GINC-APT-0872 · State

Operation Jacana

Category
State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
Origin
China(high confidence)
Motivation
Information theft and espionage
Seen
2023
Sources
3 sources carry it
Identifier
GINC-APT-0872 · operation-jacana

What it is

(ESET) In February 2023, ESET researchers detected a spearphishing campaign targeting a governmental entity in Guyana. While we haven’t been able to link the campaign, which we named Operation Jacana, to any specific APT group, we believe with medium confidence that a China-aligned threat group is behind this incident. In the attack, the operators used a previously undocumented C++ backdoor that can exfiltrate files, manipulate Windows registry keys, execute CMD commands, and more. We named the backdoor DinodasRAT based on the victim identifier it sends to its C&C: the string always begins with Din, which reminded us of the hobbit Dinodas from the Lord of the Rings.

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
Guyana

Tools

The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.

  • DinodasRAT
  • Impacket
  • PlugX
  • SoftEther VPN

Sources