Lure Deconfliction

Lure Deconfliction

Before the first email leaves the wire, the customer's blue-team contact MUST acknowledge the campaign metadata. This is the legal coverage for the engagement - without it, you're a malicious phisher.

Why this is mandatory

A phishing campaign that surprises the blue team produces:

• Helpdesk ticket volume (real users reporting suspicious mail).
• Detection rules firing on lookalike domains, RoE-out-of-scope.
• Escalation to leadership / external counsel.
• Potential SOC overtime that the engagement is supposed to test with awareness, not as a surprise.

It also exposes the engagement to legal risk: phishing without written authorization is a crime in most jurisdictions. The RoE + deconfliction ack is the documentation that protects the operator.

Inputs you need

From plan/roe.json:

{
  "escalation_contacts": {
    "blue_team_contact": {
      "name": "...",
      "channel": "signal:@user / email: addr / phone: +...",
      "available": "Mon-Fri 09:00-18:00 KST",
      "ack_method": "signal_message | email_reply | voice_confirm"
    }
  },
  "engagement_id": "RT-2026-0142"
}

Handshake payload

Construct ONE message containing:

Subject: [DECEPTICON RT-2026-0142] Phishing campaign deconfliction

Engagement: RT-2026-0142
Campaign id: <gophish-campaign-id-or-evilginx-phishlet>
Send window: 2026-05-27 14:00 - 16:00 KST
Target count: <N> users
Target population: <description, e.g. "all @engineering of acme.com">
Pretext class: <internal_it_password_reset | external_invoice | shared_doc | ...>
Lure URL: https://login.acme-portal.example/
Lure domain registration: 2026-05-26 (lookalike of acme.com)
Opt-out URL (in every lure): https://decepticon.example/optout/RT-2026-0142

REQUEST: confirm you've received this message before 13:30 KST.
If we have not received an ack by 13:45 KST, the campaign WILL NOT send
and the objective will be marked BLOCKED.

Send it via the configured channel

The ack_method in roe.json drives:

• signal_message: bash -c 'signal-cli -u <operator> send -m "..." <contact>'
• email_reply: standard SMTP via the engagement's deconfliction mailbox.
• voice_confirm: log the planned call in plan/phisher/deconfliction-log.md; operator must complete the call out-of-band and update the log before the campaign send-time.

Wait for ack

Poll the channel until the ack arrives OR the deadline expires.

while true; do
  if ack_received; then break; fi
  if past_deadline; then
    update_objective(status='blocked',
      reason='blue-team contact unreachable for lure-deconfliction')
    return
  fi
  sleep 60
done

Record evidence

Append to plan/phisher/deconfliction-log.md:

## Campaign RT-2026-0142 / gophish-id-12

- Sent: 2026-05-27 12:31:04 UTC via signal_message
- Recipient: <contact>
- Ack received: 2026-05-27 12:48:11 UTC
- Ack message id: <signal-message-id>
- Ack text: "Acknowledged, send window 14:00-16:00 KST approved."

Persist as a Finding node in the knowledge graph with finding_type: "deconfliction_ack", the ack message id, and the timestamp. This is the audit trail for the engagement deliverable.

Failure modes

• Contact unreachable: pause objective, ask operator via ask_user_question for an alternate contact or a write-down.
• Contact denies the campaign: the campaign DOES NOT send. The objective is marked BLOCKED with the denial recorded. The orchestrator may dispatch you against a different target user set, or move to a different INITIAL_ACCESS technique.
• Contact requests modification (e.g. "not the CFO, but their assistant is fine"): update the target list and re-send the handshake.

ZFP

Two-method evidence for the ack:

1. The actual ack message from the channel.
2. The Finding node with the message id in Neo4j.

Both must exist before the campaign send-step proceeds.