Threat Intelligence Directory

Based on the evidence we have presented Symantec attributed the activity involving theDripion malware to the Budminer advanced threat group. While we have not seen newcampaigns using Taidoor malware since 2014, we believe the Budminer group has changedtactics to avoid detection after being outed publicly in security white papers and blogs over thepast few years.

BRONZE VAPOR is a targeted threat group assessed with moderate confidence to be of Chinese origin. Artefacts from tools associated with this group and open source reporting on related incidents indicate that BRONZE VAPOR have operated since at least 2017. The group conducts espionage against multiple industries including semiconductors, aviation and telecommunications. CTU researchers assess BRONZE VAPOR's intent to be information theft, with operations focused on intellectual property (semiconductors) and personally identifiable information such as traveller records (aviation). Compromise of telecommunications companies can yield personally identifiable information and meta data on client communications such as Call Data Records (CDR). Prior to 2019 their operational focus, with some exceptions, revolved around targets in East Asia particularity Taiwan with it's thriving semiconductor industry. In 2021 details emerged in open source of attacks on at least one European semiconductor company believed to date back to 2017. In 2019 BRONZE VAPOR attacked one of more entities in the European airlines sector. The group gains initial access via VPN services, may use spearphishing with 'Letter of Appointment' themed lures, and deploys Cobalt Strike along with custom data exfiltration tools to target organizations. Post-intrusion activity involves living-of-the-land using legitimate tools and commands available within victim environment as well as using AceHash for credential harvesting, WATERCYCLE for data exfiltration and STOCKPIPE for proxying information through Microsoft Exchange servers over email. BRONZE VAPOR uses a set of tactics that, although not individually unique, when viewed in aggregate create a relatively distinct playbook. Intrusions begin with credential based attacks against an existing remote access solution (Citrix, VPN etc.) or B2B network access. Cobalt Strike is deployed into the environment and further access is then conducted via Cobalt Strike Beacon and other features of the platform. Sharphound is deployed to map out the victim's Active Directory infrastructure and and collect critical information about the domain including important account names. Command and control infrastructure is hosted on subdomains of Azure and Appspot services to blend in with legitimate traffic. The threat actor also registers their own domains for command and control, often with a "sync" or "update" related theme. WinRAR is commonly used for compressing data prior to exfiltration. Filenames for these archives often involve a string of numbers and variations of the word "update". Data is exfiltrated using WATERCYCLE to cloud based platforms such as OneDrive and GoogleDrive.

BRONZE STARLIGHT has been active since mid 2021 and targets organizations globally across a range of industry verticals. The group leverages HUI Loader to load Cobalt Strike and PlugX payloads for command and control. CTU researchers have observed BRONZE STARLIGHT deploying ransomware to compromised networks as part of name-and-shame ransomware schemes, and posted victim names to leak sites. CTU researchers assess with moderate confidence that BRONZE STARLIGHT is located in China based on observed tradecraft, including the use of HUI Loader and PlugX which are associated with China-based threat group activity. It is plausible that BRONZE STARLIGHT deploys ransomware as a smokescreen rather than for financial gain, with the underlying motivation of stealing intellectual property theft or conducting espionage.

BRONZE SPRING is a threat group that CTU researchers assess with high confidence operates on behalf of China in the theft of intellectual property from defense, engineering, pharmaceutical and technology companies. The threat group typically uses scan-and-exploit for initial access, deploys the China Chopper webshell for remote execution and persistence, and creates RAR archives with a '.jpg' file extension for data exfiltration. In July 2020 the U.S. Department of Justice indicted two Chinese hackers CTU researchers assess are members of the BRONZE SPRING threat group. The Department of Justice allege these hackers were responsible for compromising networks of hundreds of organisations and individuals in the U.S. and abroad since 2009, and that exfiltrated data would be passed to the Chinese Ministry of State Security or sold for financial gain.

In December 2020, the IT management software provider SolarWinds announced that an unidentified threat actor had exploited a vulnerability in their Orion Platform software to deploy a web shell dubbed SUPERNOVA. CTU researchers track the operators of the SUPERNOVA web shell as BRONZE SPIRAL and assess with low confidence that the group is of Chinese origin. SUPERNOVA was likely deployed through exploitation of CVE-2020-10148, and CTU researchers observed post-exploitation reconnaissance commands roughly 30 minutes before the web shell was deployed. This may have been indicative of the threat actor conducting scan-and-exploit activity and then triaging for victims of particular interest, before deploying SUPERNOVA and attempting to dump credentials and move laterally. BRONZE SPIRAL has been associated with previous intrusions involving the targeting of ManageEngine servers, maintenance of long-term access to periodically harvest credentials and exfiltrate data, and espionage or theft of intellectual property. The threat group makes extensive use of native system tools and 'living off the land' techniques.

In early 2021 CTU researchers observed BRONZE EDGEWOOD exploiting the Microsoft Exchange Server of an organization in Southeast Asia. The threat group deployed a China Chopper webshell and ran the Nishang Invoke-PowerShellTcp.ps1 script to connect back to C2 infrastructure. The threat group is publicly linked to malware families Chinoxy, PCShare and FunnyDream. CTU researchers have discovered that BRONZE EDGEWOOD also leverages Cobalt Strike in its intrusion activity. BRONZE EDGEWOOD has been active since at least 2018 and targets government and private enterprises across Southeast Asia. CTU researchers assess with moderate confidence that BRONZE EDGEWOOD operates on behalf the Chinese government and has a remit that covers political espionage.

BreachLaboratory is a cybercrime actor that specializes in the extraction and sale of sensitive financial and identity datasets from various organizations. They have claimed to exfiltrate approximately 950,000 records from Grupo Catalana Occidente and over 18,000 records from Bank Mandiri, with data including customer names, account details, and SWIFT codes. The actor operates on underground forums, selling structured datasets such as CSV files and SQL dumps, and emphasizes the validity and financial utility of the data. Their activities indicate a focus on monetization through direct database sales and potential downstream fraud enablement.

BrazenBamboo is a Chinese state-affiliated threat actor known for developing the LIGHTSPY, DEEPDATA, and DEEPPOST malware families. Their infrastructure includes capabilities for zero-day exploitation, specifically targeting vulnerabilities like FortiClient, and employs a command-and-control architecture that supports multi-platform operations. Volexity's analysis indicates that BrazenBamboo is a well-resourced entity with a focus on domestic targets, utilizing custom analyst software to manage data collected from their malware. The ongoing development of their malware families is evidenced by the timestamps associated with their latest payloads.

First observed activity in December 2013.

Throughout 2018, CrowdStrike Intelligence tracked BOSS SPIDER as it regularly updated Samas ransomware and received payments to known Bitcoin (BTC) addresses. This consistent pace of activity came to an abrupt halt at the end of November 2018 when the U.S. DoJ released an indictment for Iran-based individuals Faramarz Shahi Savandi and Mohammad Mehdi Shah Mansouri, alleged members of the group.

BOSON SPIDER is a cyber criminal group, which was first identified in 2015, recently and inexplicably went dark in the spring of 2016, appears to be a tightly knit group operating out of Eastern Europe. They have used a variety of distribution mechanisms such as the infamous (and now defunct) angler exploit kit, and obfuscated JavaScript to reduce the detection by antivirus solutions.

Boolka is a threat actor known for infecting websites with malicious JavaScript scripts for data exfiltration. They have been carrying out opportunistic SQL injection attacks since at least 2022. Boolka has developed a malware delivery platform based on the BeEF framework and has been distributing the BMANAGER trojan. Their activities demonstrate a progression from basic website infections to more sophisticated malware operations.

Bondnet is a threat actor that deploys backdoors and cryptocurrency miners. They use high-performance bots as C2 servers and configure reverse RDP environments on compromised systems. Bondnet has infected over 15,000 Windows server machines worldwide, primarily targeting Windows Server 2008 R2 systems. The botnet is used for mining cryptocurrencies like Monero, ByteCoin, RieCoin, and ZCash, potentially earning the operator thousands of dollars per day.

Bohrium is an Iranian threat actor that has been involved in spear-phishing operations targeting organizations in the US, Middle East, and India. They often create fake social media profiles, particularly posing as recruiters, to trick victims into running malware on their computers. Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit has taken legal action and seized 41 domains used by Bohrium to disrupt their activities. The group has shown a particular interest in sectors such as technology, transportation, government, and education.

Blue Tsunami, also known as Black Cube, is a cyber mercenary group associated with the private intelligence firm Black Cube. They target individuals in various industries, including human rights, finance, and consulting. Blue Tsunami engages in social engineering and uses techniques such as honeypot profiles, fake jobs, and fake companies to gather human intelligence for their clients. LinkedIn and Microsoft recently took down numerous fake accounts and company pages linked to Blue Tsunami.

Blue Termite is a group of suspected Chinese origin active in Japan.

BlueHornet is an advanced persistent threat group targeting government organizations in China, North Korea, Iran, and Russia. They have compromised and leaked data from other APT groups like Kryptonite Panda and Lazarus Group. BlueHornet has been involved in campaigns such as Operation Renminbi, Operation Ruble, and Operation EUSec, focusing on exfiltrating region-specific data and selling it on the dark web. They have also been known to collaborate with different threat actors and have recently disclosed a zero-day exploit in NGINX 1.18.

Bluebottle, a cyber-crime group that specializes in targeted attacks against the financial sector, is continuing to mount attacks on banks in Francophone countries. The group makes extensive use of living off the land, dual-use tools, and commodity malware, with no custom malware deployed in this campaign.

Threat actor tracked by Malpedia.

BladedFeline is an Iran-aligned APT group that has been active since at least 2017, targeting Iraqi and Kurdish government officials for cyberespionage. The group employs a variety of tools, including the Shahmaran backdoor, Whisper, and PrimeCache, which is a malicious IIS module. BladedFeline utilizes techniques such as spearphishing (T1566), exploiting public-facing applications (T1190), and timestomping to maintain access and exfiltrate data. The group is assessed with medium confidence to be a subgroup of OilRig, focusing on strategic access to high-ranking officials in the region.

Blackwood is a China-aligned APT group that has been active since at least 2018. They primarily engage in cyberespionage operations targeting individuals and companies in China, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Blackwood utilizes sophisticated techniques such as adversary-in-the-middle attacks to deliver their custom implant, NSPX30, through updates of legitimate software. They also have the capability to hide the location of their command and control servers by intercepting traffic generated by the implant.

[BlackTech](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0098) is a suspected Chinese cyber espionage group that has primarily targeted organizations in East Asia--particularly Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong--and the US since at least 2013. [BlackTech](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0098) has used a combination of custom malware, dual-use tools, and living off the land tactics to compromise media, construction, engineering, electronics, and financial company networks.(Citation: TrendMicro BlackTech June 2017)(Citation: Symantec Palmerworm Sep 2020)(Citation: Reuters Taiwan BlackTech August 2020)

Blacktail is a cybercrime group that has gained attention for its ransomware campaigns, particularly the Buhti ransomware. They are known for using custom-built data exfiltration tools and have been observed exploiting vulnerabilities in both Windows and Linux systems.

[BlackOasis](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0063) is a Middle Eastern threat group that is believed to be a customer of Gamma Group. The group has shown interest in prominent figures in the United Nations, as well as opposition bloggers, activists, regional news correspondents, and think tanks. (Citation: Securelist BlackOasis Oct 2017) (Citation: Securelist APT Trends Q2 2017) A group known by Microsoft as [NEODYMIUM](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0055) is reportedly associated closely with [BlackOasis](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0063) operations, but evidence that the group names are aliases has not been identified. (Citation: CyberScoop BlackOasis Oct 2017)

BLACKMETA is a pro-Palestinian hacktivist group that has claimed responsibility for a series of DDoS attacks and data breaches targeting organizations perceived as supportive of Israel, including the Internet Archive and various entities in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The group employs DDoS attacks, website defacement, and data exfiltration, with motivations rooted in political ideology and retribution for perceived injustices against Palestinians. Their operations have been linked to a Telegram channel, where they publicize their activities and collaborate with other hacktivist groups. Additionally, they have been attributed to significant cyber disruptions, including a 100-hour DDoS campaign against a UAE bank, showcasing their operational capabilities.

Blackjack, a threat actor linked to Ukraine's security apparatus, has targeted critical Russian entities such as ISPs, utilities, and military infrastructure. They have claimed responsibility for launching cyberattacks resulting in substantial damage and data exfiltration. The group allegedly used the Fuxnet malware to target sensor gateways connected to internet-connected sensors, impacting infrastructure monitoring systems. Blackjack has also been involved in attacks against companies like Moscollector, causing disruptions and stealing sensitive data.

BLACKGEAR is an espionage campaign which has targeted users in Taiwan for many years. Multiple papers and talks have been released covering this campaign, which used the ELIRKS backdoor when it was first discovered in 2012. It is known for using blogs and microblogging services to hide the location of its actual command-and-control (C&C) servers. This allows an attacker to change the C&C server used quickly by changing the information in these posts. Like most campaigns, BLACKGEAR has evolved over time. Our research indicates that it has started targeting Japanese users. Two things led us to this conclusion: first, the fake documents that are used as part of its infection routines are now in Japanese. Secondly, it is now using blogging sites and microblogging services based in Japan for its C&C activity.

Recent campaigns suggest Hamas-linked actors may be advancing their TTPs to include intricate social engineering lures specially crafted to appeal to a niche group of high value targets. In September 2023, a Palestine-based group likely linked to Hamas targeted Israeli software engineers using an elaborate social engineering ruse that ultimately installed malware and stole cookies. The attackers, which Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) tracks as BLACKATOM, posed as employees of legitimate companies and reached out via LinkedIn to invite targets to apply for software development freelance opportunities. Targets included software engineers in the Israeli military, as well as Israel’s aerospace and defense industry

BITWISE SPIDER has recently and quickly become a significant player in the big game hunting (BGH) landscape. Their dedicated leak site (DLS) has received the highest number of victims posted each month since July 2021 compared to other adversary DLSs due to the growing popularity and effectiveness of LockBit 2.0.

Threat actor tracked by Malpedia.

Bignosa is a threat actor known for launching malware campaigns targeting Australian and US organizations using phishing emails with disguised Agent Tesla attachments protected by Cassandra Protector. They compromised servers by installing Plesk and RoundCube, connected via SSH and RDP, and used advanced obfuscation methods to evade detection. Bignosa collaborated with another cybercriminal named Gods, who provided advice and assistance in their malicious activities. The actor has been linked to multiple phishing attacks and malware distribution campaigns, showcasing a high level of sophistication in their operations.

A pro-Hamas hacktivist group developed a wiper called BiBi-Linux to target and destroy data on Israeli systems. The malware impersonates ransomware but operates solely to corrupt and delete files, indicating no data theft. A Windows variant, BiBi-Windows, was also discovered, sharing similarities with BiBi-Linux but targeting all files except executables. ESET researchers have named the group behind the wipers BiBiGun. The group's TTPs have shown overlaps with Moses Staff, which is believed to have an Iran nexus.

Mentioned as operator of TriumphLoader and Matanbuchus

Threat actor tracked by Malpedia.

BazarCall campaigns forgo malicious links or attachments in email messages in favor of phone numbers that recipients are misled into calling. It’s a technique reminiscent of vishing and tech support scams where potential victims are being cold called by the attacker, except in BazarCall’s case, targeted users must dial the number. And when they do, the users are connected with actual humans on the other end of the line, who then provide step-by-step instructions for installing malware into their devices.

BatShadow is a Vietnamese threat actor that targets job seekers and digital marketing professionals through social engineering campaigns, deploying the Go-based malware known as Vampire Bot. The group impersonates recruiters and distributes malicious job descriptions and corporate PDFs, triggering a multi-stage infection chain that enables remote surveillance and data theft. Analysts have linked BatShadow to Vietnam based on infrastructure reuse and targeting patterns, noting its history of using domains like samsung-work.com to distribute various malware families, including Agent Tesla and Quasar RAT. The actor employs techniques such as filename tricks and coercive browser actions to evade detection and increase the likelihood of successful compromises.

BANISHED KITTEN is an Iranian state-nexus adversary active since at least 2008. While the adversary’s most prominent activity is the July and September 2022 disruptive attacks targeting Albanian government infrastructure and the use of the HomelandJustice persona to leak stolen data, BANISHED KITTEN has likely targeted dissidents using the AllinOneNeo malware family.

Crowdstrike tracks the developer of Panda Zeus as BAMBOO SPIDER

Kaspersky researchers have identified a new APT group named BadRory that has mounted two waves of spear-phishing attacks against Russian organizations. The campaigns took place in October 2022 and April 2023 and leveraged boobytrapped Office emails. Targets included government entities, military contractors, universities, and hospitals.

[BackdoorDiplomacy](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0135) is a cyber espionage threat group that has been active since at least 2017. [BackdoorDiplomacy](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0135) has targeted Ministries of Foreign Affairs and telecommunication companies in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.(Citation: ESET BackdoorDiplomacy Jun 2021)