Blog
/
/
July 7, 2020

Cryptomining Campaigns & Technical Analysis of Vulnerability

Crypto-mining campaigns stood no chance against Darktrace's AI as it identified the threat in real time. Put your trust in Darktrace's assistance!
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
Default blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog imageDefault blog image
07
Jul 2020

Introduction

The speed with which attackers can weaponize vulnerabilities is steadily increasing. While technology is rapidly evolving and cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated, the advantages of exploiting software vulnerabilities over devising a more elaborate and lengthy attack plan have not been overlooked by hackers. These vulnerabilities are also a quick way to gain access into a businesses’ infrastructure. In recent years, attackers have found great benefit and substantial success through quickly weaponizing vulnerabilities in web-facing systems.

Just recently, critical vulnerabilities in Citrix Gateway resulted in a spate of activity targeting Darktrace customers, as reported earlier this year. Without an immediate patch released upon the public announcement of the discovered flaws in Citrix, exploits quickly followed. Similarly, in late April, SaltStack developers reported vulnerabilities in Salt, an open source framework used to monitor and update the state of servers in cloud environments and data centers.

The vulnerabilities found in Salt would allow hackers to bypass authentication and authorization controls and execute code in Salt master servers exposed to the internet. The Salt master is responsible for sending commands to Salt minions and can manage thousands of minions at once. Due to this structure, one exposed Salt master can lead to a compromise of all underlying minions.

On May 2, Darktrace detected successful crypto-miner infections across a number of its customers exploiting the CVE-2020-11651 and CVE-2020-11652 vulnerabilities in SaltStack server management software. In the same weekend, LineageOS — an Android mobile operating system – and Ghost — a blogging platform – both reported suffering a crypto-mining attack due to exposed, unpatched Salt servers. Most notable about these attacks was the sheer speed from a vulnerability being published to a widespread attack campaign.

Timeline

Figure 1: A timeline of events identified by Darktrace on May 3

Technical analysis

Initial compromise

Darktrace initially detected that a number of customer servers running SaltStack were making external connections to endpoints previously not seen on the network. The connections used the curl or wget utilities to download and execute a bash script, which would install a secondary-stage payload containing a cryptocurrency miner.

The systems were targeted directly utilizing 2020-11651 and CVE-2020-11652 vulnerabilities in the ZeroMQ protocol running on SaltStack. These vulnerabilities would allow direct remote code execution as root on the targeted systems, allowing the script to be downloaded and executed successfully with highest system privileges.

The downloader script is almost identical to the one utilized in March in H2Miner infections targeting exposed Docker APIs and Redis instances.

Before downloading the secondary stage payload, the script cleans the target system of a number of pre-existing infections and miners, as well as disabling a number of known security tools and software.

Figure 2: The downloader script

Following the initial clean up, the script would iterate through three functions to download the crypto-miner payload — salt-storer

SHA256 837d768875417578c0b1cab4bd0aa38146147799f643bb7b3c6c6d3d82d7aa2a

— from three different hard-coded servers. An MD5 check for the downloaded executable would be performed prior to execution. The below screenshot illustrates two out of the three downloader functions that would be invoked.

Figure 3: Two of the downloader functions

Second stage payload

Following the cryptographic checks, the downloaded ELF LSB executable kicks into action. No payload analysis was carried out, however it’s execution would result in a crypto-miner being installed and a C2 channel opened.

OSINT indicates that several new versions of the payload were observed carrying additional capabilities, including database dumping and advanced persistence methods. The variants detected by Darktrace’s AI included the more advanced “Version 5” payload purported to have worming capabilities, but in this case they were not observed directly.

Command and control

Upon the execution of an LSB executable, a plaintext HTTP C2 channel would be established, sending basic metadata about the infected host such as processor architecture, available resources, and whether root execution was achieved. This indicates that the C2 mechanisms were likely repurposed from other infections, as this particular infection would execute as root, making the respective component redundant.

Figure 4: A Command and control channel

The complete attack lifecycle was investigated and reported on by Darktrace’s Cyber AI Analyst, which automatically surfaced some crucial details regarding the C2 communication, including other servers that were seen making similar communication patterns, as seen in the bottom right below.

Figure 5: The Cyber AI Analyst automatically generating a natural-language summary of the overall security incident

Figure 6: Further information on the suspicious endpoints

Actions on target

Lastly, devices began mining for cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency mining demands a substantial proportion of a device’s processing power, such as CPU and GPU, in order to calculate hashes. However, except for the occasional increase in CPU or RAM usage, it can go undetected for months as traditional security products do not normally detect its pattern of behavior as malicious.

Conclusion

Failing to patch vulnerabilities quickly and decisively can have serious consequences. Sometimes, however, the window of opportunity before an attack hits is too short for patching to be feasible. This example demonstrates how quickly unpatched vulnerabilities can be exploited following an initial public disclosure. And yet, even two months after SaltStack published the updates, many Salt servers remain unpatched and run the risk of becoming compromised.

In the case of Citrix, some exploits led to a ransomware attack. Darktrace’s AI-powered Immune System technology not only detected every stage of these ransomware attacks, but its autonomous response was able to halt any anomalous event and contain further damage.

Because new vulnerabilities are, by nature, unexpected, traditional security tools relying on rules and signatures don’t know to look for malicious activity that arises as a result. However, with its constantly evolving understanding of ‘normal’, Darktrace’s AI detects and investigates any unusual behavior, regardless of its origin or whether an attack has been seen before.

Crypto-mining is still favored among many threat actors due to its ability to generate profits, and a successfully infection can have a serious impact on the confidentiality and integrity of the corporate network. The need for Cyber AI that can detect new vulnerabilities and novel threats, and autonomously respond to stop an attack in its tracks, are critical to ensuring businesses remain secure in the face of cyber-criminals who are mobilizing to exploit vulnerabilities more quickly than ever.

IoCs:

IoCComment144.217.129[.]111Likely C2, URIs: /ms /h /s91.215.152[.]69Likely C2, URI: /h89.223.121[.]139Download of payload sa.sh217.12.210[.]192Download of payload sa.sh45.147.201[.]62Destination for crypto-mining217.12.210[.]245Download of payload salt_storer

Darktrace model breaches:

  • Device / Initial Breach Chain Compromise
  • Compromise / SSL or HTTP Beacon
  • Device / Large Number of Model Breaches
  • Anomalous Connection / New User Agent to IP Without Hostname
  • Anomalous File / Script from Rare External
  • Compromise / Beaconing Activity To External Rare
  • Anomalous Connection / Multiple Failed Connections to Rare Destination
  • Compromise / Sustained SSL or HTTP Increase
  • Compliance / Crypto Currency Mining Activity

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

More in this series

No items found.

Blog

/

Email

/

May 21, 2025

Evaluating Email Security: How to Select the Best Solution for Your Organization

person holding ipadDefault blog imageDefault blog image

When evaluating email security solutions, it’s crucial to move beyond marketing claims and focus on real-world performance. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is through an A/B comparison approach – a side-by-side evaluation of vendors based on consistent, predefined criteria.

This method cuts through biases, reveals true capability differences, and ensures that all solutions are assessed on a level playing field. It’s not just about finding an objectively good solution – it’s about finding the best solution for your organization’s specific needs.

An A/B comparison approach is particularly effective for three main reasons:

  1. Eliminates bias: By comparing solutions under identical conditions, it’s easier to spot differences in performance without the fog of marketing jargon.
  2. Highlights real capabilities: Direct side-by-side testing exposes genuine strengths and weaknesses, making it easier to judge which features are impactful versus merely decorative.
  3. Encourages objective decision-making: This structured method reduces emotional or brand-driven decisions, focusing purely on metrics and performance.

Let’s look at the key factors to consider when setting up your evaluation to ensure a fair, accurate, and actionable comparison.

Deployment: Setting the stage for fair evaluation

To achieve a genuine comparison, deployment must be consistent across all evaluated solutions:

  • Establish the same scope: All solutions should be granted identical visibility across relevant tenants and domains to ensure parity.
  • Set a concrete timeline: Deploy and test each solution with the same dataset, at the same points in time. This allows you to observe differences in learning periods and adaptive capabilities.

Equal visibility and synchronized timelines prevent discrepancies that could skew your understanding of each vendor’s true capabilities. But remember – quicker results might not equal better learning or understanding!

Tuning and configurations: Optimizing for real-world conditions

Properly tuning and configuring each solution is critical for fair evaluation:

  • Compare on optimal performance: Consult with each vendor to understand what optimal deployment looks like for their solution, particularly if machine learning is involved.
  • Consider the long term: Configuration adjustments should be made with long-term usage in mind. Short-term fixes can mask long-term challenges.
  • Data visibility: Ensure each solution can retain and provide search capabilities on all data collected throughout the evaluation period.

These steps guarantee that you are comparing fully optimized versions of each platform, not underperforming or misconfigured ones.

Evaluation: Applying consistent metrics

Once deployment and configurations are aligned, the evaluation itself must be consistent, to prevent unfair scoring and help to identify true differences in threat detection and response capabilities.

  • Coordinate your decision criteria: Ensure all vendors are measured against the same set of criteria, established before testing begins.
  • Understand vendor threat classification: Each vendor may have different ways of classifying threats, so be sure to understand these nuances.
  • Maintain communication: If results seem inaccurate, engage with the vendors. Their response and remediation capabilities are part of the evaluation.

Making a decision: Look beyond the metrics

When it comes to reviewing the performance of each solution, it’s important to both consider and look beyond the raw data. This is about choosing the solution that best aligns with your specific business needs, which may include factors and features not captured in the results.

  • Evaluate based on results: Consider accuracy, threats detected, precision, and response effectiveness.
  • Evaluate beyond results: Assess the overall experience, including support, integrations, training, and long-term alignment with your security strategy.
  • Review and communicate: Internally review the findings and communicate them back to the vendors.

Choosing the right email security solution isn’t just about ticking boxes, it’s about strategic alignment with your organization’s goals and the evolving threat landscape. A structured, A/B comparison approach will help ensure that the solution you select is truly the best fit.

For a full checklist of the features and capabilities to compare, as well as how to perform a commercial and technical evaluation, check out the full Buyer’s Checklist for Evaluating Email Security.

[related-resource]

Continue reading
About the author
Carlos Gray
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Email

Blog

/

OT

/

May 21, 2025

Adapting to new USCG cybersecurity mandates: Darktrace for ports and maritime systems

Cargo ships at a portDefault blog imageDefault blog image

What is the Marine Transportation System (MTS)?

Marine Transportation Systems (MTS) play a substantial roll in U.S. commerce, military readiness, and economic security. Defined as a critical national infrastructure, the MTS encompasses all aspects of maritime transportation from ships and ports to the inland waterways and the rail and roadways that connect them.

MTS interconnected systems include:

  • Waterways: Coastal and inland rivers, shipping channels, and harbors
  • Ports: Terminals, piers, and facilities where cargo and passengers are transferred
  • Vessels: Commercial ships, barges, ferries, and support craft
  • Intermodal Connections: Railroads, highways, and logistics hubs that tie maritime transport into national and global supply chains

The Coast Guard plays a central role in ensuring the safety, security, and efficiency of the MTS, handling over $5.4 trillion in annual economic activity. As digital systems increasingly support operations across the MTS, from crane control to cargo tracking, cybersecurity has become essential to protecting this lifeline of U.S. trade and infrastructure.

Maritime Transportation Systems also enable international trade, making them prime targets for cyber threats from ransomware gangs to nation-state actors.

To defend against growing threats, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) has moved from encouraging cybersecurity best practices to enforcing them, culminating in a new mandate that goes into effect on July 16, 2025. These regulations aim to secure the digital backbone of the maritime industry.

Why maritime ports are at risk

Modern ports are a blend of legacy and modern OT, IoT, and IT digitally connected technologies that enable crane operations, container tracking, terminal storage, logistics, and remote maintenance.

Many of these systems were never designed with cybersecurity in mind, making them vulnerable to lateral movement and disruptive ransomware attack spillover.

The convergence of business IT networks and operational infrastructure further expands the attack surface, especially with the rise of cloud adoption and unmanaged IoT and IIoT devices.

Cyber incidents in recent years have demonstrated how ransomware or malicious activity can halt crane operations, disrupt logistics, and compromise safety at scale threatening not only port operations, but national security and economic stability.

Relevant cyber-attacks on maritime ports

Maersk & Port of Los Angeles (2017 – NotPetya):
A ransomware attack crippled A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest shipping company. Operations at 17 ports, including the Port of Los Angeles, were halted due to system outages, causing weeks of logistical chaos.

Port of San Diego (2018 – Ransomware Attack):
A ransomware attack targeted the Port of San Diego, disrupting internal IT systems including public records, business services, and dockside cargo operations. While marine traffic was unaffected, commercial activity slowed significantly during recovery.

Port of Houston (2021 – Nation-State Intrusion):
A suspected nation-state actor exploited a known vulnerability in a Port of Houston web application to gain access to its network. While the attack was reportedly thwarted, it triggered a federal investigation and highlighted the vulnerability of maritime systems.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India (2022 – Ransomware Incident):
India’s largest container port experienced disruptions due to a ransomware attack affecting operations and logistics systems. Container handling and cargo movement slowed as IT systems were taken offline during recovery efforts.

A regulatory shift: From guidance to enforcement

Since the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) of 2002, ports have been required to develop and maintain security plans. Cybersecurity formally entered the regulatory fold in 2020 with revisions to 33 CFR Part 105 and 106, requiring port authorities to assess and address computer system vulnerabilities.

In January 2025, the USCG finalized new rules to enforce cybersecurity practices across the MTS. Key elements include (but are not limited to):

  • A dedicated cyber incident response plan (PR.IP-9)
  • Routine cybersecurity risk assessments and exercises (ID.RA)
  • Designation of a cybersecurity officer and regular workforce training (section 3.1)
  • Controls for access management, segmentation, logging, and encryption (PR.AC-1:7)
  • Supply chain risk management (ID.SC)
  • Incident reporting to the National Response Center

Port operators are encouraged to align their programs with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF 2.0) and NIST SP 800-82r3, which provide comprehensive guidance for IT and OT security in industrial environments.

How Darktrace can support maritime & ports

Unified IT + OT + Cloud coverage

Maritime ports operate in hybrid environments spanning business IT systems (finance, HR, ERP), industrial OT (cranes, gates, pumps, sensors), and an increasing array of cloud and SaaS platforms.

Darktrace is the only vendor that provides native visibility and threat detection across OT/IoT, IT, cloud, and SaaS environments — all in a single platform. This means:

  • Cranes and other physical process control networks are monitored in the same dashboard as Active Directory and Office 365.
  • Threats that start in the cloud (e.g., phishing, SaaS token theft) and pivot or attempt to pivot into OT are caught early — eliminating blind spots that siloed tools miss.

This unification is critical to meeting USCG requirements for network-wide monitoring, risk identification, and incident response.

AI that understands your environment. Not just known threats

Darktrace’s AI doesn’t rely on rules or signatures. Instead, it uses Self-Learning AI TM that builds a unique “pattern of life” for every device, protocol, user, and network segment, whether it’s a crane router or PLC, SCADA server, Workstation, or Linux file server.

  • No predefined baselines or manual training
  • Real-time anomaly detection for zero-days, ransomware, and supply chain compromise
  • Continuous adaptation to new devices, configurations, and operations

This approach is critical in diverse distributed OT environments where change and anomalous activity on the network are more frequent. It also dramatically reduces the time and expertise needed to classify and inventory assets, even for unknown or custom-built systems.

Supporting incident response requirements

A key USCG requirement is that cybersecurity plans must support effective incident response.

Key expectations include:

  • Defined response roles and procedures: Personnel must know what to do and when (RS.CO-1).
  • Timely reporting: Incidents must be reported and categorized according to established criteria (RS.CO-2, RS.AN-4).
  • Effective communication: Information must be shared internally and externally, including voluntary collaboration with law enforcement and industry peers (RS.CO-3 through RS.CO-5).
  • Thorough analysis: Alerts must be investigated, impacts understood, and forensic evidence gathered to support decision-making and recovery (RS.AN-1 through RS.AN-5).
  • Swift mitigation: Incidents must be contained and resolved efficiently, with newly discovered vulnerabilities addressed or documented (RS.MI-1 through RS.MI-3).
  • Ongoing improvement: Organizations must refine their response plans using lessons learned from past incidents (RS.IM-1 and RS.IM-2).

That means detections need to be clear, accurate, and actionable.

Darktrace cuts through the noise using AI that prioritizes only high-confidence incidents and provides natural-language narratives and investigative reports that explain:

  • What’s happening, where it’s happening, when it’s happening
  • Why it’s unusual
  • How to respond

Result: Port security teams often lean and multi-tasked can meet USCG response-time expectations and reporting needs without needing to scale headcount or triage hundreds of alerts.

Built-for-edge deployment

Maritime environments are constrained. Many traditional SaaS deployment types often are unsuitable for tugboats, cranes, or air-gapped terminal systems.

Darktrace builds and maintains its own ruggedized, purpose-built appliances and unique virtual deployment options that:

  • Deploy directly into crane networks or terminal enclosures
  • Require no configuration or tuning, drop-in ready
  • Support secure over-the-air updates and fleet management
  • Operate without cloud dependency, supporting isolated and air-gapped systems

Use case: Multiple ports have been able to deploy Darktrace directly into the crane’s switch enclosure, securing lateral movement paths without interfering with the crane control software itself.

Segmentation enforcement & real-time threat containment

Darktrace visualizes real-time connectivity and attack pathways across IT, OT, and IoT it and integrates with firewalls (e.g., Fortinet, Cisco, Palo Alto) to enforce segmentation using AI insights alongside Darktrace’s own native autonomous and human confirmed response capabilities.

Benefits of autonomous and human confirmed response:

  • Auto-isolate rogue devices before the threat can escalate
  • Quarantine a suspicious connectivity with confidence operations won’t be halted
  • Autonomously buy time for human responders during off-hours or holidays
  • This ensures segmentation isn't just documented but that in the case of its failure or exploitation responses are performed as a compensating control

No reliance on 3rd parties or external connectivity

Darktrace’s supply chain integrity is a core part of its value to critical infrastructure customers. Unlike solutions that rely on indirect data collection or third-party appliances, Darktrace:

  • Uses in-house engineered sensors and appliances
  • Does not require transmission of data to or from the cloud

This ensures confidence in both your cyber visibility and the security of the tools you deploy.

See examples here of how Darktrace stopped supply chain attacks:

Readiness for USCG and Beyond

With a self-learning system that adapts to each unique port environment, Darktrace helps maritime operators not just comply but build lasting cyber resilience in a high-threat landscape.

Cybersecurity is no longer optional for U.S. ports its operationally and nationally critical. Darktrace delivers the intelligence, automation, and precision needed to meet USCG requirements and protect the digital lifeblood of the modern port.

Continue reading
About the author
Daniel Simonds
Director of Operational Technology
Your data. Our AI.
Elevate your network security with Darktrace AI