A Real-World Ransomware Gauntlet: LockBit, REvil, Conti, DarkSide, Akira & More
There’s a moment in every product leader’s life when numbers on a roadmap turn into something real.
For me, that moment came inside a Dell Technologies lab, watching eight live ransomware attacks run against the CTERA Global File System– not simulations, not scripted demos, but the same ransomware strains that repeatedly appear in CISA KEV bulletins and real-world enterprise breaches.
Synergy7, an independent cyber testing team, had one job: Try to break us.
Live-Fire Ransomware Evaluation: REvil, LockBit, Akira, Maze, Babuk, Play and What Happens Next
Synergy7 loaded and executed full-spectrum attacks using ransomware families known for speed, stealth, and destructive efficiency:
- LockBit – machine-paced bulk encryption
- REvil – surgical escalation and selective targeting
- DarkSide – rapid file replacement
- Conti – aggressive, noisy encryption bursts
- Akira – hybrid SMB-based encryption
- Maze, Babuk, Play – multi-threaded and lateral-movement variants
Each family behaves differently. Each attacks at a different phase of the kill chain.
But they all share one truth: ransomware becomes noisy the moment it reaches the data.
That is exactly where CTERA watches.
What made the evaluation so compelling was that all these wildly different behaviors ended the same way:
Within seconds, the behavioral AI locked onto the attack. The system snapped into action right after, halting the spread and preserving nearly all of the data.
This is the power of behavior-based detection.
Why Behavior-Based Detection Outperforms Signature Tools
Attackers can change their code, rename their group, or ship a brand-new variant, but they can’t hide the core traits of an attack:
- abnormal access rates
- suspicious rewrite patterns
- encryption-like transformations
- repetitive destructive operations
- machine-paced activity from human accounts
Different families, different “personalities,” same truth: Ransomware becomes noisy the moment it touches the data layer, which is exactly where we watch.
CTERA’s behavioral AI monitors these patterns at the data layer, inside the CTERA Global File System (GFS), across edge sites, data centers, and cloud-backed shares. No matter the variant or payload, the attack becomes visible the moment it manipulates files.
Ransomware Test Results: Speed, Impact, and Accuracy
The Numbers That Matter
A successful stop is simple: detect the attack quickly, keep encryption to a minimum, and avoid false alarms — no matter which ransomware family is involved. Here’s what the evaluation measured, and why these numbers matter:
- 100% Detection Across All Families
Every ransomware attack triggered an accurate behavioral alert. - Minimal Data Impact (Median Only 2.28% Encrypted)
Out of 36,506 files that would normally be fully encrypted, nearly all were preserved. - Ultra-Fast Response (Median 24.5 Seconds)
Attacks were contained before encryption could meaningfully spread. - Zero False Positives
No noise. No guesses. No disruptions to normal operations.
These results aren’t lucky. They’re architectural.
What This Means for Organizations
Today’s ransomware isn’t about malware samples. It’s about the following behaviors:
- sudden access bursts
- systematic file rewrites
- encrypted file replacements
- lateral movements through SMB shares
- changes no human user ever makes at human speed
These are the moments when a platform must react without hesitation. And that’s exactly what the evaluation confirmed.
CTERA stops ransomware at the data layer, before encryption becomes damage. Not theory. Not simulation. Reality.
CTERA Ransom Protect: Behavioral AI Built for Real Attacks
Behavioral AI. Independently Validated. Built for Real Attacks.
