Understanding your organization's attack surface and why it poses a risk
As business infrastructures continue to increase in breadth and complexity, it's important to keep ahead of changes within your own organization's attack surface and stay ahead of attackers.
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
Vincent Thiele
Deputy CISO
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02
Jun 2021
What is the attack surface of an organization?
Your attack surface is the sum of the exposed and internet-facing assets, and the associated risks a hacker can exploit to carry out a cyber-attack. Over the past decade or so, that attack surface has changed dramatically. Long gone are the days when the only things exposed to the outside world were your website and your mail server.
Today, increased complexity means that many organization often have huge attack surfaces – in fact, we believe that the attack surface has grown by around 1000% in the past 10 years.
Definition and components of the attack surface
The attack surface of an organization refers to the sum of all points where an unauthorized user (the attacker) can try to enter data to or extract data from an environment. Reducing the attack surface is a fundamental aspect of cybersecurity. Here are some components of the attack surface:
Exposed Assets:
Endpoints: Devices like computers, smartphones, tablets, and IoT devices that connect to the network.
Servers: Including web servers, database servers, application servers, and cloud-based servers.
Applications: Software applications, including those running on the network, desktop applications, and cloud applications.
Network Infrastructure: Routers, switches, firewalls, and other network devices.
Internet-Facing Assets:some text
Websites and Web Applications: Publicly accessible websites and web services.
APIs: Application Programming Interfaces that can be accessed over the internet.
Email Servers: Servers responsible for handling incoming and outgoing emails.
Cloud Services: Services hosted on cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
Evolution of the attack surface
If that wasn’t enough of a challenge in itself, the modern attack surface is constantly evolving. The explosion of connected technologies means there are a host of new threat points within organizations: from third-party SaaS and IaaS providers, to VPNs, and from marketing partners who run campaigns and build infrastructures for you to the challenges of BYOD and shadow IT.
On top of this, the agile development world of DevOps is an additional challenge with apps being central to most financial institutions’ business models. The use of bi-weekly sprints and continuous deployments means infrastructures are in an almost constant state of change.
Below is just a quick snapshot of some of the areas where different departments can make changes to your attack surface under the radar and that you need to be aware of when trying to protect your data:
Cloud adoption, migrations – Exposed assets and storage buckets
Development Team – New Assets and Testing
Networks – New Netblocks and advertisements
Marketing – New subdomains for landing pages hosted at design companies
Sales – Campaigns and e-Commerce
IT operations – Configuration Changes, Patching, New Assets, and services
Security – Fixes, Agent deployments, new assets
Mergers and Acquisitions – Risk associated with newly acquired assets
Subsidiaries – Complexities of assets not controlled
Supply Chain Risk – Hosting providers, third parties
And that’s without taking into account the effects of the Covid pandemic. Changing infrastructure due to new working practices alongside the turbo-boost that digital transformation has been given resulting in a rapid shift to the cloud of everything from HR services to core business applications, have added a whole new layer of possible weak points and attack vectors for organisations. Every one of these factors increases the risk of your business’s data being compromised in some way.
Attackers are changing too
But it’s not just the proper indexing and management of new assets that you need to be concerned about. Attackers are getting more and more sophisticated in the techniques and technologies they use to locate and exploit vulnerabilities, and different areas of exploitation are appearing all the time.
Many companies already deploy a range of both defensive and offensive techniques to defend their networks from cyber attacks, including advanced, complex and expensive Threat Intelligence teams that track campaigns run by cyber criminals.
However, even if you do have the money and resources to create skilled teams like this, something as simple as a web server with an exploitable vulnerability can easily go unnoticed, leaving it open for a threat actor to exploit that asset. And in the end, manually checking and fixing every little misconfiguration is not the kind of repetitive work you employ an expert team for.
Don't be undone by simple mistakes
Malicious or just simple mistakes are almost impossible to track and control, and they can result in the most extensive exposures to a business. There are constant examples of configuration changes implemented that resulted in regulatory breaches or opening vulnerabilities that have been exploited. Security teams will focus on external and internal actors, but monitoring resulting changes requires an external view.
With your attack surface moving and changing all the time, it is crucial to be in control of this on a day-to-day basis, and to understand the risks posed to your organization. Yet, having the comprehensive overview that allows you to be in control and to protect against threat actors has seemingly never been more difficult to achieve.
Attack surface management
If your organization continues to take an inside-out approach to your security, you will not be able to see the blind spots that will ultimately introduce the brand's biggest risk. Instead, you can see how a threat actor sees your business and your brand by deploying an effective attack surface solution that gives you a comprehensive view of where your possible threats are.
Ultimately, this allows you to take back control of your attack surface by monitoring risk, confirming changes have been made, and monitoring security policy governance. Such an automated solution will not only help detect the biggest security threats, but will also provide the insights into your overall attack surface, giving you all the data needed to take your security to the next level.
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.
Untangling the web: Darktrace’s investigation of Scattered Spider’s evolving tactics
What is Scattered Spider?
Scattered Spider is a native English-speaking group, also referred to, or closely associated with, aliases such as UNC3944, Octo Tempest and Storm-0875. They are primarily financially motivated with a clear emphasis on leveraging social engineering, SIM swapping attacks, exploiting legitimate tooling as well as using Living-Off-the-Land (LOTL) techniques [1][2].
In recent years, Scattered Spider has been observed employing a shift in tactics, leveraging Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) platforms in their attacks. This adoption reflects a shift toward more scalable attacks with a lower barrier to entry, allowing the group to carry out sophisticated ransomware attacks without the need to develop it themselves.
While RaaS offerings have been available for purchase on the Dark Web for several years, they have continued to grow in popularity, providing threat actors a way to cause significant impact to critical infrastructure and organizations without requiring highly technical capabilities [12].
This blog focuses on the group’s recent changes in tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) reported by open-source intelligence (OSINT) and how TTPs in a recent Scattered Spider attack observed by Darktrace compare.
How has Scattered Spider been reported to operate?
First observed in 2022, Scattered Spider is known to target various industries globally including telecommunications, technology, financial services, and commercial facilities.
Overview of key TTPs
Scattered Spider has been known to utilize the following methods which cover multiple stages of the Cyber Kill Chain including initial access, lateral movement, evasion, persistence, and action on objective:
Social engineering [1]:
Impersonating staff via phone calls, SMS and Telegram messages; obtaining employee credentials (MITRE techniques T1598,T1656), multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes such as one-time passwords, or convincing employees to run commercial remote access tools enabling initial access (MITRE techniques T1204,T1219,T1566)
Phishing using specially crafted domains containing the victim name e.g. victimname-sso[.]com
MFA fatigue: sending repeated requests for MFA approval with the intention that the victim will eventually accept (MITRE technique T1621)
SIM swapping [1][3]:
Includes hijacking phone numbers to intercept 2FA codes
This involves the actor migrating the victim's mobile number to a new SIM card without legitimate authorization
Reconnaissance, lateral movement & command-and-control (C2) communication via use of legitimate tools:
Examples include Mimikatz, Ngrok, TeamViewer, and Pulseway [1]. A more recently reported example is Teleport [3].
Financial theft through their access to victim networks: Extortion via ransomware, data theft (MITRE technique T1657) [1]
Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver (BYOVD) techniques [4]:
Exploiting vulnerable drivers to evade detection from Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) security products (MITRE technique T1068) frequently used against Windows devices.
LOTL techniques
LOTL techniques are also closely associated with Scattered Spider actors once they have gained initial access; historically this has allowed them to evade detection until impact starts to be felt. It also means that specific TTPs may vary from case-to-case, making it harder for security teams to prepare and harden defences against the group.
Prominent Scattered Spider attacks over the years
While attribution is sometimes unconfirmed, Scattered Spider have been linked with a number of highly publicized attacks since 2022.
Smishing attacks on Twilio: In August 2022 the group conducted multiple social engineering-based attacks. One example was an SMS phishing (smishing) attack against the cloud communication platform Twilio, which led to the compromise of employee accounts, allowing actors to access internal systems and ultimately target Twilio customers [5][6].
Phishing and social engineering against MailChimp: Another case involved a phishing and social engineering attack against MailChimp. After gaining access to internal systems through compromised employee accounts the group conducted further attacks specifically targeting MailChimp users within cryptocurrency and finance industries [5][7].
Social engineering against Riot Games: In January 2023, the group was linked with an attack on video game developer Riot Games where social engineering was once again used to access internal systems. This time, the attackers exfiltrated game source code before sending a ransom note [8][9].
Attack on Caesars & MGM: In September 2023, Scattered Spider was linked with attacked on Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International, two of the largest casino and gambling companies in the United States. It was reported that the group gathered nearly six terabytes of stolen data from the hotels and casinos, including sensitive information of guests, and made use of the RaaS strain BlackCat [10].
Ransomware against Marks & Spencer: More recently, in April 2025, the group has also been linked to the alleged ransomware incident against the UK-based retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) making use of the DragonForce RaaS [11].
How a recent attack observed by Darktrace compares
In May 2025, Darktrace observed a Scattered Spider attack affecting one of its customers. While initial access in this attack fell outside of Darktrace’s visibility, information from the affected customer suggests similar social engineering techniques involving abuse of the customer’s helpdesk and voice phishing (vishing) were used for reconnaissance.
Initial access
It is believed the threat actor took advantage of the customer’s third-party Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications, such as Salesforce during the attack.
Such applications are a prime target for data exfiltration due to the sensitive data they hold; customer, personnel, and business data can all prove useful in enabling further access into target networks.
Techniques used by Scattered Spider following initial access to a victim network tend to vary more widely and so details are sparser within OSINT. However, Darktrace is able to provide some additional insight into what techniques were used in this specific case, based on observed activity and subsequent investigation by its Threat Research team.
Lateral movement
Following initial access to the customer’s network, the threat actor was able to pivot into the customer’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment.
Darktrace observed the threat actor spinning up new virtual machines and activating cloud inventory management tools to enable discovery of targets for lateral movement.
In some cases, these virtual machines were not monitored or managed by the customer’s security tools, allowing the threat actor to make use of additional tooling such as AnyDesk which may otherwise have been blocked.
Tooling in further stages of the attack sometimes overlapped with previous OSINT reporting on Scattered Spider, with anomalous use of Ngrok and Teleport observed by Darktrace, likely representing C2 communication. Additional tooling was also seen being used on the virtual machines, such as Pastebin.
Figure 1: Cyber AI Analyst’s detection of C2 beaconing to a teleport endpoint with hostname CUSTOMERNAME.teleport[.]sh, likely in an attempt to conceal the traffic.
Leveraging LOTL techniques
Alongside use of third-party tools that may have been unexpected on the network, various LOTL techniques were observed during the incident; this primarily involved the abuse of standard network protocols such as:
SAMR requests to alter Active Directory account details
Lateral movement over RDP and SSH
Data collection over LDAP and SSH
Coordinated exfiltration activity linked through AI-driven analysis
Multiple methods of exfiltration were observed following internal data collection. This included SSH transfers to IPs associated with Vultr, alongside significant uploads to an Amazon S3 bucket.
While connections to this endpoint were not deemed unusual for the network at this stage due to the volume of traffic seen, Darktrace’s Cyber AI Analyst was still able to identify the suspiciousness of this behavior and launched an investigation into the activity.
Cyber AI Analyst successfully correlated seemingly unrelated internal download and external upload activity across multiple devices into a single, broader incident for the customer’s security team to review.
Figure 2: Cyber AI Analyst Incident summary showing a clear outline of the observed activity, including affected devices and the anomalous behaviors detected.
Figure 3: Cyber AI Analyst’s detection of internal data downloads and subsequent external uploads to an Amazon S3 bucket.
Exfiltration and response
Unfortunately, as Darktrace was not configured in Autonomous Response mode at the time, the attack was able to proceed without interruption, ultimately escalating to the point of data exfiltration.
Despite this, Darktrace was still able to recommend several Autonomous Response actions, aimed at containing the attack by blocking the internal data-gathering activity and the subsequent data exfiltration connections.
These actions required manual approval by the customer’s security team and as shown in Figure 3, at least one of the recommended actions was subsequently approved.
Had Darktrace been enabled in Autonomous Response mode, these measures would have been applied immediately, effectively halting the data exfiltration attempts.
Figure 4: Further recommendations for Autonomous Response actions in Darktrace‘s Incident Interface, with surgical response targeting both the internal data collection and subsequent exfiltration.
Scattered Spider’s use of RaaS
In this recent Scattered Spider incident observed by Darktrace, exfiltration appears to have been the primary impact. While no signs of ransomware deployment were observed here, it is possible that this was the threat actors’ original intent, consistent with other recent Scattered Spider attacks involving RaaS platforms like DragonForce.
DragonForce emerged towards the end of 2023, operating by offering their platform and capabilities on a wide scale. They also launched a program which offered their affiliates 80% of the eventual ransom, along with tools for further automation and attack management [13].
The rise of RaaS and attacker customization is fragmenting TTPs and indicators, making it harder for security teams to anticipate and defend against each unique intrusion.
While DragonForce appears to be the latest RaaS used by Scattered Spider, it is not the first, showcasing the ongoing evolution of tactics used the group.
In addition, the BlackCat RaaS strain was reportedly used by Scattered Spider for their attacks against Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International [10].
In 2024 the group was also seen making use of additional RaaS strains; RansomHub and Qilin [15].
What security teams and CISOs can do to defend against Scattered Spider
The ongoing changes in tactics used by Scattered Spider, reliance on LOTL techniques, and continued adoption of evolving RaaS providers like DragonForce make it harder for organizations and their security teams to prepare their defenses against such attacks.
CISOs and security teams should implement best practices such as MFA, Single Sign-On (SSO), notifications for suspicious logins, forward logging, ethical phishing tests.
Also, given Scattered Spider’s heavy focus on social engineering, and at times using their native English fluency to their advantage, it is critical to IT and help desk teams are reminded they are possible targets.
Beyond social engineering, the threat actor is also adept at taking advantage of third-party SaaS applications in use by victims to harvest common SaaS data, such as PII and configuration data, that enable the threat actor to take on multiple identities across different domains.
With Darktrace’s Self-Learning AI, anomaly-based detection, and Autonomous Response inhibitors, businesses can halt malicious activities in real-time, whether attackers are using known TTPs or entirely new ones. Offerings such as Darktrace /Attack Surface Management enable security teams to proactively identify signs of malicious activity before it can cause an impact, while more generally Darktrace’s ActiveAI Security Platform can provide a comprehensive view of an organization’s digital estate across multiple domains.
Credit to Justin Torres (Senior Cyber Analyst), Emma Foulger (Global Threat Research Operations Lead), Zaki Al-Dhamari (Cyber Analyst), Nathaniel Jones (VP, Security & AI Strategy, FCISO), and Ryan Traill (Analyst Content Lead)
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The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and is provided "as is" without any representations or warranties, express or implied. While Darktrace makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the content related to cybersecurity threats such as Scattered Spider, we make no warranties or guarantees regarding the completeness, reliability, or suitability of the information for any purpose.
This blog post does not constitute professional cybersecurity advice, and should not be relied upon as such. Readers should seek guidance from qualified cybersecurity professionals or legal counsel before making any decisions or taking any actions based on the content herein.
No warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of performance, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement, is given with respect to the contents of this post.
Darktrace expressly disclaims any liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on the information contained in this blog.
The rapid migration to cloud resources has security teams playing catch up. While they attempt to apply traditional on-prem tools to the cloud, it’s becoming increasingly clear that they are not fit for purpose. Especially in the context of forensics and incident response, the cloud presents unique complexities that demand cloud-specific solutions.
Organizations are increasingly adopting services from multiple cloud platforms (in fact, recent studies suggest 89% of organizations now operate multi-cloud environments), and container-based and serverless setups have become the norm. Security analysts already have enough on their plates; it’s unrealistic to expect them to be cloud experts too.
Why Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR) roles are so hard to fill
Compounding these issues of alert fatigue and cloud complexity, there is a lack of DFIR talent. The cybersecurity skills gap is a well-known problem.
According to the 2024 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, there is a global shortage of 4.8 million cybersecurity workers, up 19% from the previous year.
Why is this such an issue?
Highly specialized skill set: DFIR professionals need to have a deep understanding of various operating systems, network protocols, and security architectures, even more so when working in the cloud. They also need to be proficient in using a wide range of forensic tools and techniques. This level of expertise takes a lot of time and effort to develop.
Rapid technological changes: The cloud landscape is constantly changing and evolving with new services, monitoring tools, security mechanisms, and threats emerging regularly. Keeping up with these changes and staying current requires continuous learning and adaptation.
Lack of formal education and training: There are limited educational programs specifically dedicated for DFIR. Further, an industry for cloud DFIR has yet to be defined. While some universities and institutions offer courses or certifications in digital forensics, they may not cover the full spread of knowledge required in real-world incident response scenarios, especially for cloud-based environments.
High-stress nature of the job: DFIR professionals often work under tight deadlines in high-pressure situations, especially when handling security incidents. This can lead to burnout and high turnover rates in the profession.
Bridging the skills gap with usable cloud digital forensics and incident response tools
To help organizations close the DFIR skills gap, it's critical that we modernize our approaches and implement a new way of doing things in DFIR that's fit for the cloud era. Modern cloud forensics and incident response platforms must prioritize usability in order to up-level security teams. A platform that is easy to use has the power to:
Enable more advanced analysts to be more efficient and have the ability to take on more cases
Uplevel more novel analysts to perform more advanced tasks than ever before
Eliminate cloud complexity– such as the complexities introduced by multi-cloud environments and container-based and serverless setups
What to look for in cloud forensics and incident response solutions
Data enrichment: Automated correlation of collected data with threat intelligence feeds, both external and proprietary, delivers immediate insight into suspicious or malicious activities. Data enrichment expedites investigations, enabling analysts to seamlessly pivot from key events and delve deeper into the raw data.
Single timeline view: A unified perspective across various cloud platforms and data sources is crucial. A single timeline view empowers security teams to seamlessly navigate evidence based on timestamps, events, users, and more, enhancing investigative efficiency. Pulling together a timeline has historically been a very time consuming task when using traditional approaches.
Saved search: Preserving queries during investigations allows analysts to re-execute complex searches or share them with colleagues, increasing efficiency and collaboration.
Faceted search: Facet search options provide analysts with quick insights into core data attributes, facilitating efficient dataset refinement.
Cross-cloud investigations: Analyzing evidence acquired from multiple cloud providers in a single platform is crucial for security teams. A unified view and timeline across cross cloud is critical in streamlining investigations.
How Darktrace can help
Darktrace’s cloud offerings have been bolstered with the acquisition of Cado Security Ltd., which enables security teams to gain immediate access to forensic-level data in multi-cloud, container, serverless, SaaS, and on-premises environments.
Not only does Darktrace offer centralized automation solutions for cloud forensics and investigation, but it also delivers a proactive approach Cloud Detection and Response (CDR). Darktrace / CLOUD is built with advanced AI to make cloud security accessible to all security teams and SOCs. By using multiple machine learning techniques, Darktrace brings unprecedented visibility, threat detection, investigation, and incident response to hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
![Cyber AI Analyst’s detection of C2 beaconing to a teleport endpoint with hostname CUSTOMERNAME.teleport[.]sh, likely in an attempt to conceal the traffic.](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/626ff4d25aca2edf4325ff97/68798ca3603c1ac18b3ed3d6_Screenshot%202025-07-17%20at%204.51.51%E2%80%AFPM.png)
