2026-10-01 - TRAFFIC ANALYSIS EXERCISE: NATUREFORCE

NOTE:

• Zip files are password-protected.  Of note, this site has a new password scheme.  For the password, see the "about" page of this website.

ASSOCIATED FILE:

• Zip archive of the pcap:  2026-10-01-traffic-analysis-exercise.pcap.zip   33.1 MB (33,137,313 bytes)

BACKGROUND

Working as an analyst at a security operations center (SOC), you see the following alerts:

• 107.175.82[.]242:9000 - Windows executable (EXE) file sent from IP address over unusual TCP port
• 195.64.128[.]106:443 - CNCmachineRMS RAT C2 traffic

You retrieve a packet capture (pcap) of traffic from the associated Windows host to review the activity and verify the alerts.

The characteristics of this environment are:

• LAN segment range:  10.10.1[.]0/24   (10.10.1[.]0 through 10.10.1[.]255)
• Domain:  natureforce[.]com
• AD environment name:  NATUREFORCE
• Active Directory (AD) domain controller:  10.10.1[.]10 - WIN-LEKBU2OY51N
• LAN segment gateway:  10.10.1[.]1
• LAN segment broadcast address:  10.10.1[.]255

Shown above: Pcap for this exercise opened in Wireshark.

YOUR TASK

For this exercise, answer the following questions for your incident report:

• What is the IP address of the infected Windows client?
• What is the MAC address of the infected Windows client?
• What is the host name of the infected Windows client?
• What is the user account name from the infected Windows client?
• What is the SHA-256 hash of the Windows EXE file sent from 107.175.82[.]242:9000 to the Windows client

ANSWERS

• Click here for the answers.

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