Fake IP Scanner to BlackCat Ransomware
A multi-day, hands-on-keyboard intrusion that began with a malvertising lure for a popular network scanning utility and ended in enterprise-wide BlackCat ransomware. The trojanized installer side-loaded a malicious library to stage Sliver and Cobalt Strike, the operator dumped credentials living-off-the-land, moved laterally over SMB, exfiltrated data with a renamed Restic client to a dedicated host, then deleted shadow copies and encrypted the estate. Reconstruct the full kill chain from SIEM, endpoint XDR, and perimeter firewall telemetry, and classify the key ATT&CK techniques.
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Investigation Tasks
Complete each task by investigating alerts and submitting your findings.
Incident brief
0Orient yourself before pivoting into the data. This is a no-answer briefing checkpoint.
Find the initial payload
35Every later event traces back to one execution on one workstation. Identify the file the user was tricked into running.
Classify the loader's execution-hijack technique
30The implants did not launch from an obviously malicious process. Identify the MITRE ATT&CK sub-technique for how attacker code first ran under a trusted binary.
Recover the harvested administrator
35The operator dumped credential memory and got a privileged account. Identify the account they recovered and reused.
Separate the exfiltration from the command channel
35The operator kept command and control and data theft on different infrastructure. Identify the external IP that received the exfiltrated data.
Classify the recovery-inhibition step
30Just before encryption the operator made sure the victim could not roll back. Classify what they did.
Recover the encryptor indicator
35Pin down the file-level indicator for the ransomware payload so it can be hunted. Provide the SHA-256 of the encryptor binary.
Classify the credential-access technique
30Name how the operator stole the privileged credential in the first place. Classify the credential-dumping technique used on the workstation.
8 tasks · 230 points total
Training Tools
Skills You'll Build
Complex multi-stage investigations. Realistic noise, ambiguous indicators, lateral movement.
Prerequisites
- Basic understanding of security alerts
- Experience with log analysis tools
- Familiarity with SIEM concepts
- Familiarity with XDR concepts
- Familiarity with Firewall concepts
Ready to investigate?
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