- Category
- State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
- Origin
- Russia(high confidence)contested
- Motivation
- Information theft and espionage
- Seen
- 2014–2026
- Status
- Active
- ATT&CK
- G0133 · 7 techniques
- Sources
- 8 sources carry it
- Identifier
- GINC-APT-0142 · nomadic-octopus
RussiaWhat it is
Nomadic Octopus is a Russian-speaking cyber espionage threat group that has primarily targeted Central Asia, including local governments, diplomatic missions, and individuals, since at least 2014. Nomadic Octopus has been observed conducting campaigns involving Android and Windows malware, mainly using the Delphi programming language, and building custom variants.
Names
The names each vendor, agency and source gives it. Naming differs by who tracks the actor, so one group carries many.
- CrowdStrike
- DustSquad, Golden Falcon, Golden Falcon
- MITRE ATT&CK
- G0133
- Qihoo 360
- APT-C-34
- Other names
- DustSquad
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 / ThaiCERTRussia
- MISP Galaxy (CFR tagging)Russia
- ThreatActor.info (Malpedia et al.)Russia · high
Chinese and Russian sources
- Qihoo 360Kazakhstan
Targets
- Countries
- Afghanistan, Kazakhstan
- Sectors
- Defense, Government, Media
Tools
The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.
- Archelaus Beta
- Cyber Eye RAT
- CyberGate
- Hacking Team UEFI Rootkit
- MobileOrder
- Octopus
Sources
- MITRE ATT&CK attack.mitre.org
- ETDA Threat Group Card apt.etda.or.th
- Malpedia malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de
- Qihoo 360 apt.360.net