- Category
- State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
- Origin
- China(high confidence)
- Sponsor
- State-sponsored
- Motivation
- Information theft and espionage
- Seen
- 2010–2026
- Status
- Active
- ATT&CK
- G0098 · 14 techniques
- Sources
- 9 sources carry it
- Identifier
- GINC-APT-0079 · blacktech
ChinaWhat it is
BlackTech 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 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.
Names
The names each vendor, agency and source gives it. Naming differs by who tracks the actor, so one group carries many.
- CrowdStrike
- RADIO PANDA, BlackTech, Circuit Panda, Radio Panda, Circuit Panda, PITTY PANDA
- Mandiant
- APT24, TEMP.Overboard
- Microsoft
- Canary Typhoon
- MITRE ATT&CK
- G0098
- PwC
- Red Djinn
- Trend Micro
- Earth Hundun
- Operations
- Operation “PLEAD”, Operation “Shrouded Crossbow”, Operation “Waterbear”
- Other names
- CAVERN CASTLE, HUAPI, Manga Taurus, Mobwork, Palmerworm, Phantom of Routers, Shrouded Crossbow, T-APT-03, Temp.Pittytiger
Attribution
Each attribution is a claim: who makes it, and to whom. Western and Eastern sources are kept apart, as they often disagree.
Western sources
- ETDA / ThaiCERTChina
- MISP Galaxy (CFR tagging)China
- MicrosoftChina
- ThreatActor.info (Malpedia et al.)China · high
Targets
- Countries
- China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, United States
- Sectors
- Construction, Financial, Government, Healthcare, Media, Technology
Tools
The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.
- BLACKCOFFEE
- Backdoor.Oldrea
- BendyBear
- BlackEnergy
- BlackNix
- Blackshades
- CloudDuke
- Cyber Eye RAT
- CyberGate
- Flagpro
- HTTP WEB BACKDOOR
- Kivars
- PLEAD
- PsExec
- Rover
- TSCookie
- Waterbear
Sources
- MITRE ATT&CK attack.mitre.org
- ETDA Threat Group Card apt.etda.or.th
- Malpedia malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de