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Threat intelligence
Threat actor

Salt Typhoon

Profile from actors.mlab.sh, coverage from our own index.

Suspected origin
China
First seen
2020-01-01 00:00:00
Motivation
Information theft and espionage
Targeted sectors
Chemical, Education, Engineering, Government, Hospitality, Technology, Telecommunications, Transportation, NGOs
TLP
WHITE

(Kaspersky) GhostEmperor is a Chinese-speaking threat actor that has mostly focused on targets in Southeast Asia, including several government entities and telecom companies. The group stands out because it uses a formerly unknown Windows kernel-mode rootkit. Rootkits provide remote control access over the servers they target. Acting covertly, rootkits are notorious for hiding from investigators and security solutions. To bypass the Windows Driver Signature Enforcement mechanism, GhostEmperor uses a loading scheme involving a component of an open-source project named “Cheat Engine.” This advanced toolset is unique and Kaspersky researchers see no similarity to already known threat actors. Kaspersky experts have surmised that the toolset has been in use since at least July 2020.

Also known as

Earth EstriesFamousSparrowGhostEmperorOperator PandaRedMikeSalt TyphoonUNC2286

Vulnerabilities exploited

Tooling and malware

JumbledPath

MITRE ATT&CK techniques

T1005 Data from Local SystemT1090 ProxyT1095 Non-Application Layer ProtocolT1105 Ingress Tool TransferT1571 Non-Standard PortT1572 Protocol TunnelingT1040 Network SniffingT1556 Modify Authentication ProcessT1599 Network Boundary BridgingT1685 Disable or Modify ToolsT1686 Disable or Modify System FirewallT1016 System Network Configuration DiscoveryT1018 Remote System DiscoveryT1046 Network Service DiscoveryT1082 System Information DiscoveryT1072 Software Deployment ToolsT1569 System ServicesT1610 Deploy ContainerT1190 Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationT1199 Trusted RelationshipT1136 Create AccountT1595 Active ScanningT1587 Develop CapabilitiesT1078 Valid Accounts

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