Play
Play is a ransomware group that has been active since at least 2022 deploying Playcrypt ransomware against the business, government, critical infrastructure, healthcare, and media sectors in North America, South America, and Europe. Play actors employ a double-extortion model, encrypting systems after exfiltrating data, and are presumed by security researchers to operate as a closed group.
- Known attack methods
- 26
- Motive
- Financial gain, Data theft
- First seen
- 2022
- Source
- MITRE ATT&CK
How they break in
Techniques MITRE has documented this group using, mapped onto the ATT&CK matrix. Each one is a behaviour you can look for in your own logs, and a control you can test.
Reconnaissance
12 techniques
Resource Development
9 techniques · 2 used
Initial Access
11 techniques · 1 used
Execution
20 techniques · 1 used
Persistence
22 techniques · 1 used
Privilege Escalation
13 techniques
Stealth
30 techniques · 3 used
Defense Impairment
18 techniques · 1 used
Credential Access
17 techniques · 1 used
Discovery
34 techniques · 6 used
Lateral Movement
9 techniques · 1 used
Collection
17 techniques · 1 used
Command and Control
18 techniques · 1 used
Exfiltration
9 techniques · 2 used
Impact
15 techniques · 1 used
Resource development2
Initial access1
Persistence1
Stealth5
Defense impairment2
Credential access1
Discovery6
Lateral movement1
Collection1
Command and control1
Impact1
Malware
Families MITRE records this group deploying. Detection names for these are a reasonable place to start.
Tools
Legitimate or dual-use software the group is documented using. Most of it is software your own administrators use too, which is the point.