Threat actor
APT15
Last fetched
APT15 is a threat actor tracked in WhisperGraph's MITRE ATT&CK corpus, observed using 46 techniques and also known as 16 other names.
Also known as
VIXEN PANDA, Ke3Chang, Playful Dragon, Metushy, Lurid, Social Network Team, Royal APT, BRONZE PALACE, BRONZE DAVENPORT, BRONZE IDLEWOOD, NICKEL, G0004, Red Vulture, Nylon Typhoon, Mirage, RIVER CASTLE
Description
This threat actor uses phishing techniques to compromise the networks of foreign ministries of European countries for espionage purposes.
Techniques by tactic
Discovery
- T1007 · System Service Discovery
- T1016 · System Network Configuration Discovery
- T1018 · Remote System Discovery
- T1033 · System Owner/User Discovery
- T1049 · System Network Connections Discovery
- T1057 · Process Discovery
- T1069.002 · Domain Groups
- T1082 · System Information Discovery
- T1083 · File and Directory Discovery
- T1087.001 · Local Account
- T1087.002 · Domain Account
- T1614.001 · System Language Discovery
Attributed infrastructure
None published. WhisperGraph carries no ATTRIBUTED_TO edge to APT15 today — this states the absence of a published link, not that APT15 has no infrastructure.
References
- https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2014/09/forced-to-adapt-xslcmd-backdoor-now-on-os-x.html
- http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/04/elite-cyber-crime-group-strikes-back-after-attack-by-rival-apt-gang/
- https://github.com/nccgroup/Royal_APT
- https://www.cfr.org/interactive/cyber-operations/mirage
- https://www.fireeye.com/content/dam/fireeye-www/global/en/current-threats/pdfs/wp-operation-ke3chang.pdf
- https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/operation-ke3chang-resurfaces-with-new-tidepool-malware/
- https://research.nccgroup.com/2018/03/10/apt15-is-alive-and-strong-an-analysis-of-royalcli-and-royaldns/
- https://www.intezer.com/miragefox-apt15-resurfaces-with-new-tools-based-on-old-ones/
- https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0004/
- https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-profiles/bronze-palace
- https://www.mandiant.com/resources/insights/apt-groups
- https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/cybersecurity/cyber-threat-intelligence/cyber-year-in-retrospect/yir-cyber-threats-report-download.pdf
- https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RWMFIi
- https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Unternehmen-und-Organisationen/Cyber-Sicherheitslage/Analysen-und-Prognosen/Threat-Intelligence/Aktive_APT-Gruppen/aktive-apt-gruppen_node.html
- https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/updated-cyber-threat-actor-naming-system/
© The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation.
Related pages
Pivot from APT15 into its techniques, tactics and any attributed infrastructure.
Queries
Resolves the slug to this actor, merging every duplicate node sharing the same name.
MATCH (a:ACTOR)
WHERE a.name =~ $pattern OR any(x IN a.aliases WHERE x =~ $pattern)
RETURN a.id AS id, a.name AS name, a.aliases AS aliases, a.description AS description,
a.references AS references, a.campaigns AS campaigns
LIMIT 25Techniques this actor uses, grouped by the tactic each one serves.
MATCH (a:ACTOR {name: $name})-[:USES_TECHNIQUE]->(t:ATTACK_PATTERN)
OPTIONAL MATCH (t)-[:USES_TACTIC]->(tac:ATTACK_PATTERN)
RETURN t.id AS techniqueId, t.name AS techniqueName, tac.id AS tacticId, tac.name AS tacticName
LIMIT 1000Infrastructure publicly attributed to this actor.
MATCH (n)-[:ATTRIBUTED_TO]->(a:ACTOR {name: $name})
RETURN labels(n)[0] AS kind, n.name AS name
LIMIT 25Or query Whisper from your own LLM workflow via the Whisper MCP server.