Colt Telecom Breach: WarLock Ransomware Claims Attack, Data Listed for Sale By CyberDudeBivash – Ruthless, Engineering-Grade Threat Intel

1) Executive Summary

UK network services provider Colt Technology Services is recovering from a cyberattack that disrupted multiple customer-facing systems for days. Ransomware operation WarLock has claimed responsibility and a threat actor says stolen Colt data is for sale, posting samples and pricing on underground channels. Early industry reporting suggests the intrusion may tie to recent SharePoint exploitation that several security teams link to WarLock campaigns. BleepingComputer Computer Weekly Dark Reading BankInfoSecurity

2) What’s impacted

Colt reported outages affecting hosting and porting services, Colt Online, and Voice API platforms as part of its containment actions. The firm took systems offline while incident response proceeded, with customer support also disrupted. BleepingComputer Techzine Global Cyber Security Review

3) Adversary profile: WarLock

WarLock is a fast-maturing ransomware outfit observed in 2025 campaigns leveraging SharePoint zero-days/patch bypasses, data theft, and stealthy web shells. Multiple vendors associate activity with Microsoft’s “Storm-2603” cluster, noting overlaps with other ransomware ecosystems. Expect double-extortion (theft + encryption) and opportunistic targeting of internet-facing collaboration servers. Halcyon watchguard.com BankInfoSecurity

4) Data for sale claim

A user claiming WarLock affiliation offered ~1M Colt documents for $200,000, publishing proof-of-theft samples (financial, employee, and customer records). While CyberDudeBivash has not independently verified the dump, multiple outlets corroborate the listing and screenshots. Treat this as a confirmed exfiltration scenario until proven otherwise. Dark Reading BleepingComputer

5) Probable intrusion vector (current assessment)

Investigations spotlight on-prem SharePoint as a favored WarLock ingress route in recent campaigns (“ToolShell” chain / Project AK47 tooling). Media coverage on Colt’s case specifically notes the attack may have arisen via a SharePoint flaw, consistent with the 2025 wave. If your estate runs SharePoint, assume probing and hunt for exploitation artifacts immediately. Computer Weekly Unit 42 BankInfoSecurity

6) MITRE ATT&CK mapping (likely)

Initial Access – Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) via SharePoint. BankInfoSecurity
Execution – Web shell / script interpreter (T1059). Unit 42
Privilege Escalation / Lateral Movement – Credential access & AD abuse (T1003, T1550/T1558). (general ransomware tradecraft)
Exfiltration – Exfil over web/C2 (T1041), then Impact – Encrypt data (T1486). (general ransomware tradecraft)

7) Blue-Team Playbook (do this now)

A) Contain & verify

Network isolation of affected segments; preserve volatile artifacts (memory, netflow, web logs).
Validate egress controls from collaboration tiers (SharePoint/IIS) to block data staging/exfil.

B) Hunt for SharePoint exploitation & web shells

Review IIS logs for anomalous POSTs to /_layouts/ or SOAP endpoints, odd user-agents, and high-entropy file names.
Search for unexpected .aspx / .ashx files, non-Microsoft DLLs in SharePoint paths, and recently modified app pools.
Check Windows Event Logs for new service creation, scheduled tasks, or PowerShell execution bursts. (Aligned with ToolShell/AK47 reporting.) Unit 42

C) Identity hardening (assume token theft)

Reset/rotate service accounts, app secrets, and ASP.NET machine keys; invalidate sessions and refresh signing keys.
Enforce MFA + conditional access for admin roles; enable PAM/JIT elevation only. (Microsoft guidance for SharePoint exploitation waves.) Tom’s Hardware

D) Patch & configuration

Apply the latest SharePoint security updates (including July patch trains and any out-of-band fixes), confirm patch-bypass mitigations, and restart IIS post-update.
Enable AMSI/Defender (or equivalent) with near-real-time telemetry on SharePoint servers. Tom’s Hardware

E) DLP & leak tracking

Assume exfiltration: monitor dark-web leak sites and paste platforms; deploy DLP policies on sensitive repositories; prepare customer/regulatory comms.

8) For Colt customers & partners

If you consume Colt hosting/voice/API services, request:

Scope of data exposure (which environments, time windows, and datasets).
IOC package and timeline for your own log correlation.
Service-level recovery plan and token/credential rotation guidance for integrations (Voice API, Colt Online). BleepingComputer

9) Strategic takeaways (Telecom sector)

Telecoms remain high-value for downstream access to enterprise networks; third-party SaaS/collab is today’s soft underbelly.
SharePoint-centric ransomware waves (WarLock/Storm-2603) show rapid exploit operationalization after disclosure—patch velocity must match. BankInfoSecurity

10) Sources to monitor

BleepingComputer incident coverage & service outages. BleepingComputer
ComputerWeekly / The Register for ongoing recovery details and vector analysis. Computer Weekly The Register
Dark Reading for the data-for-sale development. Dark Reading
Unit 42 + Microsoft on ToolShell / SharePoint exploits tied to WarLock. Unit 42 Tom’s Hardware

CyberDudeBivash Recommendations

CISOs: Treat all on-prem SharePoint as Tier-0 risk until fully patched and re-keyed; mandate Zero Trust around collaboration tiers.
Blue Teams: Build a SharePoint attack surface dashboard (exposure, patch level, anomalous traffic, web-shell heuristics).
Red/Purple Teams: Emulate ToolShell → web-shell → data staging chains in pre-production labs to validate detections.

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