MALWARE FAMILY

Anchor

Internal ID: win.anchor

aliases

Last seen:Mar 17, 2026

Intelligence Profile

Anchor is a sophisticated backdoor served as a module to a subset of TrickBot installations. Operating since August 2018 it is not delivered to everybody, but contrary is delivered only to high-profile targets. Since its C2 communication scheme is very similar to the one implemented in the early TrickBot, multiple experts believe it could be attributed to the same authors.

Threat Analysis

Anchor 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://cocomelonc.github.io/tutorial/2022/05/09/malware-pers-4.html

→https://cybersecurity.att.com/blogs/labs-research/trickbot-bazarloader-in-depth

→https://go.crowdstrike.com/rs/281-OBQ-266/images/Report2020CrowdStrikeGlobalThreatReport.pdf

→https://go.crowdstrike.com/rs/281-OBQ-266/images/Report2021GTR.pdf

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

→https://isc.sans.edu/diary/27308

→https://labs.sentinelone.com/deep-dive-into-trickbot-executor-module-mexec-hidden-anchor-bot-nexus-operations/

→https://labs.sentinelone.com/the-deadly-planeswalker-how-the-trickbot-group-united-high-tech-crimeware-apt/

→https://medium.com/walmartglobaltech/anchor-and-lazarus-together-again-24744e516607

→https://securityintelligence.com/posts/itg08-aka-fin6-partners-with-trickbot-gang-uses-anchor-framework/

Quick Facts

TypeMalware Family

Aliases1

Also Known As

win.anchor

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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