System Owner/User Discovery, Technique T1033 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®

System Owner/User Discovery, Technique T1033 - Enterprise | MITRE ATT&CK®
Currently viewing
ATT&CK v17.1
which was live between April 22, 2025 and October 27, 2025.
Learn more about the versioning system
or
see the live site
Techniques
Enterprise
System Owner/User Discovery
System Owner/User Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to identify the primary user, currently logged in user, set of users that commonly uses a system, or whether a user is actively using the system. They may do this, for example, by retrieving account usernames or by using
OS Credential Dumping
. The information may be collected in a number of different ways using other Discovery techniques, because user and username details are prevalent throughout a system and include running process ownership, file/directory ownership, session information, and system logs. Adversaries may use the information from
System Owner/User Discovery
during automated discovery to shape follow-on behaviors, including whether or not the adversary fully infects the target and/or attempts specific actions.
Various utilities and commands may acquire this information, including
whoami
. In macOS and Linux, the currently logged in user can be identified with
and
who
. On macOS the
dscl . list /Users | grep -v '_'
command can also be used to enumerate user accounts. Environment variables, such as
%USERNAME%
and
$USER
, may also be used to access this information.
On network devices,
Network Device CLI
commands such as
show users
and
show ssh
can be used to display users currently logged into the device.
[1]
[2]
ID:
T1033
Sub-techniques:
No sub-techniques
Tactic:
Discovery
Platforms:
Linux, Network Devices, Windows, macOS
Contributors:
Austin Clark, @c2defense
Version:
1.6
Created:
31 May 2017
Last Modified:
15 April 2025
Version Permalink
Live Version
Procedure Examples
ID
Name
Description
S1028
Action RAT
Action RAT
has the ability to collect the username from an infected host.
[3]
S0331
Agent Tesla
Agent Tesla
can collect the username from the victim’s machine.
[4]
[5]
[6]
S0092
Agent.btz
Agent.btz
obtains the victim username and saves it to a file.
[7]
S1025
Amadey
Amadey
has collected the user name from a compromised host using
GetUserNameA
[8]
G0073
APT19
APT19
used an HTTP malware variant and a Port 22 malware variant to collect the victim’s username.
[9]
G0022
APT3
An
APT3
downloader uses the Windows command
"cmd.exe" /C whoami
to verify that it is running with the elevated privileges of "System."
[10]
G0050
APT32
APT32
collected the victim's username and executed the
whoami
command on the victim's machine.
APT32
executed shellcode to collect the username on the victim's machine.
[11]
[12]
[13]
G0067
APT37
APT37
identifies the victim username.
[14]
G0082
APT38
APT38
has identified primary users, currently logged in users, sets of users that commonly use a system, or inactive users.
[15]
G0087
APT39
APT39
used
Remexi
to collect usernames from the system.
[16]
G0096
APT41
APT41
has executed
whoami
commands, including using the WMIEXEC utility to execute this on remote machines.
[17]
[18]
G0143
Aquatic Panda
Aquatic Panda
gathers information on recently logged-in users on victim devices.
[19]
S0456
Aria-body
Aria-body
has the ability to identify the username on a compromised host.
[20]
S1087
AsyncRAT
AsyncRAT
can check if the current user of a compromised system is an administrator.
[21]
S1029
AuTo Stealer
AuTo Stealer
has the ability to collect the username from an infected host.
[3]
S0344
Azorult
Azorult
can collect the username from the victim’s machine.
[22]
S0414
BabyShark
BabyShark
has executed the
whoami
command.
[23]
S0093
Backdoor.Oldrea
Backdoor.Oldrea
collects the current username from the victim.
[24]
S1081
BADHATCH
BADHATCH
can obtain logged user information from a compromised machine and can execute the command
whoami.exe
[25]
S0534
Bazar
Bazar
can identify the username of the infected user.
[26]
S0017
BISCUIT
BISCUIT
has a command to gather the username from the system.
[27]
S1068
BlackCat
BlackCat
can utilize
net use
commands to discover the user name on a compromised host.
[28]
S0521
BloodHound
BloodHound
can collect information on user sessions.
[29]
S0657
BLUELIGHT
BLUELIGHT
can collect the username on a compromised host.
[30]
S0486
Bonadan
Bonadan
has discovered the username of the user running the backdoor.
[31]
S0635
BoomBox
BoomBox
can enumerate the username on a compromised host.
[32]
S1039
Bumblebee
Bumblebee
has the ability to identify the user name.
[33]
C0017
C0017
During
C0017
APT41
used
whoami
to gather information from victim machines.
[34]
C0018
C0018
During
C0018
, the threat actors collected
whoami
information via PowerShell scripts.
[35]
S0351
Cannon
Cannon
can gather the username from the system.
[36]
S0348
Cardinal RAT
Cardinal RAT
can collect the username from a victim machine.
[37]
S0572
Caterpillar WebShell
Caterpillar WebShell
can obtain a list of user accounts from a victim's machine.
[38]
S0631
Chaes
Chaes
has collected the username and UID from the infected machine.
[39]
G0114
Chimera
Chimera
has used the
quser
command to show currently logged on users.
[40]
S1149
CHIMNEYSWEEP
CHIMNEYSWEEP
has included the victim's computer name and username in C2 messages sent to actor-owned infrastructure.
[41]
S0667
Chrommme
Chrommme
can retrieve the username from a targeted system.
[42]
S0660
Clambling
Clambling
can identify the username on a compromised host.
[43]
[44]
S1024
CreepySnail
CreepySnail
can execute
getUsername
on compromised systems.
[45]
S0115
Crimson
Crimson
can identify the user on a targeted system.
[46]
[47]
[48]
S0498
Cryptoistic
Cryptoistic
can gather data on the user of a compromised host.
[49]
S1153
Cuckoo Stealer
Cuckoo Stealer
can discover and send the username from a compromised host to C2.
[50]
S0334
DarkComet
DarkComet
gathers the username from the victim’s machine.
[51]
S0673
DarkWatchman
DarkWatchman
has collected the username from a victim machine.
[52]
S0354
Denis
Denis
enumerates and collects the username from the victim’s machine.
[53]
[13]
S0021
Derusbi
A Linux version of
Derusbi
checks if the victim user ID is anything other than zero (normally used for root), and the malware will not execute if it does not have root privileges.
Derusbi
also gathers the username of the victim.
[54]
S0659
Diavol
Diavol
can collect the username from a compromised host.
[55]
S1021
DnsSystem
DnsSystem
can use the Windows user name to create a unique identification for infected users and systems.
[56]
S0186
DownPaper
DownPaper
collects the victim username and sends it to the C2 server.
[57]
G0035
Dragonfly
Dragonfly
used the command
query user
on victim hosts.
[58]
S0694
DRATzarus
DRATzarus
can obtain a list of users from an infected machine.
[59]
S0024
Dyre
Dyre
has the ability to identify the users on a compromised host.
[60]
G1006
Earth Lusca
Earth Lusca
collected information on user accounts via the
whoami
command.
[61]
S0554
Egregor
Egregor
has used tools to gather information about users.
[62]
S0367
Emotet
Emotet
has enumerated all users connected to network shares.
S0363
Empire
Empire
can enumerate the username on targeted hosts.
[63]
S0091
Epic
Epic
collects the user name from the victim’s machine.
[64]
S0568
EVILNUM
EVILNUM
can obtain the username from the victim's machine.
[65]
S0401
Exaramel for Linux
Exaramel for Linux
can run
whoami
to identify the system owner.
[66]
S0569
Explosive
Explosive
has collected the username from the infected host.
[67]
S0171
Felismus
Felismus
collects the current username and sends it to the C2 server.
[68]
S0267
FELIXROOT
FELIXROOT
collects the username from the victim’s machine.
[69]
[70]
G0051
FIN10
FIN10
has used Meterpreter to enumerate users on remote systems.
[71]
G0046
FIN7
FIN7
has used the command
cmd.exe /C quser
to collect user session information.
[72]
G0061
FIN8
FIN8
has executed the command
quser
to display the session details of a compromised machine.
[73]
S0696
Flagpro
Flagpro
has been used to run the
whoami
command on the system.
[74]
S0381
FlawedAmmyy
FlawedAmmyy
enumerates the current user during the initial infection.
[75]
[76]
C0001
Frankenstein
During
Frankenstein
, the threat actors used
Empire
to enumerate hosts and gather username, machine name, and administrative permissions information.
[63]
S1044
FunnyDream
FunnyDream
has the ability to gather user information from the targeted system using
whoami/upn&whoami/fqdn&whoami/logonid&whoami/all
[77]
G0093
GALLIUM
GALLIUM
used
whoami
and
query user
to obtain information about the victim user.
[78]
G0047
Gamaredon Group
Gamaredon Group
file stealer can gather the victim's username to send to a C2 server.
[79]
S0168
Gazer
Gazer
obtains the current user's security identifier.
[80]
S0666
Gelsemium
Gelsemium
has the ability to distinguish between a standard user and an administrator on a compromised host.
[42]
S0460
Get2
Get2
has the ability to identify the current username of an infected host.
[81]
S0249
Gold Dragon
Gold Dragon
collects the endpoint victim's username and uses it as a basis for downloading additional components from the C2 server.
[82]
S0477
Goopy
Goopy
has the ability to enumerate the infected system's user name.
[13]
S0531
Grandoreiro
Grandoreiro
can collect the username from the victim's machine.
[83]
S0237
GravityRAT
GravityRAT
collects the victim username along with other account information (account type, description, full name, SID and status).
[84]
S0632
GrimAgent
GrimAgent
can identify the user id on a target machine.
[85]
G0125
HAFNIUM
HAFNIUM
has used
whoami
to gather user information.
[86]
S0214
HAPPYWORK
can collect the victim user name.
[87]
S0391
HAWKBALL
HAWKBALL
can collect the user name of the system.
[88]
G1001
HEXANE
HEXANE
has run
whoami
on compromised machines to identify the current user.
[89]
S0431
HotCroissant
HotCroissant
has the ability to collect the username on the infected host.
[90]
S0260
InvisiMole
InvisiMole
lists local users and session information.
[91]
S0015
Ixeshe
Ixeshe
collects the username from the victim’s machine.
[92]
S0201
JPIN
JPIN
can obtain the victim user name.
[93]
S0265
Kazuar
Kazuar
gathers information on users.
[94]
G0004
Ke3chang
Ke3chang
has used implants capable of collecting the signed-in username.
[95]
S0250
Koadic
Koadic
can identify logged in users across the domain and views user sessions.
[96]
[97]
S0162
Komplex
The OsInfo function in
Komplex
collects the current running username.
[98]
S0356
KONNI
KONNI
can collect the username from the victim’s machine.
[99]
S1075
KOPILUWAK
KOPILUWAK
can conduct basic network reconnaissance on the victim machine with
whoami
, to get user details.
[100]
S0236
Kwampirs
Kwampirs
collects registered owner details by using the commands
systeminfo
and
net config workstation
[101]
S1160
Latrodectus
Latrodectus
can discover the username of an infected host.
[102]
G0032
Lazarus Group
Various
Lazarus Group
malware enumerates logged-on users.
[103]
[104]
[105]
[106]
[107]
[49]
[108]
S0362
Linux Rabbit
Linux Rabbit
opens a socket on port 22 and if it receives a response it attempts to obtain the machine's hostname and Top-Level Domain.
[109]
S0513
LiteDuke
LiteDuke
can enumerate the account name on a targeted system.
[110]
S0680
LitePower
LitePower
can determine if the current user has admin privileges.
[111]
S0681
Lizar
Lizar
can collect the username from the system.
[112]
S0447
Lokibot
Lokibot
has the ability to discover the username on the infected host.
[113]
S0532
Lucifer
Lucifer
has the ability to identify the username on a compromised host.
[114]
G1014
LuminousMoth
LuminousMoth
has used a malicious DLL to collect the username from compromised hosts.
[115]
S1141
LunarWeb
LunarWeb
can collect user information from the targeted host.
[116]
S1016
MacMa
MacMa
can collect the username from the compromised machine.
[117]
S1060
Mafalda
Mafalda
can collect the username from a compromised host.
[118]
G0059
Magic Hound
Magic Hound
malware has obtained the victim username and sent it to the C2 server.
[119]
[120]
[121]
S1169
Mango
Mango
can collect the user name from a compromised system which is used to create a unique victim identifier.
[122]
S0652
MarkiRAT
MarkiRAT
can retrieve the victim’s username.
[123]
S0459
MechaFlounder
MechaFlounder
has the ability to identify the username and hostname on a compromised host.
[124]
S1059
metaMain
metaMain
can collect the username from a compromised host.
[118]
S0455
Metamorfo
Metamorfo
has collected the username from the victim's machine.
[125]
S1146
MgBot
MgBot
includes modules for identifying local users and administrators on victim machines.
[126]
S0339
Micropsia
Micropsia
collects the username from the victim’s machine.
[127]
S1015
Milan
Milan
can identify users registered to a targeted machine.
[128]
S0280
MirageFox
MirageFox
can gather the username from the victim’s machine.
[129]
S0084
Mis-Type
Mis-Type
runs tests to determine the privilege level of the compromised user.
[130]
G1036
Moonstone Sleet
Moonstone Sleet
deployed various malware such as YouieLoader that can perform system user discovery actions.
[131]
S0149
MoonWind
MoonWind
obtains the victim username.
[132]
S0284
More_eggs
More_eggs
has the capability to gather the username from the victim's machine.
[133]
[134]
S0256
Mosquito
Mosquito
runs
whoami
on the victim’s machine.
[135]
G0069
MuddyWater
MuddyWater
has used malware that can collect the victim’s username.
[136]
[137]
S0228
NanHaiShu
NanHaiShu
collects the username from the victim.
[138]
S0590
NBTscan
NBTscan
can list active users on the system.
[139]
[140]
S0272
NDiskMonitor
NDiskMonitor
obtains the victim username and encrypts the information to send over its C2 channel.
[141]
S0691
Neoichor
Neoichor
can collect the user name from a victim's machine.
[95]
S1106
NGLite
NGLite
will run the
whoami
command to gather system information and return this to the command and control server.
[142]
C0002
Night Dragon
During
Night Dragon
, threat actors used password cracking and pass-the-hash tools to discover usernames and passwords.
[143]
S1147
Nightdoor
Nightdoor
gathers information on victim system users and usernames.
[144]
S0385
njRAT
njRAT
enumerates the current user during the initial infection.
[145]
S0353
NOKKI
NOKKI
can collect the username from the victim’s machine.
[146]
S0644
ObliqueRAT
ObliqueRAT
can check for blocklisted usernames on infected endpoints.
[147]
S0340
Octopus
Octopus
can collect the username from the victim’s machine.
[148]
S1172
OilBooster
OilBooster
can identify the compromised system's username which is then used as part of a unique identifier.
[149]
G0049
OilRig
OilRig
has run
whoami
on a victim.
[150]
[151]
[152]
S0439
Okrum
Okrum
can collect the victim username.
[153]
C0012
Operation CuckooBees
During
Operation CuckooBees
, the threat actors used the
query user
and
whoami
commands as part of their advanced reconnaissance.
[154]
C0014
Operation Wocao
During
Operation Wocao
, threat actors enumerated sessions and users on a remote host, and identified privileged users logged into a targeted system.
[155]
G0040
Patchwork
Patchwork
collected the victim username and whether it was running as admin, then sent the information to its C2 server.
[156]
[141]
S0428
PoetRAT
PoetRAT
sent username, computer name, and the previously generated UUID in reply to a "who" command from C2.
[157]
S0139
PowerDuke
PowerDuke
has commands to get the current user's name and SID.
[158]
S0441
PowerShower
PowerShower
has the ability to identify the current user on the infected host.
[159]
S0223
POWERSTATS
POWERSTATS
has the ability to identify the username on the compromised host.
[160]
S0184
POWRUNER
POWRUNER
may collect information about the currently logged in user by running
whoami
on a victim.
[161]
S0113
Prikormka
A module in
Prikormka
collects information from the victim about the current user name.
[162]
S0192
Pupy
Pupy
can enumerate local information for Linux hosts and find currently logged on users for Windows hosts.
[163]
S1032
PyDCrypt
PyDCrypt
has probed victim machines with
whoami
and has collected the username from the machine.
[164]
S0650
QakBot
QakBot
can identify the user name on a compromised system.
[165]
[166]
S0269
QUADAGENT
QUADAGENT
gathers the victim username.
[167]
S0262
QuasarRAT
QuasarRAT
can enumerate the username and account type.
[168]
S1148
Raccoon Stealer
Raccoon Stealer
gathers information on the infected system owner and user.
[169]
[170]
[171]
S1130
Raspberry Robin
Raspberry Robin
determines whether it is successfully running on a victim system by querying the running account information to determine if it is running in Session 0, indicating running with elevated privileges.
[172]
S0241
RATANKBA
RATANKBA
runs the
whoami
and
query user
commands.
[173]
S0662
RCSession
RCSession
can gather system owner information, including user and administrator privileges.
[174]
S0172
Reaver
Reaver
collects the victim's username.
[175]
S0153
RedLeaves
RedLeaves
can obtain information about the logged on user both locally and for Remote Desktop sessions.
[176]
S0125
Remsec
Remsec
can obtain information about the current user.
[177]
S0379
Revenge RAT
Revenge RAT
gathers the username from the system.
[178]
S0258
RGDoor
RGDoor
executes the
whoami
on the victim’s machine.
[179]
S0433
Rifdoor
Rifdoor
has the ability to identify the username on the compromised host.
[90]
S0448
Rising Sun
Rising Sun
can detect the username of the infected host.
[180]
S0270
RogueRobin
RogueRobin
collects the victim’s username and whether that user is an admin.
[181]
S0240
ROKRAT
ROKRAT
can collect the username from a compromised host.
[182]
S0148
RTM
RTM
can obtain the victim username and permissions.
[183]
S0085
S-Type
S-Type
has run tests to determine the privilege level of the compromised user.
[130]
S1018
Saint Bot
Saint Bot
can collect the username from a compromised host.
[184]
G0034
Sandworm Team
Sandworm Team
has collected the username from a compromised host.
[185]
S0461
SDBbot
SDBbot
has the ability to identify the user on a compromised host.
[81]
S0382
ServHelper
ServHelper
will attempt to enumerate the username of the victim.
[186]
S0596
ShadowPad
ShadowPad
has collected the username of the victim system.
[187]
S0450
SHARPSTATS
SHARPSTATS
has the ability to identify the username on the compromised host.
[160]
S0610
SideTwist
SideTwist
can collect the username on a targeted system.
[152]
G0121
Sidewinder
Sidewinder
has used tools to identify the user of a compromised host.
[188]
S0692
SILENTTRINITY
SILENTTRINITY
can gather a list of logged on users.
[189]
S0533
SLOTHFULMEDIA
SLOTHFULMEDIA
has collected the username from a victim machine.
[190]
S1035
Small Sieve
Small Sieve
can obtain the id of a logged in user.
[191]
S0649
SMOKEDHAM
SMOKEDHAM
has used
whoami
commands to identify system owners.
[192]
S1124
SocGholish
SocGholish
can use
whoami
to obtain the username from a compromised host.
[193]
[194]
[195]
S0627
SodaMaster
SodaMaster
can identify the username on a compromised host.
[196]
S0615
SombRAT
SombRAT
can execute
getinfo
to identify the username on a compromised host.
[197]
[198]
S0543
Spark
Spark
has run the whoami command and has a built-in command to identify the user logged in.
[199]
S0374
SpeakUp
SpeakUp
uses the
whoami
command.
[200]
S1030
Squirrelwaffle
Squirrelwaffle
can collect the user name from a compromised host.
[201]
S0058
SslMM
SslMM
sends the logged-on username to its hard-coded C2.
[202]
S1037
STARWHALE
STARWHALE
can gather the username from an infected host.
[203]
[204]
G0038
Stealth Falcon
Stealth Falcon
malware gathers the registered user and primary owner name via WMI.
[205]
G1046
Storm-1811
Storm-1811
has used
whoami.exe
to determine if the active user on a compromised system is an administrator.
[206]
S1034
StrifeWater
StrifeWater
can collect the user name from the victim's machine.
[207]
S0559
SUNBURST
SUNBURST
collected the username from a compromised host.
[208]
[209]
S1064
SVCReady
SVCReady
can collect the username from an infected host.
[210]
S0242
SynAck
SynAck
gathers user names from infected hosts.
[211]
S0060
Sys10
Sys10
collects the account name of the logged-in user and sends it to the C2.
[202]
S0663
SysUpdate
SysUpdate
can collect the username from a compromised host.
[212]
S0098
T9000
T9000
gathers and beacons the username of the logged in account during installation. It will also gather the username of running processes to determine if it is running as SYSTEM.
[213]
G0027
Threat Group-3390
Threat Group-3390
has used
whoami
to collect system user information.
[43]
S0266
TrickBot
TrickBot
can identify the user and groups the user belongs to on a compromised host.
[214]
S0094
Trojan.Karagany
Trojan.Karagany
can gather information about the user on a compromised host.
[215]
G0081
Tropic Trooper
Tropic Trooper
used
letmein
to scan for saved usernames on the target system.
[216]
S0647
Turian
Turian
can retrieve usernames.
[217]
S0130
Unknown Logger
Unknown Logger
can obtain information about the victim usernames.
[218]
S0275
UPPERCUT
UPPERCUT
has the capability to collect the current logged on user’s username from a machine.
[219]
S0476
Valak
Valak
can gather information regarding the user.
[220]
S0257
VERMIN
VERMIN
gathers the username from the victim’s machine.
[221]
G1017
Volt Typhoon
Volt Typhoon
has used public tools and executed the PowerShell command
Get-EventLog security -instanceid 4624
to identify associated user and computer account names.
[222]
[223]
[224]
S0515
WellMail
WellMail
can identify the current username on the victim system.
[225]
S0514
WellMess
WellMess
can collect the username on the victim machine to send to C2.
[226]
S0155
WINDSHIELD
WINDSHIELD
can gather the victim user name.
[227]
G0112
Windshift
Windshift
has used malware to identify the username on a compromised host.
[228]
S0219
WINERACK
WINERACK
can gather information on the victim username.
[87]
S0059
WinMM
WinMM
uses NetUser-GetInfo to identify that it is running under an "Admin" account on the local system.
[202]
G1035
Winter Vivern
Winter Vivern
PowerShell scripts execute
whoami
to identify the executing user.
[229]
G0102
Wizard Spider
Wizard Spider
has used "whoami" to identify the local user and their privileges.
[230]
S1065
Woody RAT
Woody RAT
can retrieve a list of user accounts and usernames from an infected machine.
[231]
S0161
XAgentOSX
XAgentOSX
contains the getInfoOSX function to return the OS X version as well as the current user.
[232]
S1207
XLoader
XLoader
can identify the username from a victim machine.
[233]
S0248
yty
yty
collects the victim’s username.
[234]
S0251
Zebrocy
Zebrocy
gets the username from the system.
[235]
[236]
G0128
ZIRCONIUM
ZIRCONIUM
has used a tool to capture the username on a compromised host in order to register it with C2.
[237]
S0350
zwShell
zwShell
can obtain the name of the logged-in user on the victim.
[143]
S0412
ZxShell
ZxShell
can collect the owner and organization information from the target workstation.
[238]
S1013
ZxxZ
ZxxZ
can collect the username from a compromised host.
[239]
Mitigations
This type of attack technique cannot be easily mitigated with preventive controls since
it is based on the abuse of system features.
Detection
ID
Data Source
Data Component
Detects
DS0026
Active Directory
Active Directory Object Access
Monitor domain controller logs for replication requests and other unscheduled activity possibly associated with DCSync.
[240]
[241]
[242]
Note: Domain controllers may not log replication requests originating from the default domain controller account.
[243]
. Monitor for replication requests
[244]
from IPs not associated with known domain controllers.
[245]
DS0017
Command
Command Execution
Monitor executed commands and arguments that may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password, from the operating system and software. Look for command-lines that invoke AuditD or the Security Accounts Manager (SAM). Remote access tools may contain built-in features or incorporate existing tools like
Mimikatz
PowerShell
scripts also exist that contain credential dumping functionality, such as PowerSploit's Invoke-Mimikatz module,
[246]
which may require additional logging features to be configured in the operating system to collect necessary information for analysis.
Note: Event ID 4104 (from the Microsoft-Windows-Powershell/Operational log) captures Powershell script blocks, which can be analyzed and used to detect on abuse of CMSTP.
DS0022
File
File Access
Monitor for hash dumpers opening the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) on the local file system (
%SystemRoot%/system32/config/SAM
). Some hash dumpers will open the local file system as a device and parse to the SAM table to avoid file access defenses. Others will make an in-memory copy of the SAM table before reading hashes. Detection of compromised
Valid Accounts
in-use by adversaries may help as well.
DS0029
Network Traffic
Network Traffic Content
Monitor and analyze traffic patterns and packet inspection associated to protocol(s) that do not follow the expected protocol standards and traffic flows (e.g extraneous packets that do not belong to established flows, gratuitous or anomalous traffic patterns, anomalous syntax, or structure). Consider correlation with process monitoring and command line to detect anomalous processes execution and command line arguments associated to traffic patterns (e.g. monitor anomalies in use of files that do not normally initiate connections for respective protocol(s)).
Note: Network Analysis frameworks such as Zeek can be used to capture, decode, and alert on network protocols.
Network Traffic Flow
Monitor network data for uncommon data flows. Processes utilizing the network that do not normally have network communication or have never been seen before are suspicious.
DS0009
Process
OS API Execution
Monitor for API calls that may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password, from the operating system and software.
Process Access
Monitor for unexpected processes interacting with lsass.exe.
[247]
Common credential dumpers such as
Mimikatz
access the LSA Subsystem Service (LSASS) process by opening the process, locating the LSA secrets key, and decrypting the sections in memory where credential details are stored. Credential dumpers may also use methods for reflective
Process Injection
to reduce potential indicators of malicious activity.
Linux
To obtain the passwords and hashes stored in memory, processes must open a maps file in the /proc filesystem for the process being analyzed. This file is stored under the path
/proc//maps
, where the

directory is the unique pid of the program being interrogated for such authentication data. The AuditD monitoring tool, which ships stock in many Linux distributions, can be used to watch for hostile processes opening this file in the proc file system, alerting on the pid, process name, and arguments of such programs.
Process Creation
Monitor for newly executed processes that may be indicative of credential dumping. On Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2, monitor Windows Logs for LSASS.exe creation to verify that LSASS started as a protected process.
Note: Event IDs are for Sysmon (Event ID 1 - process create) and Windows Security Log (Event ID 4688 - a new process has been created). The Analytic looks for any instances of
at
being created, therefore implying the querying or creation of tasks. If this tools is commonly used in your environment (e.g., by system administrators) this may lead to false positives and this analytic will therefore require tuning.
Analytic 1 - Suspicious Process Execution
(sourcetype="WinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational" EventCode="1") OR (sourcetype="WinEventLog:Security" EventCode="4688") AND Image="*at.exe"
DS0024
Windows Registry
Windows Registry Key Access
Monitor for the SAM registry key being accessed that may attempt to dump credentials to obtain account login and credential material, normally in the form of a hash or a clear text password, from the operating system and software.
References
Cisco. (2023, March 7). Cisco IOS Security Command Reference: Commands S to Z . Retrieved July 13, 2022.
US-CERT. (2018, April 20). Russian State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Targeting Network Infrastructure Devices. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
Threat Intelligence Team. (2021, December 2). SideCopy APT: Connecting lures victims, payloads to infrastructure. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
The DigiTrust Group. (2017, January 12). The Rise of Agent Tesla. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
Zhang, X. (2018, April 05). Analysis of New Agent Tesla Spyware Variant. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
Jazi, H. (2020, April 16). New AgentTesla variant steals WiFi credentials. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
Shevchenko, S.. (2008, November 30). Agent.btz - A Threat That Hit Pentagon. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
Kasuya, M. (2020, January 8). Threat Spotlight: Amadey Bot Targets Non-Russian Users. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
Grunzweig, J., Lee, B. (2016, January 22). New Attacks Linked to C0d0so0 Group. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
Moran, N., et al. (2014, November 21). Operation Double Tap. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
Henderson, S., et al. (2020, April 22). Vietnamese Threat Actors APT32 Targeting Wuhan Government and Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management in Latest Example of COVID-19 Related Espionage. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
Foltýn, T. (2018, March 13). OceanLotus ships new backdoor using old tricks. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
Dahan, A. (2017). Operation Cobalt Kitty. Retrieved December 27, 2018.
Mercer, W., Rascagneres, P. (2018, January 16). Korea In The Crosshairs. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
DHS/CISA. (2020, August 26). FASTCash 2.0: North Korea's BeagleBoyz Robbing Banks. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
Symantec Security Response. (2015, December 7). Iran-based attackers use back door threats to spy on Middle Eastern targets. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
Fraser, N., et al. (2019, August 7). Double DragonAPT41, a dual espionage and cyber crime operation APT41. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
Nikita Rostovcev. (2022, August 18). APT41 World Tour 2021 on a tight schedule. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
CrowdStrike. (2023). 2022 Falcon OverWatch Threat Hunting Report. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
CheckPoint. (2020, May 7). Naikon APT: Cyber Espionage Reloaded. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
Jornet, A. (2021, December 23). Snip3, an investigation into malware. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
Yan, T., et al. (2018, November 21). New Wine in Old Bottle: New Azorult Variant Found in FindMyName Campaign using Fallout Exploit Kit. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
Unit 42. (2019, February 22). New BabyShark Malware Targets U.S. National Security Think Tanks. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
Symantec Security Response. (2014, June 30). Dragonfly: Cyberespionage Attacks Against Energy Suppliers. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
Vrabie, V., et al. (2021, March 10). FIN8 Returns with Improved BADHATCH Toolkit. Retrieved September 8, 2021.
Pantazopoulos, N. (2020, June 2). In-depth analysis of the new Team9 malware family. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
Mandiant. (n.d.). Appendix C (Digital) - The Malware Arsenal. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. (2022, June 13). The many lives of BlackCat ransomware. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
Red Team Labs. (2018, April 24). Hidden Administrative Accounts: BloodHound to the Rescue. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
Cash, D., Grunzweig, J., Meltzer, M., Adair, S., Lancaster, T. (2021, August 17). North Korean APT InkySquid Infects Victims Using Browser Exploits. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
Dumont, R., M.Léveillé, M., Porcher, H. (2018, December 1). THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORSSHE A landscape of OpenSSH backdoors. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
MSTIC. (2021, May 28). Breaking down NOBELIUM’s latest early-stage toolset. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
Stolyarov, V. (2022, March 17). Exposing initial access broker with ties to Conti. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
Rufus Brown, Van Ta, Douglas Bienstock, Geoff Ackerman, John Wolfram. (2022, March 8). Does This Look Infected? A Summary of APT41 Targeting U.S. State Governments. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
Costa, F. (2022, May 1). RaaS AvosLocker Incident Response Analysis. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
Falcone, R., Lee, B. (2018, November 20). Sofacy Continues Global Attacks and Wheels Out New ‘Cannon’ Trojan. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
Grunzweig, J.. (2017, April 20). Cardinal RAT Active for Over Two Years. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
ClearSky Cyber Security. (2021, January). “Lebanese Cedar” APT Global Lebanese Espionage Campaign Leveraging Web Servers. Retrieved February 10, 2021.
Salem, E. (2020, November 17). CHAES: Novel Malware Targeting Latin American E-Commerce. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
Jansen, W . (2021, January 12). Abusing cloud services to fly under the radar. Retrieved September 12, 2024.
Jenkins, L. at al. (2022, August 4). ROADSWEEP Ransomware - Likely Iranian Threat Actor Conducts Politically Motivated Disruptive Activity Against Albanian Government Organizations. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
Dupuy, T. and Faou, M. (2021, June). Gelsemium. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
Lunghi, D. et al. (2020, February). Uncovering DRBControl. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
Chen, T. and Chen, Z. (2020, February 17). CLAMBLING - A New Backdoor Base On Dropbox. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
Microsoft. (2022, June 2). Exposing POLONIUM activity and infrastructure targeting Israeli organizations. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
Huss, D. (2016, March 1). Operation Transparent Tribe. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
Dedola, G. (2020, August 20). Transparent Tribe: Evolution analysis, part 1. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
N. Baisini. (2022, July 13). Transparent Tribe begins targeting education sector in latest campaign. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
Stokes, P. (2020, July 27). Four Distinct Families of Lazarus Malware Target Apple’s macOS Platform. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
Kohler, A. and Lopez, C. (2024, April 30). Malware: Cuckoo Behaves Like Cross Between Infostealer and Spyware. Retrieved August 20, 2024.
TrendMicro. (2014, September 03). DARKCOMET. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
Smith, S., Stafford, M. (2021, December 14). DarkWatchman: A new evolution in fileless techniques. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
Shulmin, A., Yunakovsky, S. (2017, April 28). Use of DNS Tunneling for C&C Communications. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
Fidelis Cybersecurity. (2016, February 29). The Turbo Campaign, Featuring Derusbi for 64-bit Linux. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
Neeamni, D., Rubinfeld, A.. (2021, July 1). Diavol - A New Ransomware Used By Wizard Spider?. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
Shivtarkar, N. and Kumar, A. (2022, June 9). Lyceum .NET DNS Backdoor. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
ClearSky Cyber Security. (2017, December). Charming Kitten. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
US-CERT. (2018, March 16). Alert (TA18-074A): Russian Government Cyber Activity Targeting Energy and Other Critical Infrastructure Sectors. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
ClearSky Research Team. (2020, August 13). Operation 'Dream Job' Widespread North Korean Espionage Campaign. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
hasherezade. (2015, November 4). A Technical Look At Dyreza. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
Chen, J., et al. (2022). Delving Deep: An Analysis of Earth Lusca’s Operations. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
Bichet, J. (2020, November 12). Egregor – Prolock: Fraternal Twins ?. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
Adamitis, D. et al. (2019, June 4). It's alive: Threat actors cobble together open-source pieces into monstrous Frankenstein campaign. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team. (2014, August 06). The Epic Turla Operation: Solving some of the mysteries of Snake/Uroboros. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
Adamitis, D. (2020, May 6). Phantom in the Command Shell. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
ANSSI. (2021, January 27). SANDWORM INTRUSION SET CAMPAIGN TARGETING CENTREON SYSTEMS. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
Threat Intelligence and Research. (2015, March 30). VOLATILE CEDAR. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
Somerville, L. and Toro, A. (2017, March 30). Playing Cat & Mouse: Introducing the Felismus Malware. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
Patil, S. (2018, June 26). Microsoft Office Vulnerabilities Used to Distribute FELIXROOT Backdoor in Recent Campaign. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
Cherepanov, A. (2018, October). GREYENERGY A successor to BlackEnergy. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
FireEye iSIGHT Intelligence. (2017, June 16). FIN10: Anatomy of a Cyber Extortion Operation. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
Abdo, B., et al. (2022, April 4). FIN7 Power Hour: Adversary Archaeology and the Evolution of FIN7. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
Symantec Threat Hunter Team. (2023, July 18). FIN8 Uses Revamped Sardonic Backdoor to Deliver Noberus Ransomware. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
Hada, H. (2021, December 28). Flagpro The new malware used by BlackTech. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
Proofpoint Staff. (2018, March 7). Leaked Ammyy Admin Source Code Turned into Malware. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
Financial Security Institute. (2020, February 28). Profiling of TA505 Threat Group That Continues to Attack the Financial Sector. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
Vrabie, V. (2020, November). Dissecting a Chinese APT Targeting South Eastern Asian Government Institutions. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
Cybereason Nocturnus. (2019, June 25). Operation Soft Cell: A Worldwide Campaign Against Telecommunications Providers. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
Kasza, A. and Reichel, D. (2017, February 27). The Gamaredon Group Toolset Evolution. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team. (2017, August 30). Introducing WhiteBear. Retrieved September 21, 2017.
Schwarz, D. et al. (2019, October 16). TA505 Distributes New SDBbot Remote Access Trojan with Get2 Downloader. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
Sherstobitoff, R., Saavedra-Morales, J. (2018, February 02). Gold Dragon Widens Olympics Malware Attacks, Gains Permanent Presence on Victims’ Systems. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
ESET. (2020, April 28). Grandoreiro: How engorged can an EXE get?. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
Mercer, W., Rascagneres, P. (2018, April 26). GravityRAT - The Two-Year Evolution Of An APT Targeting India. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
Priego, A. (2021, July). THE BROTHERS GRIM: THE REVERSING TALE OF GRIMAGENT MALWARE USED BY RYUK. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
Eoin Miller. (2021, March 23). Defending Against the Zero Day: Analyzing Attacker Behavior Post-Exploitation of Microsoft Exchange. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
FireEye. (2018, February 20). APT37 (Reaper): The Overlooked North Korean Actor. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
Patil, S. and Williams, M.. (2019, June 5). Government Sector in Central Asia Targeted With New HAWKBALL Backdoor Delivered via Microsoft Office Vulnerabilities. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
Kayal, A. et al. (2021, October). LYCEUM REBORN: COUNTERINTELLIGENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
Knight, S.. (2020, April 16). VMware Carbon Black TAU Threat Analysis: The Evolution of Lazarus. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
Hromcová, Z. (2018, June 07). InvisiMole: Surprisingly equipped spyware, undercover since 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
Sancho, D., et al. (2012, May 22). IXESHE An APT Campaign. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
Windows Defender Advanced Threat Hunting Team. (2016, April 29). PLATINUM: Targeted attacks in South and Southeast Asia. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
Levene, B, et al. (2017, May 03). Kazuar: Multiplatform Espionage Backdoor with API Access. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
MSTIC. (2021, December 6). NICKEL targeting government organizations across Latin America and Europe. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
Magius, J., et al. (2017, July 19). Koadic. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
Jazi, H. (2021, February). LazyScripter: From Empire to double RAT. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
Dani Creus, Tyler Halfpop, Robert Falcone. (2016, September 26). Sofacy's 'Komplex' OS X Trojan. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
Rascagneres, P. (2017, May 03). KONNI: A Malware Under The Radar For Years. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
Hawley, S. et al. (2023, February 2). Turla: A Galaxy of Opportunity. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
Symantec Security Response Attack Investigation Team. (2018, April 23). New Orangeworm attack group targets the healthcare sector in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
Stepanic, D. and Bousseaden, S. (2024, May 15). Spring Cleaning with LATRODECTUS: A Potential Replacement for ICEDID. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
Novetta Threat Research Group. (2016, February 24). Operation Blockbuster: Unraveling the Long Thread of the Sony Attack. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
Novetta Threat Research Group. (2016, February 24). Operation Blockbuster: Destructive Malware Report. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
Novetta Threat Research Group. (2016, February 24). Operation Blockbuster: Loaders, Installers and Uninstallers Report. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
Novetta Threat Research Group. (2016, February 24). Operation Blockbuster: Remote Administration Tools & Content Staging Malware Report. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
Sherstobitoff, R. (2018, February 12). Lazarus Resurfaces, Targets Global Banks and Bitcoin Users. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
Saini, A. and Hossein, J. (2022, January 27). North Korea’s Lazarus APT leverages Windows Update client, GitHub in latest campaign. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
Anomali Labs. (2018, December 6). Pulling Linux Rabbit/Rabbot Malware Out of a Hat. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
Faou, M., Tartare, M., Dupuy, T. (2019, October). OPERATION GHOST. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
Yamout, M. (2021, November 29). WIRTE’s campaign in the Middle East ‘living off the land’ since at least 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
BI.ZONE Cyber Threats Research Team. (2021, May 13). From pentest to APT attack: cybercriminal group FIN7 disguises its malware as an ethical hacker’s toolkit. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
Kazem, M. (2019, November 25). Trojan:W32/Lokibot. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
Hsu, K. et al. (2020, June 24). Lucifer: New Cryptojacking and DDoS Hybrid Malware Exploiting High and Critical Vulnerabilities to Infect Windows Devices. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
Botezatu, B and etl. (2021, July 21). LuminousMoth - PlugX, File Exfiltration and Persistence Revisited. Retrieved October 20, 2022.
Jurčacko, F. (2024, May 15). To the Moon and back(doors): Lunar landing in diplomatic missions. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
M.Léveillé, M., Cherepanov, A.. (2022, January 25). Watering hole deploys new macOS malware, DazzleSpy, in Asia. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
SentinelLabs. (2022, September 22). Metador Technical Appendix. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
Lee, B. and Falcone, R. (2017, February 15). Magic Hound Campaign Attacks Saudi Targets. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
DFIR Report. (2022, March 21). APT35 Automates Initial Access Using ProxyShell. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
DFIR Report. (2021, November 15). Exchange Exploit Leads to Domain Wide Ransomware. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
Hromcova, Z. and Burgher, A. (2023, September 21). OilRig’s Outer Space and Juicy Mix: Same ol’ rig, new drill pipes. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
GReAT. (2021, June 16). Ferocious Kitten: 6 Years of Covert Surveillance in Iran. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
Falcone, R. (2019, March 4). New Python-Based Payload MechaFlounder Used by Chafer. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
ESET Research. (2019, October 3). Casbaneiro: peculiarities of this banking Trojan that affects Brazil and Mexico. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
Threat Hunter Team. (2023, April 20). Daggerfly: APT Actor Targets Telecoms Company in Africa. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
Rascagneres, P., Mercer, W. (2017, June 19). Delphi Used To Score Against Palestine. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
ClearSky Cyber Security . (2021, August). New Iranian Espionage Campaign By “Siamesekitten” - Lyceum. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
Rosenberg, J. (2018, June 14). MirageFox: APT15 Resurfaces With New Tools Based On Old Ones. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
Gross, J. (2016, February 23). Operation Dust Storm. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
Microsoft Threat Intelligence. (2024, May 28). Moonstone Sleet emerges as new North Korean threat actor with new bag of tricks. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
Miller-Osborn, J. and Grunzweig, J.. (2017, March 30). Trochilus and New MoonWind RATs Used In Attack Against Thai Organizations. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
Svajcer, V. (2018, July 31). Multiple Cobalt Personality Disorder. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
Villadsen, O.. (2019, August 29). More_eggs, Anyone? Threat Actor ITG08 Strikes Again. Retrieved September 16, 2019.
ESET, et al. (2018, January). Diplomats in Eastern Europe bitten by a Turla mosquito. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team. (2018, October 10). MuddyWater expands operations. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
Peretz, A. and Theck, E. (2021, March 5). Earth Vetala – MuddyWater Continues to Target Organizations in the Middle East. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
F-Secure Labs. (2016, July). NANHAISHU RATing the South China Sea. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
Bezroutchko, A. (2019, November 19). NBTscan man page. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
SecTools. (2003, June 11). NBTscan. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
Lunghi, D., et al. (2017, December). Untangling the Patchwork Cyberespionage Group. Retrieved July 10, 2018.
Robert Falcone, Jeff White, and Peter Renals. (2021, November 7). Targeted Attack Campaign Against ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus Delivers Godzilla Webshells, NGLite Trojan and KdcSponge Stealer. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
McAfee® Foundstone® Professional Services and McAfee Labs™. (2011, February 10). Global Energy Cyberattacks: “Night Dragon”. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
Ahn Ho, Facundo Muñoz, & Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé. (2024, March 7). Evasive Panda leverages Monlam Festival to target Tibetans. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
Fidelis Cybersecurity. (2013, June 28). Fidelis Threat Advisory #1009: "njRAT" Uncovered. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
Grunzweig, J., Lee, B. (2018, September 27). New KONNI Malware attacking Eurasia and Southeast Asia. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
Malhotra, A. (2021, March 2). ObliqueRAT returns with new campaign using hijacked websites. Retrieved September 2, 2021.
Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team. (2018, October 15). Octopus-infested seas of Central Asia. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
Hromcova, Z. and Burgher, A. (2023, December 14). OilRig’s persistent attacks using cloud service-powered downloaders. Retrieved November 26, 2024.
Falcone, R. and Lee, B.. (2016, May 26). The OilRig Campaign: Attacks on Saudi Arabian Organizations Deliver Helminth Backdoor. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
Grunzweig, J. and Falcone, R.. (2016, October 4). OilRig Malware Campaign Updates Toolset and Expands Targets. Retrieved May 3, 2017.
Check Point. (2021, April 8). Iran’s APT34 Returns with an Updated Arsenal. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
Hromcova, Z. (2019, July). OKRUM AND KETRICAN: AN OVERVIEW OF RECENT KE3CHANG GROUP ACTIVITY. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
Cybereason Nocturnus. (2022, May 4). Operation CuckooBees: Deep-Dive into Stealthy Winnti Techniques. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
Dantzig, M. v., Schamper, E. (2019, December 19). Operation Wocao: Shining a light on one of China’s hidden hacking groups. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
Cymmetria. (2016). Unveiling Patchwork - The Copy-Paste APT. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
Mercer, W, et al. (2020, April 16). PoetRAT: Python RAT uses COVID-19 lures to target Azerbaijan public and private sectors. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
Adair, S.. (2016, November 9). PowerDuke: Widespread Post-Election Spear Phishing Campaigns Targeting Think Tanks and NGOs. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
GReAT. (2019, August 12). Recent Cloud Atlas activity. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
Lunghi, D. and Horejsi, J.. (2019, June 10). MuddyWater Resurfaces, Uses Multi-Stage Backdoor POWERSTATS V3 and New Post-Exploitation Tools. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
Sardiwal, M, et al. (2017, December 7). New Targeted Attack in the Middle East by APT34, a Suspected Iranian Threat Group, Using CVE-2017-11882 Exploit. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
Cherepanov, A.. (2016, May 17). Operation Groundbait: Analysis of a surveillance toolkit. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
Nicolas Verdier. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2018.
Checkpoint Research. (2021, November 15). Uncovering MosesStaff techniques: Ideology over Money. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
Kuzmenko, A. et al. (2021, September 2). QakBot technical analysis. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
Kenefick, I. et al. (2022, October 12). Black Basta Ransomware Gang Infiltrates Networks via QAKBOT, Brute Ratel, and Cobalt Strike. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
Lee, B., Falcone, R. (2018, July 25). OilRig Targets Technology Service Provider and Government Agency with QUADAGENT. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
CISA. (2018, December 18). Analysis Report (AR18-352A) Quasar Open-Source Remote Administration Tool. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
S2W TALON. (2022, June 16). Raccoon Stealer is Back with a New Version. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
Quentin Bourgue, Pierre le Bourhis, & Sekoia TDR. (2022, June 28). Raccoon Stealer v2 - Part 1: The return of the dead. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
Pierre Le Bourhis, Quentin Bourgue, & Sekoia TDR. (2022, June 29). Raccoon Stealer v2 - Part 2: In-depth analysis. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
Christopher So. (2022, December 20). Raspberry Robin Malware Targets Telecom, Governments. Retrieved May 17, 2024.
Trend Micro. (2017, February 27). RATANKBA: Delving into Large-scale Watering Holes against Enterprises. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
Global Threat Center, Intelligence Team. (2020, December). APT27 Turns to Ransomware. Retrieved November 12, 2021.
Grunzweig, J. and Miller-Osborn, J. (2017, November 10). New Malware with Ties to SunOrcal Discovered. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
PwC and BAE Systems. (2017, April). Operation Cloud Hopper: Technical Annex. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
Kaspersky Lab's Global Research & Analysis Team. (2016, August 9). The ProjectSauron APT. Technical Analysis. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
Livelli, K, et al. (2018, November 12). Operation Shaheen. Retrieved May 1, 2019.
Falcone, R. (2018, January 25). OilRig uses RGDoor IIS Backdoor on Targets in the Middle East. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
Sherstobitoff, R., Malhotra, A., et. al.. (2018, December 18). Operation Sharpshooter Campaign Targets Global Defense, Critical Infrastructure. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
Falcone, R., et al. (2018, July 27). New Threat Actor Group DarkHydrus Targets Middle East Government. Retrieved August 2, 2018.
Jazi, Hossein. (2021, January 6). Retrohunting APT37: North Korean APT used VBA self decode technique to inject RokRat. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
Faou, M. and Boutin, J. (2017, February). Read The Manual: A Guide to the RTM Banking Trojan. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
Hasherezade. (2021, April 6). A deep dive into Saint Bot, a new downloader. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
Scott W. Brady. (2020, October 15). United States vs. Yuriy Sergeyevich Andrienko et al.. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
Schwarz, D. and Proofpoint Staff. (2019, January 9). ServHelper and FlawedGrace - New malware introduced by TA505. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
Kaspersky Lab. (2017, August). ShadowPad: popular server management software hit in supply chain attack. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
Hegel, T. (2021, January 13). A Global Perspective of the SideWinder APT. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
Salvati, M. (2019, August 6). SILENTTRINITY Modules. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
DHS/CISA, Cyber National Mission Force. (2020, October 1). Malware Analysis Report (MAR) MAR-10303705-1.v1 – Remote Access Trojan: SLOTHFULMEDIA. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
NCSC GCHQ. (2022, January 27). Small Sieve Malware Analysis Report. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
FireEye. (2021, June 16). Smoking Out a DARKSIDE Affiliate’s Supply Chain Software Compromise. Retrieved September 22, 2021.
Andrew Northern. (2022, November 22). SocGholish, a very real threat from a very fake update. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
Red Canary. (2024, March). Red Canary 2024 Threat Detection Report: SocGholish. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
Secureworks. (n.d.). GOLD PRELUDE . Retrieved March 22, 2024.
GREAT. (2021, March 30). APT10: sophisticated multi-layered loader Ecipekac discovered in A41APT campaign. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
The BlackBerry Research and Intelligence Team. (2020, November 12). The CostaRicto Campaign: Cyber-Espionage Outsourced. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
CISA. (2021, May 6). Analysis Report (AR21-126A) FiveHands Ransomware. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
Falcone, R., et al. (2020, March 3). Molerats Delivers Spark Backdoor to Government and Telecommunications Organizations. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
Check Point Research. (2019, February 4). SpeakUp: A New Undetected Backdoor Linux Trojan. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
Kumar, A., Stone-Gross, Brett. (2021, September 28). Squirrelwaffle: New Loader Delivering Cobalt Strike. Retrieved August 9, 2022.
Baumgartner, K., Golovkin, M.. (2015, May). The MsnMM Campaigns: The Earliest Naikon APT Campaigns. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
Tomcik, R. et al. (2022, February 24). Left On Read: Telegram Malware Spotted in Latest Iranian Cyber Espionage Activity. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
FBI, CISA, CNMF, NCSC-UK. (2022, February 24). Iranian Government-Sponsored Actors Conduct Cyber Operations Against Global Government and Commercial Networks. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
Marczak, B. and Scott-Railton, J.. (2016, May 29). Keep Calm and (Don’t) Enable Macros: A New Threat Actor Targets UAE Dissidents. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
Tyler McGraw, Thomas Elkins, and Evan McCann. (2024, May 10). Ongoing Social Engineering Campaign Linked to Black Basta Ransomware Operators. Retrieved January 31, 2025.
Cybereason Nocturnus. (2022, February 1). StrifeWater RAT: Iranian APT Moses Staff Adds New Trojan to Ransomware Operations. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
FireEye. (2020, December 13). Highly Evasive Attacker Leverages SolarWinds Supply Chain to Compromise Multiple Global Victims With SUNBURST Backdoor. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
MSTIC. (2020, December 18). Analyzing Solorigate, the compromised DLL file that started a sophisticated cyberattack, and how Microsoft Defender helps protect customers . Retrieved January 5, 2021.
Schlapfer, Patrick. (2022, June 6). A New Loader Gets Ready. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
Ivanov, A. et al. (2018, May 7). SynAck targeted ransomware uses the Doppelgänging technique. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
Daniel Lunghi. (2023, March 1). Iron Tiger’s SysUpdate Reappears, Adds Linux Targeting. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
Grunzweig, J. and Miller-Osborn, J.. (2016, February 4). T9000: Advanced Modular Backdoor Uses Complex Anti-Analysis Techniques. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
Dahan, A. et al. (2019, December 11). DROPPING ANCHOR: FROM A TRICKBOT INFECTION TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE ANCHOR MALWARE. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
Secureworks. (2019, July 24). Updated Karagany Malware Targets Energy Sector. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
Alintanahin, K. (2015). Operation Tropic Trooper: Relying on Tried-and-Tested Flaws to Infiltrate Secret Keepers. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
Adam Burgher. (2021, June 10). BackdoorDiplomacy: Upgrading from Quarian to Turian. Retrieved September 1, 2021
Settle, A., et al. (2016, August 8). MONSOON - Analysis Of An APT Campaign. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
Matsuda, A., Muhammad I. (2018, September 13). APT10 Targeting Japanese Corporations Using Updated TTPs. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
Salem, E. et al. (2020, May 28). VALAK: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE . Retrieved June 19, 2020.
Lancaster, T., Cortes, J. (2018, January 29). VERMIN: Quasar RAT and Custom Malware Used In Ukraine. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
NSA et al. (2023, May 24). People's Republic of China State-Sponsored Cyber Actor Living off the Land to Evade Detection. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
Counter Threat Unit Research Team. (2023, May 24). Chinese Cyberespionage Group BRONZE SILHOUETTE Targets U.S. Government and Defense Organizations. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
CISA et al.. (2024, February 7). PRC State-Sponsored Actors Compromise and Maintain Persistent Access to U.S. Critical Infrastructure. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
CISA. (2020, July 16). MAR-10296782-3.v1 – WELLMAIL. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
CISA. (2020, July 16). MAR-10296782-2.v1 – WELLMESS. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
Carr, N.. (2017, May 14). Cyber Espionage is Alive and Well: APT32 and the Threat to Global Corporations. Retrieved June 18, 2017.
The BlackBerry Research & Intelligence Team. (2020, October). BAHAMUT: Hack-for-Hire Masters of Phishing, Fake News, and Fake Apps. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
Tom Hegel. (2023, March 16). Winter Vivern | Uncovering a Wave of Global Espionage. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
Sean Gallagher, Peter Mackenzie, Elida Leite, Syed Shahram, Bill Kearney, Anand Aijan, Sivagnanam Gn, Suraj Mundalik. (2020, October 14). They’re back: inside a new Ryuk ransomware attack. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
MalwareBytes Threat Intelligence Team. (2022, August 3). Woody RAT: A new feature-rich malware spotted in the wild. Retrieved December 6, 2022.
Robert Falcone. (2017, February 14). XAgentOSX: Sofacy's Xagent macOS Tool. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
Acronis. (2021, November 26). Trojan-as-a-service: From Formbook to XLoader. Retrieved March 11, 2025.
Schwarz, D., Sopko J. (2018, March 08). Donot Team Leverages New Modular Malware Framework in South Asia. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
ESET. (2018, November 20). Sednit: What’s going on with Zebrocy?. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
CISA. (2020, October 29). Malware Analysis Report (AR20-303B). Retrieved December 9, 2020.
Singh, S. and Antil, S. (2020, October 27). APT-31 Leverages COVID-19 Vaccine Theme and Abuses Legitimate Online Services. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
Allievi, A., et al. (2014, October 28). Threat Spotlight: Group 72, Opening the ZxShell. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
Raghuprasad, C . (2022, May 11). Bitter APT adds Bangladesh to their targets. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
Microsoft. (2017, December 1). MS-DRSR Directory Replication Service (DRS) Remote Protocol. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
Microsoft. (n.d.). IDL_DRSGetNCChanges (Opnum 3). Retrieved December 4, 2017.
SambaWiki. (n.d.). DRSUAPI. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
Schroeder, W. (2015, September 22). Mimikatz and DCSync and ExtraSids, Oh My. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
Microsoft. (n.d.). MS-SAMR Security Account Manager (SAM) Remote Protocol (Client-to-Server) - Transport. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
Metcalf, S. (2015, September 25). Mimikatz DCSync Usage, Exploitation, and Detection. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
PowerSploit. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2014.
French, D. (2018, October 2). Detecting Attempts to Steal Passwords from Memory. Retrieved October 11, 2019.