Also known as: APT28, IRON TWILIGHT, SNAKEMACKEREL, Swallowtail, Group 74, Sednit, Sofacy, Pawn Storm, Fancy Bear, STRONTIUM, Tsar Team, Threat Group-4127, TG-4127, Forest Blizzard, FROZENLAKE, GruesomeLarch
🇷🇺
Russia
Active Since
2017
MITRE ID
G0007
Techniques
91
[APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) is a threat group that has been attributed to Russia's General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) 85th Main Special Service Center (GTsSS) military unit 26165.(Citation: NSA/FBI Drovorub August 2020)(Citation: Cybersecurity Advisory GRU Brute Force Campaign July 2021) This group has been active since at least 2004.(Citation: DOJ GRU Indictment Jul 2018)(Citation: Ars Technica GRU indictment Jul 2018)(Citation: Crowdstrike DNC June 2016)(Citation: FireEye APT28)(Citation: SecureWorks TG-4127)(Citation: FireEye APT28 January 2017)(Citation: GRIZZLY STEPPE JAR)(Citation: Sofacy DealersChoice)(Citation: Palo Alto Sofacy 06-2018)(Citation: Symantec APT28 Oct 2018)(Citation: ESET Zebrocy May 2019)
[APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) reportedly compromised the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2016 in an attempt to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.(Citation: Crowdstrike DNC June 2016) In 2018, the US indicted five GRU Unit 26165 officers associated with [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) for cyber operations (including close-access operations) conducted between 2014 and 2018 against the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the US Anti-Doping Agency, a US nuclear facility, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Spiez Swiss Chemicals Laboratory, and other organizations.(Citation: US District Court Indictment GRU Oct 2018) Some of these were conducted with the assistance of GRU Unit 74455, which is also referred to as [Sandworm Team](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0034).
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
Recon6
T1589.001Credentials
T1591Gather Victim Org Information
T1598Phishing for Information
T1596Search Open Technical Databases
T1598.003Spearphishing Link
T1595.002Vulnerability Scanning
Resource6
T1583.001Domains
T1586.002Email Accounts
Known Victims
live · just now
No victims recorded in ransomware.live for this group.
T1584.008
Network Devices
T1588.002Tool
T1583.003Virtual Private Server
T1583.006Web Services
Initial5
T1189Drive-by Compromise
T1190Exploit Public-Facing Application
T1566.001Spearphishing Attachment
T1199Trusted Relationship
T1669Wi-Fi Networks
Exec6
T1559.002Dynamic Data Exchange
T1203Exploitation for Client Execution
T1204.002Malicious File
T1204.001Malicious Link
T1059.001PowerShell
T1059.003Windows Command Shell
Persist7
T1098.002Additional Email Delegate Permissions
T1542.003Bootkit
T1133External Remote Services
T1037.001Logon Script (Windows)
T1137.002Office Test
T1547.001Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder
T1505.003Web Shell
PrivEsc2
T1546.015Component Object Model Hijacking
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Defense18
T1550.001Application Access Token
T1070.001Clear Windows Event Logs
T1078.004Cloud Accounts
T1140Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information
T1027.013Encrypted/Encoded File
T1211Exploitation for Defense Evasion
T1070.004File Deletion
T1564.001Hidden Files and Directories
+10 more
Creds9
T1110Brute Force
T1557.004Evil Twin
T1003.001LSASS Memory
T1040Network Sniffing
T1003.003NTDS
T1003OS Credential Dumping
T1110.001Password Guessing
T1110.003Password Spraying
+1 more
Discovery3
T1083File and Directory Discovery
T1120Peripheral Device Discovery
T1057Process Discovery
Lateral3
T1210Exploitation of Remote Services
T1091Replication Through Removable Media
T1021.002SMB/Windows Admin Shares
Collect13
T1560Archive Collected Data
T1560.001Archive via Utility
T1119Automated Collection
T1213Data from Information Repositories
T1005Data from Local System
T1039Data from Network Shared Drive
T1025Data from Removable Media
T1056.001Keylogging
+5 more
C29
T1102.002Bidirectional Communication
T1092Communication Through Removable Media
T1090.002External Proxy
T1105Ingress Tool Transfer
T1001.001Junk Data
T1071.003Mail Protocols
T1090.003Multi-hop Proxy
T1573.001Symmetric Cryptography
+1 more
Exfil3
T1030Data Transfer Size Limits
T1048.002Exfiltration Over Asymmetric Encrypted Non-C2 Protocol