Hacker groupG0096
APT41
Also tracked as Wicked Panda, Brass Typhoon, BARIUM
APT41 is a threat group that researchers have assessed as Chinese state-sponsored espionage group that also conducts financially-motivated operations. Active since at least 2012, APT41 has been observed targeting various industries, including but not limited to healthcare, telecom, technology, finance, education, retail and video game industries in 14 countries. Notable behaviors include using a wide range of malware and tools to complete mission objectives. APT41 overlaps at least partially with public reporting on groups including BARIUM and Winnti Group.
- Known attack methods
- 82
- Origin
- China
- Motive
- Espionage
- First seen
- 2012
- Last seen
- 2024-06
- Source
- MITRE ATT&CK
How they break in
Techniques MITRE has documented this group using, mapped onto the ATT&CK matrix. Each one is a behaviour you can look for in your own logs, and a control you can test.
Used by this groupNot documented for this groupIn brackets: sub-techniques this group uses, of those that exist.
Reconnaissance
12 techniques · 2 used
Resource Development
9 techniques · 1 used
Initial Access
11 techniques · 3 used
Execution
20 techniques · 5 used
Persistence
22 techniques · 6 used
Privilege Escalation
13 techniques · 1 used
Stealth
30 techniques · 12 used
Defense Impairment
18 techniques · 5 used
Credential Access
17 techniques · 3 used
Discovery
34 techniques · 11 used
Lateral Movement
9 techniques · 3 used
Collection
17 techniques · 4 used
Command and Control
18 techniques · 7 used
Exfiltration
9 techniques · 1 used
Impact
15 techniques · 2 used
Resource development1
Initial access3
Execution7
Persistence6
Privilege escalation1
Stealth17
- T1014Rootkit
- T1027Obfuscated Files or Information
- T1027.002Software Packing
- T1036.004Masquerade Task or Service
- T1036.005Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location
- T1055Process Injection
- T1070.003Clear Command History
- T1070.004File Deletion
- T1078Valid Accounts
- T1197BITS Jobs
- T1218.001Compiled HTML File
- T1218.011Rundll32
- T1480.001Environmental Keying
- T1542.003Bootkit
- T1574.001DLL
- T1574.006Dynamic Linker Hijacking
- T1684.001Impersonation
Defense impairment6
Credential access6
Discovery12
- T1012Query Registry
- T1016System Network Configuration Discovery
- T1018Remote System Discovery
- T1033System Owner/User Discovery
- T1046Network Service Discovery
- T1049System Network Connections Discovery
- T1069Permission Groups Discovery
- T1082System Information Discovery
- T1083File and Directory Discovery
- T1087.001Local Account
- T1087.002Domain Account
- T1135Network Share Discovery
Lateral movement4
Collection4
Command and control9
Exfiltration1
Malware
Families MITRE records this group deploying. Detection names for these are a reasonable place to start.
ASPXSpyBLACKCOFFEEChina ChopperCobalt StrikeDUSTPANDUSTTRAPDerusbiKEYPLUGLightSpyMESSAGETAPMOPSLEDPlugXROCKBOOTShadowPadWinnti for LinuxZxShellgh0st RATnjRAT
Tools
Legitimate or dual-use software the group is documented using. Most of it is software your own administrators use too, which is the point.
BITSAdminEmpireImpacketMimikatzNetPingPowerSploitcertutildsqueryftpipconfignetstatpwdumpsqlmap
Campaigns
APT41 DUSTC0017