{ "id": "ae856b16-6a68-472e-9bec-fb4837acdabf", "created_at": "2026-04-06T00:11:01.401646Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T13:12:39.0605Z", "deleted_at": null, "sha1_hash": "14c060c241fe5a0ed998aa85dad982777f716442", "title": "Iranian Government Hackers Target US Veterans", "llm_title": "", "authors": "", "file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "file_size": 122280, "plain_text": "Iranian Government Hackers Target US Veterans\r\nBy Kelly Jackson Higgins\r\nPublished: 2019-09-24 · Archived: 2026-04-02 12:31:34 UTC\r\nA nation-state hacking group recently found attacking IT provider networks in Saudi Arabia as a stepping stone to\r\nits ultimate targets has been spotted hosting a fake website, called \"Hire Military Heroes,\" that drops spying tools\r\nand other malicious code onto victims' systems.\r\nThe so-called Tortoiseshell hacking team, which was called out last week by Symantec for a coordinated and\r\ntargeted cyber espionage campaign that hops from the networks of several major IT providers in Saudi Arabia to\r\nspecific customers of the providers, is also known by CrowdStrike as Iranian hacking team Imperial Kitten.\r\nCisco Talos researchers recently found the group hosting the \"Hire Military Heroes\" website, with an image from\r\nthe \"Flags of our Fathers\" film. The malicious site prompts visitors to download an app, which is actually a\r\ndownloader that drops the malware and other tools that gather system information, such as drivers, patch level,\r\nnetwork configuration, hardware, firmware, domain controller, admin name, and other user account information. It\r\nalso pulls screen size to determine whether the machine is a sandbox, according to Cisco's findings.\r\nTortoiseshell deploys a remote access Trojan named \"IvizTech,\" which matches the code and features Symantec\r\ndetailed in its report on the backdoor. Neither Symantec nor Cisco would tie Tortoiseshell to a specific nation-state.\r\nIt's unclear exactly how the attackers lure potential victims and whether the site is actively infecting victims at this\r\npoint. Cisco Talos researchers say the creators thus far have employed weak operations security of their own,\r\nleaving behind hard-coded credentials, for instance.\r\n\"There is a possibility that multiple teams from an APT worked on multiple elements of this malware, as we can\r\nsee certain levels of sophistication existing and various levels of victimology,\" the researchers wrote in their blog\r\npost about the threat today.\r\nPaul Rascagneres, a researcher at Cisco Talos, says he and his team don't believe the attack is widespread, and the\r\ngroup is still relatively new to the APT scene.\r\n\"Tortoiseshell is not well-documented. [The research] shows that this actor is offensive for months, they create\r\nfake websites, and they probably use social engineering to send targets on these websites,\" he says. \"We identified\r\nat least two installers, a couple of variants of the same RAT, a keylogger, and few reconnaissance tools. The\r\ntoolkit of this actor is growing.\"\r\nThe researchers haven't pinpointed the initial infection vector, however. \"[I]t could be spear-phishing or social\r\nmedia usage such as LinkedIn, as we saw during DNSpionage campaign,\" he says, referring to an attack campaign\r\nlast year that used fake job websites. \r\nhttps://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/iranian-government-hackers-target-us-veterans/d/d-id/1335897\r\nPage 1 of 3\n\nCrowdStrike, meanwhile, had tagged the group as Imperial Kitten, an Iranian nation-state operation that has been\r\noperating since 2017. The group has been known to target Saudi Arabian, United Arab Emirates, and Western\r\nmaritime, IT services, defense, and military veterans, notes Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at\r\nCrowdStrike. Imperial Kitten supports Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operations using tactics such as\r\nphony job recruitment, social media, and IT service provider attacks, he says.\r\n\"We have observed them active as recent as this month,\" Meyers says.\r\nThe malicious website is a \"massive shift\" for the hacking group, according to Cisco, as it's targeting a wider net\r\nof victims this way. \"Americans are quick to give back and support the veteran population. Therefore, this website\r\nhas a high chance of gaining traction on social media where users could share the link in the hopes of supporting\r\nveterans,\" the Talos team wrote in its blog post about the threat. \r\nJon DiMaggio, a researcher at Symantec who follows Tortoiseshell, says Tortoiseshell may be employing spear-phishing emails to lure victims.\r\n\"Assuming [Cisco Talos'] attribution is correct, it would show that another possible infection vector used by\r\nTortoiseshell may have been spear-phishing emails,\" he says. \"We identified a Web shell being used by the\r\nattacker indicating they may have compromised a Web server to deploy malware onto the victims' environment in\r\nthe supply chain attacks, but spear-phishing is very common, and it would not be surprising to see them use more\r\nthan one infection vector in various campaigns.\"\r\n Related Content:\r\nCheck out The Edge, Dark Reading's new section for features, threat data, and in-depth perspectives. Today's top\r\nstory: \"'Playing Around' with Code Keeps Security, DevOps Skills Sharp\"\r\nAbout the Author\r\nEditor-in-Chief, Dark Reading\r\nhttps://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/iranian-government-hackers-target-us-veterans/d/d-id/1335897\r\nPage 2 of 3\n\nKelly Jackson Higgins is the Editor-in-Chief of Dark Reading and VP, cybersecurity editorial at Informa\r\nTechTarget, where she leads editorial strategy for the company's three cybersecurity media brands: Dark Reading,\r\nSearchSecurity and Cybersecurity Dive. She is an award-winning veteran technology and business journalist with\r\nthree decades of experience in reporting and editing for various technology and business publications and major\r\nmedia properties. Jackson Higgins was selected three consecutive times as one of the Top 10 Cybersecurity\r\nJournalists in the U.S., and was named as one of Folio's 2019 Top Women in Media. She has been with Dark\r\nReading since its launch in 2006.\r\nSource: https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/iranian-government-hackers-target-us-veterans/d/d-id/1335897\r\nhttps://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/iranian-government-hackers-target-us-veterans/d/d-id/1335897\r\nPage 3 of 3", "extraction_quality": 1, "language": "EN", "sources": [ "MISPGALAXY", "Malpedia" ], "origins": [ "web" ], "references": [ "https://www.darkreading.com/threat-intelligence/iranian-government-hackers-target-us-veterans/d/d-id/1335897" ], "report_names": [ "1335897" ], "threat_actors": [ { "id": "a3687241-9876-477b-aa13-a7c368ffda58", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:24.496902Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:05.010744Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Hacking Team", "aliases": [], "source_name": "ETDA:Hacking Team", "tools": [], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null }, { "id": "ad78338e-8bb6-4745-acae-27d3cc3cf76d", "created_at": "2023-11-17T02:00:07.580677Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.452097Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Bohrium", "aliases": [ "BOHRIUM", "IMPERIAL KITTEN", "Smoke Sandstorm" ], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:Bohrium", "tools": [], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "e90c06e4-e3e0-4f46-a3b5-17b84b31da62", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:39.018236Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.183123Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Hacking Team", "aliases": [], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:Hacking Team", "tools": [], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "3ce91297-e4c0-4957-8dd7-9047a3e23dc7", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:39.054248Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.197801Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Tortoiseshell", "aliases": [ "Yellow Liderc", "Imperial Kitten", "Crimson Sandstorm", "Cuboid Sandstorm", "Smoke Sandstorm", "IMPERIAL KITTEN", "TA456", "DUSTYCAVE", "CURIUM" ], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:Tortoiseshell", "tools": [], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "8d76e350-dfb5-4733-800d-876de41f690d", "created_at": "2023-01-06T13:46:38.841887Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.119083Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "DNSpionage", "aliases": [ "COBALT EDGEWATER" ], "source_name": "MISPGALAXY:DNSpionage", "tools": [], "source_id": "MISPGALAXY", "reports": null }, { "id": "4632103e-8035-4a83-9ecb-c1e12e21288c", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:23.542255Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.64888Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "DNSpionage", "aliases": [], "source_name": "ETDA:DNSpionage", "tools": [ "Agent Drable", "AgentDrable", "CACTUSPIPE", "DNSpionage", "DropperBackdoor", "Karkoff", "MailDropper", "OILYFACE" ], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null }, { "id": "67b2c161-5a04-4e3d-8ce7-cce457a4a17b", "created_at": "2025-08-07T02:03:24.722093Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.681914Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "COBALT EDGEWATER", "aliases": [ "APT34 ", "Cold River ", "DNSpionage " ], "source_name": "Secureworks:COBALT EDGEWATER", "tools": [ "AgentDrable", "DNSpionage", "Karkoff", "MailDropper", "SideTwist", "TWOTONE" ], "source_id": "Secureworks", "reports": null }, { "id": "b5b24083-7ba6-44cc-9d11-a6274e2eee00", "created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:24.337332Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.94285Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "Tortoiseshell", "aliases": [ "Cobalt Fireside", "Crimson Sandstorm", "Cuboid Sandstorm", "Curium", "Devious Serpens", "Houseblend", "Imperial Kitten", "Marcella Flores", "Operation Fata Morgana", "TA456", "Yellow Liderc" ], "source_name": "ETDA:Tortoiseshell", "tools": [ "IMAPLoader", "Infostealer", "IvizTech", "LEMPO", "MANGOPUNCH", "SysKit", "get-logon-history.ps1", "liderc", "stereoversioncontrol" ], "source_id": "ETDA", "reports": null }, { "id": "591ffe81-e46b-4e3d-90c1-9bf42abeeb47", "created_at": "2025-08-07T02:03:24.726943Z", "updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:03.805423Z", "deleted_at": null, "main_name": "COBALT FIRESIDE", "aliases": [ "CURIUM ", "Crimson Sandstorm ", "Cuboid Sandstorm ", "DEV-0228 ", "HIVE0095 ", "Imperial Kitten ", "TA456 ", "Tortoiseshell ", "UNC3890 ", "Yellow Liderc " ], "source_name": "Secureworks:COBALT FIRESIDE", "tools": [ "FireBAK", "LEMPO", "LiderBird" ], "source_id": "Secureworks", "reports": null } ], "ts_created_at": 1775434261, "ts_updated_at": 1775826759, "ts_creation_date": 0, "ts_modification_date": 0, "files": { "pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/14c060c241fe5a0ed998aa85dad982777f716442.pdf", "text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/14c060c241fe5a0ed998aa85dad982777f716442.txt", "img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/14c060c241fe5a0ed998aa85dad982777f716442.jpg" } }