Hacker groupG1051
Medusa Group
Medusa Group has been active since at least 2021 and was initially operated as a closed ransomware group before evolving into a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) operation. Some reporting indicates that certain attacks may still be conducted directly by the ransomware’s core developers. Public sources have also referred to the group as “Spearwing” or “Medusa Actors.” Medusa Group employs living-off-the-land techniques, frequently leveraging publicly available tools and common remote management software to conduct operations. The group engages in double extortion tactics, exfiltrating data prior to encryption and threatening to publish stolen information if ransom demands are not met. For initial access, Medusa Group has exploited publicly known vulnerabilities, conducted phishing campaigns, and used credentials or access purchased from Initial Access Brokers (IABs). The group is opportunistic and has targeted a wide range of sectors globally.
- Known attack methods
- 57
- Motive
- Financial gain, Data theft
- First seen
- 2021
- 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
Resource Development
9 techniques · 5 used
Initial Access
11 techniques · 1 used
Execution
20 techniques · 6 used
Persistence
22 techniques · 3 used
Privilege Escalation
13 techniques · 1 used
Stealth
30 techniques · 5 used
Defense Impairment
18 techniques · 5 used
Credential Access
17 techniques · 1 used
Discovery
34 techniques · 12 used
Lateral Movement
9 techniques · 2 used
Collection
17 techniques
Command and Control
18 techniques · 5 used
Exfiltration
9 techniques · 1 used
Impact
15 techniques · 5 used
Resource development6
Initial access1
Execution7
Privilege escalation1
Stealth7
Defense impairment5
Credential access2
Discovery12
- T1016System Network Configuration Discovery
- T1018Remote System Discovery
- T1033System Owner/User Discovery
- T1046Network Service Discovery
- T1057Process Discovery
- T1069.002Domain Groups
- T1082System Information Discovery
- T1083File and Directory Discovery
- T1087.001Local Account
- T1135Network Share Discovery
- T1518.001Security Software Discovery
- T1652Device Driver Discovery
Lateral movement2
Command and control5
Exfiltration1
Malware
Families MITRE records this group deploying. Detection names for these are a reasonable place to start.
Medusa Ransomware
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.
MimikatzPsExecRclonecertutil