GINC-APT-0561 · State

Operation Armor Piercer

Category
State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
Origin
Pakistan(high confidence)
Motivation
Information theft and espionage
Seen
2020–2021
Status
Dormant
Sources
4 sources carry it
Identifier
GINC-APT-0561 · operation-armor-piercer

What it is

(Talos) Cisco Talos recently discovered a malicious campaign targeting government employees and military personnel in the Indian sub-continent with two commercial and commodity RAT families known as NetwireRAT (aka NetwireRC) and WarzoneRAT (aka Ave Maria). The attackers delivered a variety of lures to their targets, predominantly posing as guides related to Indian governmental infrastructure and operations such as Kavach and I.T.-related guides in the form of malicious Microsoft Office documents (maldocs) and archives (RARs, ZIPs) containing loaders for the RATs. Some of these lures and tactics utilized by the attackers bear a strong resemblance to the 'Transparent Tribe, APT 36' and 'SideCopy' APT groups, including the use of compromised websites and fake domains.

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

Targets

Countries
India
Sectors
Defense, Government

Tools

The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.

  • NetWire RC
  • Warzone RAT

Sources