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UNC5221
VirusTotal tracks this as UTA0178.
While Volexity largely observed the attacker essentially living off the land, they still deployed a handful of malware files and tools during the course of the incident which primarily consisted of webshells, proxy utilities, and file modifications to allow credential harvesting. Once UTA0178 had access into the network via the ICS VPN appliance, their general approach was to pivot from system to system using compromised credentials. They would then further compromise credentials of users on any new system that was breached, and use these credentials to log into additional systems via RDP. Volexity observed the attacker obtaining credentials in a variety of ways.
Motivation
Unknown
Suspected origin
China
Reports / IOCs (VT)
110 reports · 74 IOCs
Reported activity
2024 – 2026
Targeted industries
—Targeted regions
Germany
Associated malware (1)
BRICKSTORM
CVEs seen in reporting
ATT&CK techniques in reports
- T1041 Exfiltration Over C2 Channel4
- T1059.001 PowerShell4
- T1078 Valid Accounts4
- T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application4
- T1505.003 Web Shell4
- T1071.001 Web Protocols4
- T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer4
- T1021.001 Remote Desktop Protocol3
- T1566 Phishing3
- T1021.004 SSH3
- T1090.001 Internal Proxy3
- T1114.002 Remote Email Collection3
- T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter3
- T1003.003 NTDS3
- T1036 Masquerading3
- T1083 File and Directory Discovery3
- T1136.002 Domain Account3
- T1560.001 Archive via Utility3
- T1564.006 Run Virtual Instance2
- T1195 Supply Chain Compromise2
Also known as
UNC5221, ARMORY CASTLE, Red Dev 61