Google Cloud last week disclosed that it identified 34 different hacked release versions of the Cobalt Strike tool in the wild, the earliest of which shipped in November 2012.
The versions, spanning 1.44 to 4.7, add up to a total of 275 unique JAR files, according to findings from the Google Cloud Threat Intelligence (GCTI) team. The latest version of Cobalt Strike is version 4.7.2.
Cobalt Strike, developed by Fortra (née HelpSystems), is a popular adversarial framework used by red teams to simulate attack scenarios and test the resilience of their cyber defenses.
It comprises a Team Server that acts as the command-and-control (C2) hub to remotely commandeer infected devices and a stager that’s designed to deliver a next-stage payload called the Beacon, a fully-featured implant that reports back to the C2 server.
