Threat actor
Tick
Last fetched
Tick is a threat actor tracked in WhisperGraph's MITRE ATT&CK corpus, observed using 40 techniques and also known as 10 other names.
Also known as
Nian, BRONZE BUTLER, REDBALDKNIGHT, STALKER PANDA, G0060, Stalker Taurus, PLA Unit 61419, Swirl Typhoon, TEMP.Tick, TICK CASTLE
Description
Tick is a cyber espionage group with likely Chinese origins that has been active since at least 2008. The group appears to have close ties to the Chinese National University of Defense and Technology, which is possibly linked to the PLA. This threat actor targets organizations in the critical infrastructure, heavy industry, manufacturing, and international relations sectors for espionage purposes. The attacks appear to be centered on political, media, and engineering sectors. STALKER PANDA has been observed conducting targeted attacks against Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States.
Techniques by tactic
Attributed infrastructure
None published. WhisperGraph carries no ATTRIBUTED_TO edge to Tick today — this states the absence of a published link, not that Tick has no infrastructure.
References
- https://wikileaks.org/vault7/document/2015-08-20150814-256-CSIR-15005-Stalker-Panda/2015-08-20150814-256-CSIR-15005-Stalker-Panda.pdf
- https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/tick-cyberespionage-group-zeros-japan
- https://www.secureworks.jp/resources/rp-bronze-butler
- https://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com/2017/07/unit42-tick-group-continues-attacks/
- http://blog.jpcert.or.jp/2017/08/detecting-datper-malware-from-proxy-logs.html
- https://www.cfr.org/interactive/cyber-operations/bronze-butler
- https://www.secureworks.com/research/bronze-butler-targets-japanese-businesses
- https://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/redbaldknight-bronze-butler-daserf-backdoor-now-using-steganography/
- https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0060/
- https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-profiles/bronze-butler
- https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/atoms/stalkertaurus/
- https://twitter.com/iiyonite/status/1384431491485155331
- https://www.welivesecurity.com/2021/03/10/exchange-servers-under-siege-10-apt-groups/
- 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 Tick 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 25Run yourself →Techniques 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 1000Run yourself →Infrastructure publicly attributed to this actor.
MATCH (n)-[:ATTRIBUTED_TO]->(a:ACTOR {name: $name})
RETURN labels(n)[0] AS kind, n.name AS name
LIMIT 25Run yourself →Or query Whisper from your own LLM workflow via the Whisper MCP server.