Threat actor
Silent Librarian
Last fetched
Silent Librarian is a threat actor tracked in WhisperGraph's MITRE ATT&CK corpus, observed using 13 techniques and also known as 6 other names.
Also known as
TA407, COBALT DICKENS, Mabna Institute, TA4900, Yellow Nabu, Mabna Institute Group
Description
[Silent Librarian](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0122) is a group that has targeted research and proprietary data at universities, government agencies, and private sector companies worldwide since at least 2013. Members of [Silent Librarian](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0122) are known to have been affiliated with the Iran-based Mabna Institute which has conducted cyber intrusions at the behest of the government of Iran, specifically the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).(Citation: DOJ Iran Indictments March 2018)(Citation: Phish Labs Silent Librarian)(Citation: Malwarebytes Silent Librarian October 2020)
Techniques by tactic
Attributed infrastructure
None published. WhisperGraph carries no ATTRIBUTED_TO edge to Silent Librarian today — this states the absence of a published link, not that Silent Librarian has no infrastructure.
References
- https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0122
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1045781/download
- https://info.phishlabs.com/blog/silent-librarian-more-to-the-story-of-the-iranian-mabna-institute-indictment
- https://blog.malwarebytes.com/malwarebytes-news/2020/10/silent-librarian-apt-phishing-attack/
- https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-insight/post/threat-actor-profile-ta407-silent-librarian
- https://www.secureworks.com/blog/back-to-school-cobalt-dickens-targets-universities
- https://www.secureworks.com/blog/cobalt-dickens-goes-back-to-school-again
- https://info.phishlabs.com/blog/silent-librarian-university-attacks-continue-unabated-in-days-following-indictment
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/nine-iranians-charged-conducting-massive-cyber-theft-campaign-behalf-islamic
- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nine-iranians-charged-conducting-massive-cyber-theft-campaign-behalf-islamic-revolutionary
- https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-insight/post/seems-phishy-back-school-lures-target-university-students-and-staff
- https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-profiles/cobalt-dickens
- https://community.riskiq.com/article/44eb0802
- https://www.proofpoint.com/us/corporate-blog/post/iranian-state-sponsored-and-aligned-attacks-what-you-need-know-and-steps-protect
© The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation.
Related pages
Pivot from Silent Librarian 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.