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December 21, 2020

How AI Stopped a WastedLocker Ransomware Intrusion & Fast

Stop WastedLocker ransomware in its tracks with Darktrace AI technology. Learn about how AI detected a recent attack using 'Living off the Land' techniques.
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
Max Heinemeyer
Global Field CISO
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21
Dec 2020

Since first being discovered in May 2020, WastedLocker has made quite a name for itself, quickly becoming an issue for businesses and cyber security firms around the world. WastedLocker is known for its sophisticated methods of obfuscation and steep ransom demands.

Its use of ‘Living off the Land’ techniques makes a WastedLocker attack extremely difficult for legacy security tools to detect. An ever-decreasing dwell time – the time between initial intrusion and final execution – means human responders alone struggle to contain the ransomware variant before damage is done.

This blog examines the anatomy of a WastedLocker intrusion that targeted a US agricultural organization in December. Darktrace’s AI detected and investigated the incident in real time, and we can see how Darktrace RESPOND would have autonomously taken action to stop the attack before encryption had begun.

As ransomware dwell time shrinks to hours rather than days, security teams are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence to stop threats from escalating at the earliest signs of compromise – containing attacks even when they strike at night or on the weekend.

How the WastedLocker attack unfolded

Figure 1: A timeline of the attack

Initial intrusion

The initial infection appears to have taken place when an employee was deceived into downloading a fake browser update. Darktrace AI was monitoring the behavior of around 5,000 devices at the organization, continuously adapting its understanding of the evolving ‘pattern of life’. It detected the first signs of a threat when a virtual desktop device started making HTTP and HTTPS connections to external destinations that were deemed unusual for the organization. The graph below depicts how the patient zero device exhibited a spike in internal connections around December 4.

Figure 2: The patient zero device exhibiting a spike in internal connections, with orange dots indicating model breaches of varying severity

Reconnaissance

Attempted reconnaissance began just 11 minutes after the initial intrusion. Again, Darktrace immediately picked up on the activity, detecting unusual ICMP ping scans and targeted address scans on ports 135, 139 and 445; presumably as the attacker looked for potential further Windows targets. The below demonstrates the scanning detections based on the unusual number of new failed connections.

Figure 3: Darktrace detecting an unusual number of failed connections

Lateral movement

The attacker used an existing administrative credential to authenticate against a Domain Controller, initiating new service control over SMB. Darktrace picked this up immediately, identifying it as unusual behavior.

Figure 4: Darktrace identifying the DCE-RPC requests
Figure 5: Darktrace surfacing the SMB writes

Several hours later – and in the early hours of the morning – the attacker used a temporary admin account ‘tempadmin’ to move to another Domain Controller over SMB. Darktrace instantly detected this as it was highly unusual to use a temporary admin account to connect from a virtual desktop to a Domain Controller.

Figure 6: Further anomalous connections detected the following day

Lock and load: WastedLocker prepares to strike

During the beaconing activity, the attacker also conducted internal reconnaissance and managed to establish successful administrative and remote connections to other internal devices by using tools already present. Soon after, a transfer of suspicious .csproj files was detected by Darktrace, and at least four other devices began exhibiting similar command and control (C2) communications.

However, with Darktrace’s real-time detections – and Cyber AI Analyst investigating and reporting on the incident in a number of minutes, the security team were able to contain the attack, taking the infected devices offline.

Automated investigations with Cyber AI Analyst

Darktrace’s Cyber AI Analyst launched an automatic investigation around every anomaly detection, forming hypotheses, asking questions about its own findings, and forming accurate answers at machine speed. It then generated high-level, intuitive incident summaries for the security team. Over the 48 hour period, the AI Analyst surfaced just six security incidents in total, with three of these directly relating to the WastedLocker intrusion.

Figure 7: The Cyber AI Analyst threat tray

The snapshot below shows a VMWare device (patient zero) making repeated external connections to rare destinations, scanning the network and using new admin credentials.

Figure 8: Cyber AI Analyst investigates

Darktrace RESPOND: AI that responds when the security team cannot

Darktrace RESPOND – the world’s first and only Autonomous Response technology – was configured in passive mode, meaning it did not actively interfere with the attack, but if we dive back into the Threat Visualizer we can see that Antigena in fully autonomous mode would have responded to the attack at this early stage, buying the security team valuable time.

In this case, after the initial unusual SSL C2 detection (based on a combination of destination rarity, JA3 unusualness and frequency analysis), RESPOND (formerly known as 'Antigena', as shown in the screenshots below) suggested instantly blocking the C2 traffic on port 443 and parallel internal scanning on port 135.

Figure 9: The Threat Visualizer reveals the action Antigena would have taken

When beaconing was later observed to bywce.payment.refinedwebs[.]com, this time over HTTP to /updateSoftwareVersion, RESPOND escalated its response by blocking the further C2 channels.

Figure 10: Antigena escalates its response

The vast majority of response tools rely on hard-coded, pre-defined rules, formulated as ‘If X, do Y’. This can lead to false positives that unnecessarily take devices offline and hamper productivity. Darktrace RESPOND's actions are proportionate, bespoke to the organization, and not created in advance. Darktrace Antigena autonomously chose what to block and the severity of the blocks based on the context of the intrusion, without a human pre-eminently hard-coding any commands or set responses.

Every response over the 48 hours was related to the incident – RESPOND did not try to take action on anything else during the intrusion period. It simply would have actioned a surgical response to contain the threat, while allowing the rest of the business to carry on as usual. There were a total of 59 actions throughout the incident time period – excluding the ‘Watched Domain Block’ actions shown below – which are used during incident response to proactively shut down C2 communication.

Figure 11: All Antigena action attempts during the intrusion period across the whole organization

RESPOND would have delivered those blocks via whatever integration is most suitable for the organization – whether that be Firewall integrations, NACL integrations or other native integrations. The technology would have blocked the malicious activity on the relevant ports and protocols for several hours – surgically interrupting the threat actors’ intrusion activity, thus preventing further escalation and giving the security team air cover.

Stopping WastedLocker ransomware before encryption ensues

This attack used many notable Tools, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) to bypass signature-based tools. It took advantage of ‘Living off the Land’ techniques, including Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), Powershell, and default admin credential use. Only one of the involved C2 domains had a single hit on Open Source Intelligence Lists (OSINT); the others were unknown at the time. The C2 was also encrypted with legitimate Thawte SSL Certificates.

For these reasons, it is plausible that without Darktrace in place, the ransomware would have been successful in encrypting files, preventing business operations at a critical time and possibly inflicting huge financial and reputational losses to the organization in question.

Darktrace’s AI detects and stops ransomware in its tracks without relying on threat intelligence. Ransomware has thrived this year, with attackers constantly coming up with new attack TTPs. However, the above threat find demonstrates that even targeted, sophisticated strains of ransomware can be stopped with AI technology.

Thanks to Darktrace analyst Signe Zaharka for her insights on the above threat find.

Learn more about Autonomous Response

Darktrace model detections:

  • Compliance / High Priority Compliance Model Breach
  • Compliance / Weak Active Directory Ticket Encryption
  • Anomalous Connection / Cisco Umbrella Block Page
  • Anomalous Server Activity / Anomalous External Activity from Critical Network Device
  • Compliance / Default Credential Usage
  • Compromise / Suspicious TLS Beaconing To Rare External
  • Anomalous Server Activity / Rare External from Server
  • Device / Lateral Movement and C2 Activity
  • Compromise / SSL Beaconing to Rare Destination
  • Device / New or Uncommon WMI Activity
  • Compromise / Watched Domain
  • Antigena / Network / External Threat / Antigena Watched Domain Block
  • Compromise / HTTP Beaconing to Rare Destination
  • Compromise / Slow Beaconing Activity To External Rare
  • Device / Multiple Lateral Movement Model Breaches
  • Compromise / High Volume of Connections with Beacon Score
  • Device / Large Number of Model Breaches
  • Compromise / Beaconing Activity To External Rare
  • Antigena / Network / Significant Anomaly / Antigena Controlled and Model Breach
  • Anomalous Connection / New or Uncommon Service Control
  • Antigena / Network / Significant Anomaly / Antigena Significant Anomaly from Client Block
  • Compromise / SSL or HTTP Beacon
  • Antigena / Network / External Threat / Antigena Suspicious Activity Block
  • Antigena / Network / Significant Anomaly / Antigena Breaches Over Time Block
  • Compromise / Sustained SSL or HTTP Increase
  • Unusual Activity / Unusual Internal Connections
  • Device / ICMP Address Scan

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
Max Heinemeyer
Global Field CISO

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June 18, 2025

Darktrace Collaborates with Microsoft: Unifying Email Security with a Shared Vision

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In today’s threat landscape, email remains the most targeted vector for cyberattacks. Organizations require not only multi-layered defenses but also advanced, integrated systems that work collaboratively to proactively mitigate threats before they cause damage

That’s why we’re proud to announce a new integration between Darktrace / EMAIL and Microsoft Defender for Office 365, delivering a Unified Quarantine experience that empowers security teams with seamless visibility, control, and response across both platforms.

This announcement builds on a strong and growing collaboration. In 2024, Darktrace was honored as Microsoft UK Partner of the Year and recognized as a Security Trailblazer at the annual Microsoft Security 20/20 Awards, a testament to our shared commitment to innovation and customer-centric security.

A Shared Mission: Stopping Threats at Machine Speed

This integration is more than a technical milestone,as it’s a reflection of a shared mission: to protect organizations from both known and unknown threats, with efficiency, accuracy, and transparency.

  • Microsoft Defender for Office 365 delivers a comprehensive security framework that safeguards Microsoft 365 email and collaboration workloads leveraging advanced AI, global threat intelligence and information on known attack infrastructure.
  • Darktrace / EMAIL complements this with Self-Learning AI that understands the unique communication patterns within each organization, detecting subtle anomalies that evade traditional detection methods.

Together, we’re delivering multi-layered, adaptive protection that’s greater than the sum of its parts.

“Our integration with Microsoft gives security teams the tools they need to act faster and more precisely to detect and respond to threats,” said Jill Popelka, CEO of Darktrace. “Together, we’re strengthening defenses where it matters most to our customers: at the inbox.”

Unified Quarantine: One View, Total Clarity

The new Unified Quarantine experience gives customers a single pane of glass to view and manage email threatsregardless of which product took action. This means:

  • Faster investigations with consolidated visibility
  • Clear attribution of actions and outcomes across both platforms
  • Streamlined workflows for security teams managing complex environments

“This integration is a testament to the power of combining Microsoft’s global threat intelligence with Darktrace’s unique ability to understand the ‘self’ of an organization,” said Jack Stockdale, CTO of Darktrace. “Together, we’re delivering a new standard in proactive, adaptive email security.”

A New Era of Collaborative Cyber Defense

This collaboration represents a broader shift in cybersecurity: from siloed tools to integrated ecosystems. As attackers become more sophisticated, defenders must move faster, smarter, and in unison.

Through this integration, Darktrace and Microsoft establish a new standard for collaboration between native and third-party security solutions, enhancing not only threat detection but also comprehensive understanding and proactive measures against threats.

We’re excited to bring this innovation to our customers and continue building a future where AI and human expertise collaborate to secure the enterprise.

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Carlos Gray
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Email

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June 19, 2025

Customer Case Study: Leading Petrochemical Manufacturer

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Headquartered in Saudi Arabia, this industry leading petrochemical manufacturer serves customers in more than 80 countries across diverse markets throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, China, and Southeast Asia.

Cyber resiliency critical to growth strategy

This leading petrochemical manufacturer’s vision is to be one of the major global players in the production and marketing of designated petrochemicals and downstream products. The company aims to significantly increase its capacity to up to a million metric tons within the next few years.

With cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure increasing 30% globally last year, cyber resiliency is essential to supporting the company’s strategic business goals of:

  • Maximizing production through efficient asset utilization
  • Maximizing sales by conducting 90% of its business outside Saudi Arabia
  • Optimizing resources and processes by integrating with UN Global Compact principles for sustainability and efficiency
  • Growing its business portfolio by engaging in joint ventures to diversify production and add value to the economy

However, the industry leader faced several challenges in its drive to fortify its cybersecurity defenses.

Visibility gaps delay response time

The company’s existing security setup provided limited visibility to the in-house security team, hindering its ability to detect anomalous network and user activity in real time. This resulted in delayed responses to potential incidents, making proactive issue resolution difficult and any remediation in the event of a successful attack costly and time-consuming.

Manual detection drains resources

Without automated detection and response capabilities, the organization’s security team had to manually monitor for suspicious activity – a time-consuming and inefficient approach that strained resources and left the organization vulnerable. This made it difficult for the team to stay current with training or acquire new skills and certifications, which are core to the ethos of both the company’s owners and the team itself.

Cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure increasing

The petrochemical manufacturer is part of a broader ecosystem of companies, making the protection of its supply chain – both upstream and downstream – critical. With several manufacturing entities and multiple locations, the customer’s internal structure is complex and challenging to secure. As cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure escalate, it needed a more comprehensive approach to safeguard its business and the wider ecosystem.

Keeping and growing skills and focus in-house

To strengthen its cybersecurity strategy, the company considered two options:

  1. Make a significant initial and ongoing investment in a Security Operations Center (SOC), which would involve skills development outside the company and substantial management overhead.
  2. Use a combination of new, automated tools and an outsourced Managed Detection and Response (MDR) service to reduce the burden on internal security specialists and allow the company to invest in upskilling its staff so they can focus on more strategic tasks.

Faced with this choice between entirely outsourcing security and augmenting the security team with new capabilities, the customer chose the second option, selecting Darktrace to automate the company’s monitoring, detection, and response. Today, the petrochemical manufacturer is using:

Extending the SOC with 24/7 expert support

To alleviate the burden on its lean security team, the company augmented its in-house capabilities with Darktrace’s Managed Detection & Response service. This support acts as an extension of its SOC, providing 24/7 monitoring, investigation, and escalation of high-priority threats. With Darktrace’s global SOC managing alert triage and autonomously containing threats, the organization’s internal team can focus on strategic initiatives. The result is a stronger security posture and increased capacity to proactively address evolving cyber risks – without expanding headcount or sacrificing visibility.

A unique approach to AI

In its search for a new security platform, the company’s Director of Information Technology said Darktrace’s autonomous response capability, coupled with Self-Learning AI-driven threat reduction, were two big reasons for selecting Darktrace over competing products and services.

AI was a huge factor – no one else was doing what Darktrace was doing with [AI].”

Demonstrated visibility

Before Darktrace, the customer had no visibility into the network activity to and from remote worker devices. Some employees need the ability to connect to its networks at any time and from any location, including the Director of Information Technology. The trial deployment of Darktrace / ENDPOINT was a success and gave the team peace of mind that, no matter the location or device, high-value remote workers were protected by Darktrace.

Modular architecture  

Darktrace's modular architecture allowed the company to deploy security controls across its complex, multi-entity environment. The company’s different locations run on segregated networks but are still interconnected and need to be protected. Darktrace / NETWORK provides a unified view and coordinated security response across the organization’s entire network infrastructure, including endpoint devices.

Results

The petrochemical manufacturer is using Darktrace across all of its locations and has achieved total visibility across network and user activity. “Darktrace is increasing in value every day,” said the Director of Information Technology.

I don’t have a big team, and Darktrace makes our lives very, very easy, not least the automation of some of the tasks that require constant manual review.”

Time savings frees analysts to focus on proactive security

Darktrace / NETWORK provides continuous, AI-driven monitoring and analysis of the company’s network activity, user behavior, and threat patterns, establishing a baseline of what normal activity looks like, and then alerting analysts to any deviations from normal traffic, activity, and behaviors. Darktrace’s autonomous response capabilities speed up response to detected threats, meaning intervention from the security team is required for fewer incidents and alerts.

In October 2024 alone, Darktrace Cyber AI Analyst saved the team 810 investigation hours, and autonomously responded to 180 anomalous behaviors that were uncovered during the investigations. With Darktrace managing the majority of threat detection and response efforts, the security team has been able to change its day-to-day activity from manual review of traffic and alerts and belated response to activity, to proactively fortifying its detection and response posture and upskilling to meet evolving requirements.  

Layered email protection reduces phishing threats

The company’s email infrastructure posed a challenge due to petrochemical industry regulations requiring on-premises email servers, with some security delivered via Microsoft Azure. By integrating Darktrace / EMAIL into the Azure stack, the organization has reduced the volume of phishing emails its users receive by 5%.

“Now we have one more layer of security related to email – every email goes through two filters. If something is not being caught or traced by Azure, it is being detected by Darktrace,” said the Director of Information Technology. “As a result, we’re now seeing only about 15% to 20% of the phishing emails we used to receive before implementing Darktrace.”

Preparing for a secure future

The time saved using Darktrace has helped the security team take proactive steps, including preparing for new cyber resilience regulations for Saudi Arabia’s Critical National Infrastructure, as mandated by the National Cybersecurity Authority (NCA).

“The team now has ample time to prepare policies and procedures that meet the new NCA regulations and, in some cases, enhance the requirements of the new law,” said the Director of Information Technology. “All of this is possible because they don’t need to keep watch; Darktrace takes on so much of that task for them.”

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