HOMETHREATSUnfading Sea Haze
APT / THREAT GROUP🕵️ ESPIONAGEADVANCED

Unfading Sea Haze

🇨🇳China-attributed
1
campaigns
1
aliases
Last seen:Mar 17, 2026

Intelligence Profile

Unfading Sea Haze is a threat actor focused on espionage, targeting government and military organizations in the South China Sea region since 2018. They employ spear-phishing emails with malicious attachments to gain initial access, followed by the deployment of custom malware such as Gh0st RAT variants and SharpJSHandler. The group utilizes scheduled tasks and manipulates local administrator accounts for persistence, while also incorporating Remote Monitoring and Management tools into their attacks. Unfading Sea Haze demonstrates a sophisticated and patient approach, remaining undetected for years and showing adaptability through evolving exfiltration tactics and malware arsenal.

Threat Analysis

Unfading Sea Haze is a advanced-sophistication threat actor attributed to China, engaged in cyber operations with a primary motivation of espionage.

The group's espionage-oriented operations suggest a state-sponsored or state-aligned mandate, typically focused on stealing intellectual property, government secrets, or military intelligence. Targets are usually selected for strategic value rather than financial gain.

Classified as an advanced threat actor, Unfading Sea Haze likely develops or acquires zero-day exploits, employs custom malware toolchains, and demonstrates long-term persistence capabilities — hallmarks of a well-resourced operation consistent with nation-state backing.

Known Campaigns

Unfading Sea Haze — Active Operations March 2026

Unfading Sea Haze is a espionage threat actor attributed to China. Unfading Sea Haze is a threat actor focused on espionage, targeting government and military organizations in the South China Sea region since 2018. They employ spear-phishing emails with malicious attachments to gain initial access, followed by the deployment of custom malware su...

ACTIVEHIGH2026

External References

Quick Facts

TypeAPT / Threat Group
Motivation🕵️ espionage
Sophisticationadvanced
Origin🇨🇳 China
Aliases1
SourceMalpedia

Also Known As

Unfading Sea Haze

Research Links

Data sourced from Malpedia, Ransomware.live, RansomLook, and CTIWATCH OSINT collection. Actor attribution is based on available intelligence and may be incomplete.