Threat actor
GhostEmperor
Last fetched
GhostEmperor is a threat actor tracked in WhisperGraph's MITRE ATT&CK corpus, observed using 0 techniques and also known as 5 other names.
Also known as
FamousSparrow, UNC2286, Salt Typhoon, RedMike, OPERATOR PANDA
Description
GhostEmperor is a Chinese-speaking threat actor that targets government entities and telecom companies in Southeast Asia. They employ a Windows kernel-mode rootkit called Demodex to gain remote control over their targeted servers. The actor demonstrates a high level of sophistication and uses various anti-forensic and anti-analysis techniques to evade detection. They have been active for a significant period of time and continue to pose a threat to their targets.
Techniques by tactic
No ATT&CK techniques are recorded for GhostEmperor in WhisperGraph.
Attributed infrastructure
None published. WhisperGraph carries no ATTRIBUTED_TO edge to GhostEmperor today — this states the absence of a published link, not that GhostEmperor has no infrastructure.
References
- https://securelist.com/ghostemperor-from-proxylogon-to-kernel-mode/104407/
- https://media.kasperskycontenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2021/09/30094337/GhostEmperor_technical-details_PDF_eng.pdf
- https://www.welivesecurity.com/2021/09/23/famoussparrow-suspicious-hotel-guest/
- https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/files/NCSC-MAR-SparrowDoor.pdf
- https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/unc4841-post-barracuda-zero-day-remediation
- https://www.sygnia.co/blog/ghost-emperor-demodex-rootkit/
- https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/china-cyberattack-internet-providers-260bd835
- https://www.recordedfuture.com/research/redmike-salt-typhoon-exploits-vulnerable-devices
© The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation.
Related pages
Pivot from GhostEmperor 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.