APT28
[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).
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)
Adversaries may grant additional permission levels to maintain persistent access to an adversary-controlled email account. For example, the <code>Ad
Adversaries may use stolen application access tokens to bypass the typical authentication process and access restricted accounts, information, or serv
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
Adversaries may use utilities to compress and/or encrypt collected data prior to exfiltration. Many utilities include functionalities to compress, enc
Adversaries may obtain access to generative artificial intelligence tools, such as large language models (LLMs), to aid various techniques during targ
Once established within a system or network, an adversary may use automated techniques for collecting internal data. Methods for performing this techn
Adversaries may use an existing, legitimate external Web service as a means for sending commands to and receiving output from a compromised system ove
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
Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.(Citation: Trend
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
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
Valid accounts in cloud environments may allow adversaries to perform actions to achieve Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense
Adversaries can perform command and control between compromised hosts on potentially disconnected networks using removable media to transfer commands
Adversaries may establish persistence by executing malicious content triggered by hijacked references to Component Object Model (COM) objects. COM is
Adversaries may gather credentials that can be used during targeting. Account credentials gathered by adversaries may be those directly associated wit
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
Adversaries may leverage information repositories to mine valuable information. Information repositories are tools that allow for storage of informati
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to
Adversaries may search network shares on computers they have compromised to find files of interest. Sensitive data can be collected from remote system
Adversaries may search connected removable media on computers they have compromised to find files of interest. Sensitive data can be collected from an
Adversaries may use [Obfuscated Files or Information](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1027) to hide artifacts of an intrusion from analysis. They
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
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
Adversaries may use Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to execute arbitrary commands. DDE is a client-server protocol for one-time and/or continuous
Adversaries may compromise email accounts that can be used during targeting. Adversaries can use compromised email accounts to further their operation
Adversaries may encrypt or encode files to obfuscate strings, bytes, and other specific patterns to impede detection. Encrypting and/or encoding file
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
Adversaries may steal data by exfiltrating it over an asymmetrically encrypted network protocol other than that of the existing command and control ch
Adversaries may use an existing, legitimate external Web service to exfiltrate data rather than their primary command and control channel. Popular Web
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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0045) is a spying backdoor that has been used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) fro
[CHOPSTICK](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0023) is a malware family of modular backdoors used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007).
[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](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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0243) is a Flash exploitation framework used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007). (Ci
[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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0502) is a Linux malware toolset comprised of an agent, client, server, and kernel modules, that has bee
[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](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](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](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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0250) is a Windows post-exploitation framework and penetration testing tool that is publicly available on
[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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S9035) is Python-based information stealer first identified in July 2025 by Ukraine's Computer Emergency R
[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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0002) is a credential dumper capable of obtaining plaintext Windows account logins and passwords, along
[Mimikatz](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0002) is a credential dumper capable of obtaining plaintext Windows account logins and passwords, along
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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0138) is a credential harvester used by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007). (Citation: FireEy
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](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](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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0645) is a Windows command-line utility that enables administrators to retrieve information about event
[Winexe](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0191) is a lightweight, open source tool similar to [PsExec](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0029) desi
[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](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](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](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0160) is a command-line utility that can be used to obtain certificate authority information and configu
[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](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](https://attack.mitre.org/campaigns/C0051) was conducted by [APT28](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0007) from early
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