RITA
RITA
One-liner: Open-source framework for detecting C2 communication by analyzing network traffic via Zeek logs.
🎯 What Is It?
RITA (Real Intelligence Threat Analytics) is an open-source framework created by Active Countermeasures. Its core functionality is to detect Command and Control (C2) communication by analyzing network traffic captures and logs. RITA correlates captured fields including IP addresses, ports, timestamps, and connection durations to identify suspicious behavior patterns.
🔬 How It Works
RITA only accepts network traffic input as Zeek logs. It runs several analysis modules collecting information like:
- Periodic connection intervals (beaconing)
- Excessive number of DNS queries
- Long FQDNs and random subdomains
- Volume of data over time over HTTPS, DNS, or non-standard ports
- Self-signed or short-lived certificates
- Known malicious IPs via threat intel feeds
⚡ Quick Reference
Installation
# RITA is typically run via Docker or native install
# See: https://github.com/activecm/rita
Convert PCAP to Zeek Logs
zeek readpcap <pcapfile> <outputdirectory>
# Example:
zeek readpcap pcaps/suspicious.pcap zeek_logs/suspicious
Import Zeek Logs to RITA
rita import --logs ~/zeek_logs/suspicious/ --database suspicious
View Analysis Results
rita view <database-name>
📖 Detection Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| C2 Beacon Detection | Identifies periodic "check-in" connections |
| DNS Tunneling Detection | Flags excessive queries, long subdomains |
| Long Connection Detection | Unusual persistent connections |
| Data Exfiltration Detection | Large outbound data volumes |
| Threat Intel Feeds | Cross-references known malicious IPs |
| Severity Scoring | Ranks connections by risk level |
📊 RITA Results Columns
| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Severity | Risk score based on threat modifiers |
| Source/Destination | IP addresses or FQDNs |
| Beacon | Likelihood of beaconing behavior (%) |
| Duration | Connection length (long = suspicious) |
| Subdomains | Number of subdomains (high = suspicious) |
| Threat Intel | Matches on threat intel feeds |
🔧 Threat Modifiers
| Modifier | Detection Purpose |
|---|---|
| MIME type/URI mismatch | HTTP header doesn't match URI |
| Rare signature | Unusual TLS handshake patterns |
| Prevalence | Low % of hosts connecting to destination |
| First Seen | New external host on network |
| Missing host header | HTTP connections without host header |
| Large outgoing data | Potential exfiltration |
| No direct connections | Hidden/complex C2 patterns |
🔍 Search Syntax
# Enter search mode with /
/
# Search fields
dst:<destination> # Filter by destination
src:<source> # Filter by source
beacon:>=<percentage> # Beacon score threshold
sort:duration-desc # Sort by duration descending
# Example: Find all high-beacon connections to a domain
dst:rabbithole.malhare.net beacon:>=70 sort:duration-desc
💡 Pro Tips
- Larger datasets provide more accurate results; small captures are prone to false positives
- The
First Seenmodifier is less reliable with short capture windows - Cross-reference RITA findings with VirusTotal for IOC validation
- Pivot from RITA results back into Zeek logs and PCAP for deeper analysis
📝 My Use Cases
- Used in C2 Detection - Command & Carol to detect C2 beacons from captured network traffic
- Threat hunting for persistent connections and DNS anomalies
🎤 Interview Angles
Common Questions
- "What tools would you use to detect C2 traffic?"
- "How do you analyze network traffic for beaconing behavior?"
- "What indicators suggest C2 communication?"
STAR Story
Situation: Large volume of network traffic needed analysis for potential C2 activity.
Task: Identify any command and control communication without manually reviewing PCAPs.
Action: Converted PCAP to Zeek logs, imported into RITA, analyzed beacon scores and threat modifiers. Identified high-severity connections with regular intervals and long FQDNs.
Result: Detected AsyncRAT C2 beacon to a malicious Cloudflare tunnel. Blocked the C2 domain and initiated incident response.
🔗 Related Tools
- Zeek — Generates the logs RITA analyzes
- Wireshark — Deep packet inspection
- VirusTotal — IOC verification
- Suricata — IDS for signature-based detection