MALWARE FAMILY

AnchorDNS

Internal ID: elf.anchor_dns

aliases

Last seen:Mar 17, 2026

Intelligence Profile

Backdoor deployed by the TrickBot actors. It uses DNS as the command and control channel as well as for exfiltration of data.

Threat Analysis

AnchorDNS is a malware family tracked by threat intelligence researchers and catalogued in the Malpedia dataset. It represents a distinct malicious software lineage with identifiable code characteristics, behaviors, and victimology.

External References

→https://cyware.com/news/trickbots-anchordns-is-now-upgraded-to-anchormail-a21f5490/

→https://hello.global.ntt/en-us/insights/blog/trickbot-variant-communicating-over-dns

→https://mal-eats.net/2021/05/10/campo_new_attack_campaign_targeting_japan/

→https://mal-eats.net/en/2021/05/11/campo_new_attack_campaign_targeting_japan/

→https://medium.com/stage-2-security/anchor-dns-malware-family-goes-cross-platform-d807ba13ca30

→https://securityintelligence.com/posts/new-malware-trickbot-anchordns-backdoor-upgrades-anchormail/

→https://us-cert.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/AA20-302A_Ransomware%20_Activity_Targeting_the_Healthcare_and_Public_Health_Sector.pdf

→https://www.domaintools.com/resources/blog/finding-anchordns-c2s-with-iris-investigate

→https://www.intezer.com/blog/cloud-security/top-linux-cloud-threats-of-2020/

→https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/05/09/ransomware-as-a-service-understanding-the-cybercrime-gig-economy-and-how-to-protect-yourself

Quick Facts

TypeMalware Family

Aliases1

Also Known As

elf.anchor_dns

Research Links

MITRE ATT&CK VirusTotal Google (news) Twitter/X search

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

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