compromise / Agent Beacon (Long Period)

·       Compromise / Quick and Regular Windows HTTP Beaconing

·       Compromise / Sustained TCP Beaconing Activity To Rare Endpoint

·       Compromise / POST and Beacon to Rare External

Indicators of Compromise (IoCs)

Indicator           Type     Description

/fakeurl.htm URI            NetSupportRAT C2 URI

thetavaluemetrics[.]com        Connection hostname              NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

westford-systems[.]icu            Connection hostname              NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

holonisz[.]com                Connection hostname              NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

heaveydutyl[.]com      Connection hostname              NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

nsgatetest1[.]digital   Connection hostname              NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

finalnovel[.]com            Connection hostname              NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

217.91.235[.]17              IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

45.94.47[.]224                 IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

74.91.125[.]57                 IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

88.214.27[.]48                 IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

104.21.40[.]75                 IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

38.146.28[.]242              IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

185.39.19[.]233              IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

45.88.79[.]237                 IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

141.98.11[.]224              IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

88.214.27[.]166              IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

107.158.128[.]84          IP             NetSupportRAT C2 Endpoint

87.120.93[.]98                 IP             Rhadamanthys C2 Endpoint

References

  1. https://mspalliance.com/netsupport-debuts-netsupport-24-7/
  2. https://blogs.vmware.com/security/2023/11/netsupport-rat-the-rat-king-returns.html
  3. https://redcanary.com/threat-detection-report/threats/netsupport-manager/
  4. https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/security/8.19/netsupport-manager-execution-from-an-unusual-path.html
  5. https://rewterz.com/threat-advisory/netsupport-rat-delivered-through-spoofed-verification-pages-active-iocs
  6. https://thehackernews.com/2025/11/new-evalusion-clickfix-campaign.html
  7. https://corelight.com/blog/detecting-netsupport-manager-abuse
  8. https://thehackernews.com/2025/11/bloody-wolf-expands-java-based.html
  9. https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/preventing-clickfix-attack-vector
  10. https://www.netsupportsoftware.com/education-solutions
  11. https://www.esentire.com/blog/unpacking-netsupport-rat-loaders-delivered-via-clickfix
  12. https://threatfox.abuse.ch/browse/malware/win.netsupportmanager_rat/
  13. https://www.virustotal.com/gui/url/5fe6936a69c786c9ded9f31ed1242c601cd64e1d90cecd8a7bb03182c47906c2

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About the author
George Kim
Analyst Consulting Lead – AMS
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