GINC-APT-0428 · Criminal

Operation Emmental

Also Retefe Gang, Retefe Gang, Operation Emmental, Retefe Group.

Category
Criminal · Financially motivated: ransomware, fraud and theft.
Origin
Russia(high confidence)
Motivation
Financial crime
Seen
2013
Sources
5 sources carry it
Identifier
GINC-APT-0428 · operation-emmental

What it is

Operation Emmental, also known as the Retefe gang, is a threat actor group that has been active since at least 2012. They primarily target customers of banks in countries such as Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, and Japan. The group has developed sophisticated malware, including a Mac alternative called Dok, to bypass two-factor authentication and hijack network traffic. They have also been observed using phishing emails to spread their malware. The group is believed to be Russian-speaking and has continuously improved their malicious codes over the years.

Names

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

Other names
Retefe Gang, Retefe Gang, Operation Emmental, Retefe Group

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
Austria, Germany, Japan, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, United Kingdom
Sectors
Financial

Tools

The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.

  • Citadel
  • Retefe
  • Retefe (Android)
  • Tinba

Sources