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Cutting Kitten, TG-2889

Mitre

Alias

Cutting Kitten, Tg-2889

Country

Iran

Sponsor

State-sponsored, Security Company Itsecteam

Motivation

Information Theft And Espionage

First Seen

2012

Description

Cleaver is a threat group that has been attributed to Iranian actors and is responsible for activity tracked as Operation Cleaver. Strong circumstantial evidence suggests Cleaver is linked to Threat Group 2889 (TG-2889).

This group evolved into {{Magic Hound, APT 35, Cobalt Illusion, Charming Kitten}}.

Targeted
Industries

Aerospace, Aviation, Chemical, Defense, Education, Energy, Financial, Government, Healthcare, Oil And Gas, Technology, Telecommunications, Transportation, Utilities, (banks: Bank Of America, Us Bancorp, Fifth Third Bank, Citigroup, Pnc, Bb&t, Wells Fargo, Capital One And Hsbc)

Targeted
Countries

Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Kuwait, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, Uae, Uk, Usa

Tools

Csext
Disttrack
Jasus
Kagent
Leash
Logger Module
Mpkbot
Net Crawler
Pupyrat
Pvz-in
Pvz-out
Synflooder
Syskit
Tinyzbot
Wndtest
Zhcat
Zhmimikatz

TTP

Nil

Operations
Performed

[2012] operation �cleaver� (operation Cleaver Has, Over The Past Several Years, Conducted A Significant Global Surveillance And Infiltration Campaign. To Date It Has Successfully Evaded Detection By Existing Security Technologies. The Group Is Believed To Work From Tehran, Iran, Although Auxiliary Team Members Were Identified In Other Locations Including The Netherlands, Canada, And The Uk. The Group Successfully Leveraged Both Publicly Available, And Customized Tools To Attack And Compromise Targets Around The Globe. The Targets Include Military, Oil And Gas, Energy And Utilities, Transportation, Airlines, Airports, Hospitals, Telecommunications, Technology, Education, Aerospace, Defense Industrial Base (dib), Chemical Companies, And Governments. (https://www.cylance.com/content/dam/cylance/pages/operation-cleaver/cylance_operation_cleaver_report.pdf)

[2013] attack On The Bowman Avenue Dam (iranian Hackers Infiltrated The Control System Of A Small Dam Less Than 20 Miles From New York City Two Years Ago, Sparking Concerns That Reached To The White House, According To Former And Current U.s. Officials And Experts Familiar With The Previously Undisclosed Incident. (https://www.wsj.com/articles/iranian-hackers-infiltrated-new-york-dam-in-2013-1450662559)

[2015] network Of Fake Linkedin Profiles (while Tracking A Suspected Iran-based Threat Group Known As Threat Group-2889 (tg-2889), Dell Secureworks Counter Threat Unit (ctu) Researchers Uncovered A Network Of Fake Linkedin Profiles. These Convincing Profiles Form A Self-referenced Network Of Seemingly Established Linkedin Users. Ctu Researchers Assess With High Confidence The Purpose Of This Network Is To Target Potential Victims Through Social Engineering. (https://www.secureworks.com/research/suspected-iran-based-hacker-group-creates-network-of-fake-linkedin-profiles

Counter
Operations

'date': '2016-03', 'activity': 'u.s. Indicts Iranians For Hacking Dozens Of Banks, New York Dam (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-cyber/u-s-indicts-iranians-for-hacking-dozens-of-banks-new-york-dam-iduskcn0wq1jf'

Information

nil

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