{
	"id": "1cbe024d-4617-437a-9697-96cae8eff989",
	"created_at": "2026-04-06T03:37:17.795036Z",
	"updated_at": "2026-04-10T03:37:19.284467Z",
	"deleted_at": null,
	"sha1_hash": "51f4b3e37b2c173308136a0f84cccce8a6e4c0d9",
	"title": "The Naikon APT and the MsnMM Campaigns",
	"llm_title": "",
	"authors": "",
	"file_creation_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
	"file_modification_date": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
	"file_size": 1842258,
	"plain_text": "The Naikon APT and the MsnMM Campaigns\r\nBy Kurt Baumgartner\r\nPublished: 2015-05-21 · Archived: 2026-04-06 03:12:26 UTC\r\nAPT reports\r\nAPT reports\r\n21 May 2015\r\n 2 minute read\r\nhttps://securelist.com/the-naikon-apt-and-the-msnmm-campaigns/70029/\r\nPage 1 of 6\n\nThe First Known Naikon APT Campaigns\r\n The MsnMM Campaigns [pdf]\r\nFor over half a decade, the Naikon APT waged multiple attack campaigns on sensitive targets throughout South-eastern Asia and around the South China Sea. It maintained a heavy offensive focus on Myanmar, Vietnam,\r\nSingapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Laos. Targets and victims included ASEAN governmental agencies and\r\ngovernment departments, investment enterprises, military, law enforcement and border control organizations,\r\nembassies, university faculties and others.\r\nParts of the campaigns have been publicly discussed according to the nature of their tools. For example, the\r\nMsnMM backdoors started out with internal names like “WinMM” and “SslMM”, and their file naming spoofed\r\nMSN Talk and Msn Gaming Zone. The backdoor term “naikon” was derived from the User-Agent string\r\n“NOKIAN95”. But msnMM, naikon, sakto, and rarstone backdoors are all used by the same actor that we call the\r\nNaikon APT. Their second stage tools largely remained unknown, but a list is included in this report.\r\nThe Naikon attackers attempted to exfiltrate sensitive geo-political, military, and economic data; to intercept\r\ncommunications and to maintain surveillance on their victims throughout the MsnMM campaigns. Their toolset\r\nand techniques changed over time in many minor ways, and appear to be run by Chinese-speaking individuals.\r\nThe group’s infrastructure, reliant on web apps located mostly via dynamic dns domains, overlapped across these\r\ncampaigns. As previously described, the APT’s methods and technologies are simple, but highly effective against\r\nits targets’ defenses. We do not find 0-days here.\r\nMuch of Naikon’s spear-phish and decoy document content, as well as its deployment, coincided approximately\r\nwith highly-charged geopolitical events. The consistent list of military, economic, and political targets gave away\r\nthe actor’s interests. Naikon’s earliest campaigns deployed the exe_exchange, winMM, and sys10 backdoors, and\r\nthe codebase was later built out into more custom tools. The MsnMM campaigns were waged into the start of\r\n2014, and then dropped off before picking up again later in the year and into 2015.\r\nhttps://securelist.com/the-naikon-apt-and-the-msnmm-campaigns/70029/\r\nPage 2 of 6\n\nRegarding interaction with other APTs, it’s interesting to note that Naikon APT victims overlap with Cycldek APT\r\nvictims.  Cycldek is another persistent, but weaker APT. In addition, not only does the APT30 target profile match\r\nthe Naikon APT, its toolset also features minor but noticeable similarities. And the later Naikon campaigns led to\r\nan all out APT v APT confrontation with the Hellsing APT, when “the empire struck back.”\r\nAlthough aspects of the malware set have been discussed on some blogs and in other papers, there hasn’t been an\r\naccurate report bringing together details of the MsnMM, Sys10, and Naikon campaigns as the work of one crew,\r\nthe Naikon APT. Finally, while this report looks into their past activity, the Naikon APT remains active, deploying\r\na more recent codebase. The top targets for 2015 that we are aware of include organizations in Myanmar,\r\nCambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos.\r\nLatest Webinars\r\nhttps://securelist.com/the-naikon-apt-and-the-msnmm-campaigns/70029/\r\nPage 3 of 6\n\nhttps://securelist.com/the-naikon-apt-and-the-msnmm-campaigns/70029/\r\nPage 4 of 6\n\nReports\r\nKaspersky researchers analyze updated CoolClient backdoor and new tools and scripts used in HoneyMyte (aka\r\nMustang Panda or Bronze President) APT campaigns, including three variants of a browser data stealer.\r\nKaspersky discloses a 2025 HoneyMyte (aka Mustang Panda or Bronze President) APT campaign, which uses a\r\nkernel-mode rootkit to deliver and protect a ToneShell backdoor.\r\nhttps://securelist.com/the-naikon-apt-and-the-msnmm-campaigns/70029/\r\nPage 5 of 6\n\nKaspersky GReAT experts analyze the Evasive Panda APT’s infection chain, including shellcode encrypted with\r\nDPAPI and RC5, as well as the MgBot implant.\r\nKaspersky expert describes new malicious tools employed by the Cloud Atlas APT, including implants of their\r\nsignature backdoors VBShower, VBCloud, PowerShower, and CloudAtlas.\r\nSource: https://securelist.com/the-naikon-apt-and-the-msnmm-campaigns/70029/\r\nhttps://securelist.com/the-naikon-apt-and-the-msnmm-campaigns/70029/\r\nPage 6 of 6",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
	"language": "EN",
	"sources": [
		"ETDA"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://securelist.com/the-naikon-apt-and-the-msnmm-campaigns/70029/"
	],
	"report_names": [
		"70029"
	],
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			"main_name": "BRONZE GENEVA",
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				"Override Panda ",
				"RADIUM ",
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			"tools": [
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			"deleted_at": null,
			"main_name": "BRONZE HIGHLAND",
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				"Evasive Panda ",
				"Storm Bamboo "
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			"source_name": "Secureworks:BRONZE HIGHLAND",
			"tools": [
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				"KsRemote",
				"Macma",
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			],
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				"Inception Framework",
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				"Operation RedOctober",
				"The Rocra"
			],
			"source_name": "ETDA:Inception Framework",
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				"PowerShower",
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			"updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.776949Z",
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			"main_name": "Mustang Panda",
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				"Camaro Dragon",
				"Earth Preta",
				"G0129",
				"Hive0154",
				"HoneyMyte",
				"Mustang Panda",
				"Operation SMUGX",
				"Operation SmugX",
				"PKPLUG",
				"Red Lich",
				"Stately Taurus",
				"TEMP.Hex",
				"Twill Typhoon"
			],
			"source_name": "ETDA:Mustang Panda",
			"tools": [
				"9002 RAT",
				"AdFind",
				"Agent.dhwf",
				"Agentemis",
				"CHINACHOPPER",
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				"DOPLUGS",
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				"Destroy RAT",
				"DestroyRAT",
				"Farseer",
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				"HOMEUNIX",
				"Hdump",
				"HenBox",
				"HidraQ",
				"Hodur",
				"Homux",
				"HopperTick",
				"Hydraq",
				"Impacket",
				"Kaba",
				"Korplug",
				"LadonGo",
				"MQsTTang",
				"McRAT",
				"MdmBot",
				"Mimikatz",
				"NBTscan",
				"NetSess",
				"Netview",
				"Orat",
				"POISONPLUG.SHADOW",
				"PUBLOAD",
				"PVE Find AD Users",
				"PlugX",
				"Poison Ivy",
				"PowerView",
				"QMAGENT",
				"RCSession",
				"RedDelta",
				"Roarur",
				"SPIVY",
				"ShadowPad Winnti",
				"SinoChopper",
				"Sogu",
				"TIGERPLUG",
				"TONEINS",
				"TONESHELL",
				"TVT",
				"TeamViewer",
				"Thoper",
				"TinyNote",
				"WispRider",
				"WmiExec",
				"XShellGhost",
				"Xamtrav",
				"Zupdax",
				"cobeacon",
				"nbtscan",
				"nmap",
				"pivy",
				"poisonivy"
			],
			"source_id": "ETDA",
			"reports": null
		},
		{
			"id": "2c7ecb0e-337c-478f-95d4-7dbe9ba44c39",
			"created_at": "2022-10-25T16:07:23.690871Z",
			"updated_at": "2026-04-10T02:00:04.709966Z",
			"deleted_at": null,
			"main_name": "Goblin Panda",
			"aliases": [
				"1937CN",
				"Conimes",
				"Cycldek",
				"Goblin Panda"
			],
			"source_name": "ETDA:Goblin Panda",
			"tools": [
				"8.t Dropper",
				"8.t RTF exploit builder",
				"8t_dropper",
				"Agent.dhwf",
				"BackDoor-FBZT!52D84425CDF2",
				"BlueCore",
				"BrowsingHistoryView",
				"ChromePass",
				"CoreLoader",
				"Custom HDoor",
				"Destroy RAT",
				"DestroyRAT",
				"DropPhone",
				"FoundCore",
				"HDoor",
				"HTTPTunnel",
				"JsonCookies",
				"Kaba",
				"Korplug",
				"LOLBAS",
				"LOLBins",
				"Living off the Land",
				"NBTscan",
				"NewCore RAT",
				"PlugX",
				"ProcDump",
				"PsExec",
				"QCRat",
				"RainyDay",
				"RedCore",
				"RedDelta",
				"RoyalRoad",
				"Sisfader",
				"Sisfader RAT",
				"Sogu",
				"TIGERPLUG",
				"TVT",
				"Thoper",
				"Trojan.Win32.Staser.ytq",
				"USBCulprit",
				"Win32/Zegost.BW",
				"Xamtrav",
				"ZeGhost",
				"nbtscan"
			],
			"source_id": "ETDA",
			"reports": null
		}
	],
	"ts_created_at": 1775446637,
	"ts_updated_at": 1775792239,
	"ts_creation_date": 0,
	"ts_modification_date": 0,
	"files": {
		"pdf": "https://archive.orkl.eu/51f4b3e37b2c173308136a0f84cccce8a6e4c0d9.pdf",
		"text": "https://archive.orkl.eu/51f4b3e37b2c173308136a0f84cccce8a6e4c0d9.txt",
		"img": "https://archive.orkl.eu/51f4b3e37b2c173308136a0f84cccce8a6e4c0d9.jpg"
	}
}