GINC-APT-0182 · State

Cinnamon Tempest

Also BRONZE STARLIGHT, DEV-0401, Emperor Dragonfly, HighGround, Operation ChattyGoblin, SLIME34.

Category
State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
Origin
China(high confidence)
Motivation
Information theft and espionage
Seen
2021–2026
Status
Active
ATT&CK
G1021 · 19 techniques
Sources
7 sources carry it
Identifier
GINC-APT-0182 · cinnamon-tempest

What it is

Cinnamon Tempest is a China-based threat group that has been active since at least 2021 deploying multiple strains of ransomware based on the leaked Babuk source code. Cinnamon Tempest does not operate their ransomware on an affiliate model or purchase access but appears to act independently in all stages of the attack lifecycle. Based on victimology, the short lifespan of each ransomware variant, and use of malware attributed to government-sponsored threat groups, Cinnamon Tempest may be motivated by intellectual property theft or cyberespionage rather than financial gain.

Names

The names each vendor, agency and source gives it. Naming differs by who tracks the actor, so one group carries many.

Microsoft
DEV-0401
Secureworks
BRONZE STARLIGHT
Operations
Operation ChattyGoblin
Other names
Emperor Dragonfly, HighGround, SLIME34

Attribution

Each attribution is a claim: who makes it, and to whom. Western and Eastern sources are kept apart, as they often disagree.

Targets

Countries
Philippines
Sectors
Casinos and Gambling

Tools

The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.

  • Archelaus Beta
  • Cheerscrypt
  • China Chopper
  • Cobalt Strike
  • CrossRat
  • HUI Loader
  • Impacket
  • Pandora
  • PlugX
  • Rclone
  • Sliver
  • Smoke Loader
  • Starloader

Sources