Threat actor
Cinnamon Tempest
Last fetched
Cinnamon Tempest is a threat actor tracked in WhisperGraph's MITRE ATT&CK corpus, observed using 19 techniques and also known as 3 other names.
Also known as
DEV-0401, Emperor Dragonfly, BRONZE STARLIGHT
Description
[Cinnamon Tempest](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1021) is a China-based threat group that has been active since at least 2021 deploying multiple strains of ransomware based on the leaked [Babuk](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0638) source code. [Cinnamon Tempest](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1021) does not operate their ransomware on an affiliate model or purchase access but appears to act independently in all stages of the attack lifecycle. Based on victimology, the short lifespan of each ransomware variant, and use of malware attributed to government-sponsored threat groups, [Cinnamon Tempest](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1021) may be motivated by intellectual property theft or cyberespionage rather than financial gain.(Citation: Microsoft Ransomware as a Service)(Citation: Microsoft Threat Actor Naming July 2023)(Citation: Trend Micro Cheerscrypt May 2022)(Citation: SecureWorks BRONZE STARLIGHT Ransomware Operations June 2022)
Techniques by tactic
Attributed infrastructure
None published. WhisperGraph carries no ATTRIBUTED_TO edge to Cinnamon Tempest today — this states the absence of a published link, not that Cinnamon Tempest has no infrastructure.
References
- https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1021
- https://blog.sygnia.co/revealing-emperor-dragonfly-a-chinese-ransomware-group
- https://www.secureworks.com/research/bronze-starlight-ransomware-operations-use-hui-loader
- https://www.trendmicro.com/en_se/research/22/e/new-linux-based-ransomware-cheerscrypt-targets-exsi-devices.html
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/security/intelligence/microsoft-threat-actor-naming?view=o365-worldwide
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2022/05/09/ransomware-as-a-service-understanding-the-cybercrime-gig-economy-and-how-to-protect-yourself/
- https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-profiles/bronze-starlight
© The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation.
Related pages
Pivot from Cinnamon Tempest 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.