- Category
- State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
- Origin
- China(high confidence)
- Sponsor
- State-sponsored
- Motivation
- Information theft and espionage
- Seen
- 2011–2026
- Status
- Active
- ATT&CK
- G0081 · 40 techniques
- Sources
- 7 sources carry it
- Identifier
- GINC-APT-0254 · tropic-trooper
ChinaWhat it is
Tropic Trooper is an unaffiliated threat group that has led targeted campaigns against targets in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Tropic Trooper focuses on targeting government, healthcare, transportation, and high-tech industries and has been active since 2011.
Names
The names each vendor, agency and source gives it. Naming differs by who tracks the actor, so one group carries many.
- CrowdStrike
- Pirate Panda
- Mandiant
- APT23, APT 23
- MITRE ATT&CK
- G0081
- PwC
- Red Orthrus
- Trend Micro
- Earth Centaur
- Operations
- Operation “Tropic Trooper”
- Other names
- Bronze Hobart, Iron, KeyBoy, Tropic Trooper, Pirate Panda, APT 23, KeyBoy
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
- Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Tibet, Vietnam
- Sectors
- Defense, Government, Government, Administration, Healthcare, High-Tech, Military, Transportation
Tools
The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.
- BITSAdmin
- KeyBoy
- PoisonIvy
- ShadowPad
- USBferry
- YAHOYAH
Sources
- MITRE ATT&CK attack.mitre.org
- ETDA Threat Group Card apt.etda.or.th
- Malpedia malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de