Threat Actor

APT28

Also known as: APT28, IRON TWILIGHT, SNAKEMACKEREL, Swallowtail, Group 74, Sednit, Sofacy, Pawn Storm, Fancy Bear, STRONTIUM, Tsar Team, Threat Group-4127, TG-4127, Forest Blizzard, FROZENLAKE, GruesomeLarch

[APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) is a threat group that has been attributed to Russia's General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) 85th Main Special Service Center (GTsSS) military unit 26165.(Citation: NSA/FBI Drovorub August 2020)(Citation: Cybersecurity Advisory GRU Brute Force Campaign July 2021) This group has been active since at least 2004.(Citation: DOJ GRU Indictment Jul 2018)(Citation: Ars Technica GRU indictment Jul 2018)(Citation: Crowdstrike DNC June 2016)(Citation: FireEye APT28)(Citation: SecureWorks TG-4127)(Citation: FireEye APT28 January 2017)(Citation: GRIZZLY STEPPE JAR)(Citation: Sofacy DealersChoice)(Citation: Palo Alto Sofacy 06-2018)(Citation: Symantec APT28 Oct 2018)(Citation: ESET Zebrocy May 2019) [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) reportedly compromised the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2016 in an attempt to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.(Citation: Crowdstrike DNC June 2016) In 2018, the US indicted five GRU Unit 26165 officers associated with [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) for cyber operations (including close-access operations) conducted between 2014 and 2018 against the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the US Anti-Doping Agency, a US nuclear facility, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Spiez Swiss Chemicals Laboratory, and other organizations.(Citation: US District Court Indictment GRU Oct 2018) Some of these were conducted with the assistance of GRU Unit 74455, which is also referred to as [Sandworm Team](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0034).

50
Techniques
30
Software
1
Campaigns

Properties

stix_id
intrusion-set--bef4c620-0787-42a8-a96d-b7eb6e85917c
signal_observed_at
2026-09-11T17:55:00+00:00
type
intrusion-set

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques (50)

Additional Email Delegate Permissions

Adversaries may grant additional permission levels to maintain persistent access to an adversary-controlled email account. For example, the <code>Ad

Application Access Token

Adversaries may use stolen application access tokens to bypass the typical authentication process and access restricted accounts, information, or serv

Archive Collected Data

An adversary may compress and/or encrypt data that is collected prior to exfiltration. Compressing the data can help to obfuscate the collected data a

Archive via Utility

Adversaries may use utilities to compress and/or encrypt collected data prior to exfiltration. Many utilities include functionalities to compress, enc

Artificial Intelligence

Adversaries may obtain access to generative artificial intelligence tools, such as large language models (LLMs), to aid various techniques during targ

Automated Collection

Once established within a system or network, an adversary may use automated techniques for collecting internal data. Methods for performing this techn

Bidirectional Communication

Adversaries may use an existing, legitimate external Web service as a means for sending commands to and receiving output from a compromised system ove

Bootkit

Adversaries may use bootkits to persist on systems. A bootkit is a malware variant that modifies the boot sectors of a hard drive, allowing malicious

Brute Force

Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.(Citation: Trend

Clear Windows Event Logs

Adversaries may clear Windows Event Logs to hide the activity of an intrusion. Windows Event Logs are a record of a computer's alerts and notification

Clear Windows Event Logs

Adversaries may clear Windows Event Logs to hide the activity of an intrusion. Windows Event Logs are a record of a computer's alerts and notification

Cloud Accounts

Valid accounts in cloud environments may allow adversaries to perform actions to achieve Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense

Communication Through Removable Media

Adversaries can perform command and control between compromised hosts on potentially disconnected networks using removable media to transfer commands

Component Object Model Hijacking

Adversaries may establish persistence by executing malicious content triggered by hijacked references to Component Object Model (COM) objects. COM is

Credentials

Adversaries may gather credentials that can be used during targeting. Account credentials gathered by adversaries may be those directly associated wit

Data Transfer Size Limits

An adversary may exfiltrate data in fixed size chunks instead of whole files or limit packet sizes below certain thresholds. This approach may be used

Data from Information Repositories

Adversaries may leverage information repositories to mine valuable information. Information repositories are tools that allow for storage of informati

Data from Local System

Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to

Data from Network Shared Drive

Adversaries may search network shares on computers they have compromised to find files of interest. Sensitive data can be collected from remote system

Data from Removable Media

Adversaries may search connected removable media on computers they have compromised to find files of interest. Sensitive data can be collected from an

Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

Adversaries may use [Obfuscated Files or Information](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1027) to hide artifacts of an intrusion from analysis. They

Domains

Adversaries may acquire domains that can be used during targeting. Domain names are the human readable names used to represent one or more IP addresse

Drive-by Compromise

Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing. Multiple ways of delivering exploit code

Dynamic Data Exchange

Adversaries may use Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to execute arbitrary commands. DDE is a client-server protocol for one-time and/or continuous

Email Accounts

Adversaries may compromise email accounts that can be used during targeting. Adversaries can use compromised email accounts to further their operation

Encrypted/Encoded File

Adversaries may encrypt or encode files to obfuscate strings, bytes, and other specific patterns to impede detection. Encrypting and/or encoding file

Evil Twin

Adversaries may host seemingly genuine Wi-Fi access points to deceive users into connecting to malicious networks as a way of supporting follow-on beh

Exfiltration Over Asymmetric Encrypted Non-C2 Protocol

Adversaries may steal data by exfiltrating it over an asymmetrically encrypted network protocol other than that of the existing command and control ch

Exfiltration Over Web Service

Adversaries may use an existing, legitimate external Web service to exfiltrate data rather than their primary command and control channel. Popular Web

Exploit Public-Facing Application

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network. The weakness in the system can be a

Software & Tools (30)

ADVSTORESHELL [malware]

[ADVSTORESHELL](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0045) is a spying backdoor that has been used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) fro

CHOPSTICK [malware]

[CHOPSTICK](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0023) is a malware family of modular backdoors used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007).

CORESHELL [malware]

[CORESHELL](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0137) is a downloader used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007). The older versions of thi

Cannon [malware]

[Cannon](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0351) is a Trojan with variants written in C# and Delphi. It was first observed in April 2018. (Citation:

DealersChoice [malware]

[DealersChoice](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0243) is a Flash exploitation framework used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007). (Ci

Downdelph [malware]

[Downdelph](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0134) is a first-stage downloader written in Delphi that has been used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.

Drovorub [malware]

[Drovorub](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0502) is a Linux malware toolset comprised of an agent, client, server, and kernel modules, that has bee

Forfiles [tool]

[Forfiles](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0193) is a Windows utility commonly used in batch jobs to execute commands on one or more selected files

Fysbis [malware]

[Fysbis](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0410) is a Linux-based backdoor used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) that dates back to

HIDEDRV [malware]

[HIDEDRV](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0135) is a rootkit used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007). It has been deployed along wit

JHUHUGIT [malware]

[JHUHUGIT](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0044) is malware used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007). It is based on Carberp source c

Koadic [tool]

[Koadic](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0250) is a Windows post-exploitation framework and penetration testing tool that is publicly available on

Komplex [malware]

[Komplex](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0162) is a backdoor that has been used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) on OS X and appe

LAMEHUG [malware]

[LAMEHUG](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S9035) is Python-based information stealer first identified in July 2025 by Ukraine's Computer Emergency R

LoJax [malware]

[LoJax](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0397) is a UEFI rootkit used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) to persist remote access sof

MimiKatz [malware]

[Mimikatz](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0002) is a credential dumper capable of obtaining plaintext Windows account logins and passwords, along

Mimikatz [tool]

[Mimikatz](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0002) is a credential dumper capable of obtaining plaintext Windows account logins and passwords, along

Net [tool]

The [Net](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0039) utility is a component of the Windows operating system. It is used in command-line operations for c

OLDBAIT [malware]

[OLDBAIT](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0138) is a credential harvester used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007). (Citation: FireEy

Responder [tool]

Responder is an open source tool used for LLMNR, NBT-NS and MDNS poisoning, with built-in HTTP/SMB/MSSQL/FTP/LDAP rogue authentication server supporti

Tor [tool]

[Tor](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0183) is a software suite and network that provides increased anonymity on the Internet. It creates a multi-h

USBStealer [malware]

[USBStealer](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0136) is malware that has been used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) since at least 2

Wevtutil [tool]

[Wevtutil](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0645) is a Windows command-line utility that enables administrators to retrieve information about event

Winexe [tool]

[Winexe](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0191) is a lightweight, open source tool similar to [PsExec](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0029) desi

XAgentOSX [malware]

[XAgentOSX](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0161) is a trojan that has been used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) on OS X and app

XTunnel [malware]

[XTunnel](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0117) a VPN-like network proxy tool that can relay traffic between a C2 server and a victim. It was first

Zebrocy [malware]

[Zebrocy](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0251) is a Trojan that has been used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) since at least Nov

certutil [tool]

[certutil](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0160) is a command-line utility that can be used to obtain certificate authority information and configu

cipher.exe [tool]

[cipher.exe](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1205) is a native Microsoft utility that manages encryption of directories and files on NTFS (New Tech

reGeorg [malware]

[reGeorg](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1187) is an open-source web shell written in Python that can be used as a proxy to bypass firewall rules

Campaigns (1)

APT28 Nearest Neighbor Campaign

[APT28 Nearest Neighbor Campaign](https://attack.mitre.org/campaigns/C0051) was conducted by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) from early

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