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	"created_at": "2026-04-06T00:12:40.22577Z",
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	"title": "Detecting Unknown Ransomware: A Darktrace Case Study",
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	"plain_text": "Detecting Unknown Ransomware: A Darktrace Case Study\r\nBy Emma Foulger\r\nPublished: 2022-08-24 · Archived: 2026-04-05 18:52:59 UTC\r\nProtecting a complex, fast-growing retail organization\r\nFor this multi-banner grocery holding organization, cybersecurity is considered an essential business enabler,\r\nprotecting operations, growth, and customer trust. The organization’s lean IT team manages a highly distributed\r\nenvironment spanning corporate offices, 100+ stores, distribution centers and  thousands of endpoints, users, and\r\nthird-party connections.\r\nMergers and acquisitions fueled rapid growth, but they also introduced escalating complexity that constrained\r\nvisibility into users, endpoints, and security risks inherited across acquired environments.\r\nClosing critical visibility gaps with limited resources\r\nEnterprise-wide visibility is a top priority for the organization, says the  Vice President of Information Technology.\r\n“We needed insights beyond the perimeter into how users and devices were behaving across the organization.”\r\nA security breach that occurred before the current IT leadership joined the company reinforced the urgency and\r\nelevated cybersecurity to an executive-level priority with a focus on protecting customer trust. The goal was to\r\nbuild a multi-layered security model that could deliver autonomous, enterprise-wide protection without adding\r\nheadcount.\r\nManaging cyber risk in M\u0026A\r\nMergers and acquisitions are central to the grocery holding company’s growth strategy. But each transaction\r\nintroduces new cyber risk, including inherited network architectures, inconsistent tooling, excessive privileges,\r\nand remnants of prior security incidents that were never fully remediated.\r\n“Our M\u0026A targets range from small chains with a single IT person and limited cyber tools to large\r\nchains with more developed IT teams, toolsets and instrumentation,” explains the VP of IT. “We needed\r\na fast, repeatable, and reliable way to assess cyber risk before transactions closed.”\r\nAI-driven security built for scale, speed, and resilience\r\nRather than layering additional point tools onto an already complex environment, the retailer adopted the\r\nDarktrace ActiveAI Security Platform™ in 2020 as part of a broader modernization effort to improve resilience,\r\nclose visibility gaps, and establish a security foundation that could scale with growth.\r\n“Darktrace’s AI-driven approach provided the ideal solution to these challenges,” shares the VP of IT. “It has\r\nempowered our organization to maintain a robust security strategy, ensuring the protection of our network and the\r\nhttps://de.darktrace.com/blog/detecting-the-unknown-revealing-uncategorised-ransomware-using-darktrace\r\nPage 1 of 3\n\nsmooth operation of our business.”\r\nEnterprise-wide visibility into traffic  \r\nBy monitoring both north-south and east-west traffic and applying Self-Learning AI, Darktrace develops a\r\ndynamic understanding of how users and devices normally behave across locations, roles, and systems.\r\n“Modeling normal behavior across the environment enables us to quickly spot behavior that doesn’t fit. Even\r\nsubtle changes that could signal a threat but appear legitimate at first glance,” explains the VP of IT.\r\nReal-time threat containment, 24/7\r\nAdopting autonomous response has created operational breathing room for the security team, says the company’s\r\nCybersecurity  Engineer.\r\n“Early on, we enabled full Darktrace autonomous mode and we continue to do so today,” shares the IT Security\r\nArchitect. “Allowing the technology to act first gives us the time we need to investigate incidents during business\r\nhours without putting the business at risk.”\r\nUnified, actionable view of security ecosystem\r\nThe grocery retailer integrated Darktrace with its existing security ecosystem of firewalls, vulnerability\r\nmanagement tools, and endpoint detection and response, and the VP of IT described the adoption process as\r\n“exceptionally smooth.”\r\nThe team can correlate enterprise-wide security data for a unified and actionable picture of all activity and risk.\r\nUsing this “single pane of glass” approach, the retailer trains Level 1 and Level 2 operations staff to assist with\r\ninvestigations and user follow-ups, effectively extending the reach of the security function without expanding\r\nheadcount.\r\nFrom reactive defense to security at scale\r\nWith Darktrace delivering continuous visibility, autonomous containment, and integrated security workflows, the\r\norganization has strengthened its cybersecurity posture while improving operational efficiency. The result is a\r\nsecurity model that not only reduces risk, but also supports growth, resilience, and informed decision-making at\r\nthe business level.\r\nFaster detection, faster resolution\r\nWith autonomous detection and response, the retailer can immediately contain risk while analysts investigate and\r\nvalidate activity. With this approach, the company can maintain continuous protection even outside business hours\r\nand reduce the chance of lateral spread across systems or locations.\r\nEnterprise-grade protection with a lean team\r\nhttps://de.darktrace.com/blog/detecting-the-unknown-revealing-uncategorised-ransomware-using-darktrace\r\nPage 2 of 3\n\nFrom cloud environments to clients to SaaS collaboration tools, Darktrace provides holistic autonomous AI\r\ndefense, processing petabytes of the organization’s network traffic and investigating millions of individual events\r\nthat could be indicative of a wider incident.\r\nToday, Darktrace autonomously conducts the majority of all investigations on behalf of the IT team, escalating\r\nonly a tiny fraction for analyst review. The impact has been profound, freeing analysts from endless alerts and\r\nhours of triage so they can focus on more valuable, proactive, and gratifying work.\r\n“From an operational perspective, Darktrace gives us time back,” says the Cybersecurity Engineer.\r\nMore importantly, says the VP of IT, “it gives us peace of mind that we’re protected even if we’re not\r\nactively monitoring every alert.”\r\nA strategic input for M\u0026A decision-making\r\nOne of the most strategic outcomes has been the role of cybersecurity on M\u0026A. 90 days prior to closing a\r\ntransaction, the security team uses Darktrace alongside other tools to perform a cyber risk assessment of the\r\npotential acquisition. “Our approach with Darktrace has consistently identified gaps and exposed risks,” says the\r\nVP of IT, including:\r\nRemnants of previous incidents that were never fully remediated\r\nNetwork configurations with direct internet exposure\r\nExcessive administrative privileges in Active Directory or on critical hosts\r\nWhile security findings may not alter deal timelines, the VP of IT says they can have enormous business\r\nimplications. “With early visibility into these risks, we can reduce exposure to inherited cyber threats, strengthen\r\nour position during negotiations, and establish clear remediation requirements.”\r\nA security strategy built to evolve with the business\r\nAs the holding group expands its cloud footprint, it will extend Darktrace protections into Azure, applying the\r\nsame AI-driven visibility and autonomous response to cloud workloads. The VP of IT says Darktrace's evolving\r\ncapabilities will be instrumental in addressing the organization’s future cybersecurity needs and ability to adapt to\r\nthe dynamic nature of cloud security.\r\n“With Darktrace’s AI-driven approach, we have moved beyond reactive defense, establishing a resilient security\r\nfoundation for confident expansion and modernization.”\r\nSource: https://de.darktrace.com/blog/detecting-the-unknown-revealing-uncategorised-ransomware-using-darktrace\r\nhttps://de.darktrace.com/blog/detecting-the-unknown-revealing-uncategorised-ransomware-using-darktrace\r\nPage 3 of 3",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"Malpedia"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://de.darktrace.com/blog/detecting-the-unknown-revealing-uncategorised-ransomware-using-darktrace"
	],
	"report_names": [
		"detecting-the-unknown-revealing-uncategorised-ransomware-using-darktrace"
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	"threat_actors": [],
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