Threat actor
Semptian
Last fetched
Semptian is a threat actor tracked in WhisperGraph's MITRE ATT&CK corpus, observed using 0 techniques.
Description
Semptian, a Chinese company, manufactures surveillance tools used by authoritarian governments across the Middle East and North Africa. These tools, including the Aegis system, Owlet, Falcon, and HawkEye, enable extensive monitoring of citizens' digital activities and communications. Its technologies are also capable of intercepting emails, such as Gmail (through a tool called Gmail Retriever), and analyzing vast amounts of data for surveillance purposes. They also develop GSM geo-location tools and the POMS (Public Opinion Monitoring System) platform for social media monitoring. Semptian collaborates with American companies like IBM and Xilinx to enhance its surveillance capabilities, despite concerns over human rights abuses in the regions where its technology is deployed. The company's devices intercept phone calls, texts, and internet usage. Headquartered in Shenzhen, the company is led by its founder Chen Longsen, also known as George Chen, who previously served as the director of the local branch of the American cryptography and computer security company SafeNet.
Techniques by tactic
No ATT&CK techniques are recorded for Semptian in WhisperGraph.
Attributed infrastructure
None published. WhisperGraph carries no ATTRIBUTED_TO edge to Semptian today — this states the absence of a published link, not that Semptian has no infrastructure.
References
- https://apjjf.org/2019/15/gallagher
- https://www.fairplanet.org/editors-pick/u-s-tech-giants-collaborate-with-chinese-surveillance-company/
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/4/10/exclusive-spyware-firms-in-breach-of-global-sanctions
- https://theintercept.com/2019/07/12/semptian-surveillance-mena-openpower/
- https://www.intelligenceonline.com/government-intelligence/2012/10/17/semptian-logs-on-to-gmail,107928018-art
© The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation.
Related pages
Pivot from Semptian 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.