Threat Actor

Daggerfly

Daggerfly is a People's Republic of China-linked APT entity active since at least 2012. Daggerfly has targeted individuals, government and NGO entities, and telecommunication companies in Asia and Africa. Daggerfly is associated with exclusive use of MgBot malware and is noted for several potential supply chain infection campaigns.

17
Techniques
6
Software
0
indicators on this record

Properties

Last source
MITRE ATT&CK
STIX ID
intrusion-set--f3be6240-f68e-47e1-90d2-ad8f3b3bb8a6
In Signal since
initial import (Sep 2026)
Retrieved at
2026-11-01T12:34:03+00:00
Origin source
attack_description
Type
intrusion-set
Origin country
CN

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques (17)

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Code Signing (T1553.002)

Adversaries may create, acquire, or steal code signing materials to sign their malware or tools. Code signing provides a level of authenticity on a bi

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Code Signing Certificates (T1587.002)

Adversaries may create self-signed code signing certificates that can be used during targeting. Code signing is the process of digitally signing execu

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Compromise Software Supply Chain (T1195.002)

Adversaries may manipulate application software prior to receipt by a final consumer for the purpose of data or system compromise. Supply chain compro

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DLL (T1574.001)

Adversaries may abuse dynamic-link library files (DLLs) in order to achieve persistence, escalate privileges, and evade defenses. DLLs are libraries t

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Drive-by Compromise (T1189)

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

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Ingress Tool Transfer (T1105)

Adversaries may transfer tools or other files from an external system into a compromised environment. Tools or files may be copied from an external ad

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Local Account (T1136.001)

Adversaries may create a local account to maintain access to victim systems. Local accounts are those configured by an organization for use by users,

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Malicious Link (T1204.001)

An adversary may rely upon a user clicking a malicious link in order to gain execution. Users may be subjected to social engineering to get them to cl

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PowerShell (T1059.001)

Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution. PowerShell is a powerful interactive command-line interface and scripting environ

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Query Registry (T1012)

Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software. The Registry contai

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Rename Legitimate Utilities (T1036.003)

Adversaries may rename legitimate / system utilities to try to evade security mechanisms concerning the usage of those utilities. Security monitoring

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Rundll32 (T1218.011)

Adversaries may abuse rundll32.exe to proxy execution of malicious code. Using rundll32.exe, vice executing directly (i.e. [Shared Modules](https://at

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Scheduled Task (T1053.005)

Adversaries may abuse the Windows Task Scheduler to perform task scheduling for initial or recurring execution of malicious code. There are multiple w

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Security Account Manager (T1003.002)

Adversaries may attempt to extract credential material from the Security Account Manager (SAM) database either through in-memory techniques or through

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Server (T1584.004)

Adversaries may compromise third-party servers that can be used during targeting. Use of servers allows an adversary to stage, launch, and execute an

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System Information Discovery (T1082)

An adversary may attempt to get detailed information about the operating system and hardware, including version, patches, hotfixes, service packs, and

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Web Protocols (T1071.001)

Adversaries may communicate using application layer protocols associated with web traffic to avoid detection/network filtering by blending in with exi

Software & Tools (6)

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BITSAdmin [tool]

BITSAdmin is a command line tool used to create and manage [BITS Jobs](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/

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MacMa [malware]

MacMa is a macOS-based backdoor with a large set of functionalities to control and exfiltrate files from a

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MgBot [malware]

MgBot is a modular malware framework exclusively associated with [Daggerfly](https://attack.mitre.org/group

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Nightdoor [malware]

Nightdoor is a backdoor exclusively associated with Daggerfly oper

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PlugX [malware]

PlugX is a remote access tool (RAT) with modular plugins that has been used by multiple threat groups.(Cita

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Reg [tool]

Reg is a Windows utility used to interact with the Windows Registry. It can be used at the command-line int

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