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🇨🇳 CN14 malware families

TGR-STA-1030

Also known astgr_sta_1030

TGR-STA-1030 is a state-aligned cyber espionage group tracked by Palo Alto Networks Unit 42; Unit 42 also refers to its activity as the Shadow Campaigns and notes the actor as TGR-STA-1030/UNC6619 pending definitive attribution. Unit 42 assesses with high confidence that the group operates out of Asia, and multiple cited reports describe it as China-affiliated or aligned with Chinese regional interests, though the reporting also states that no specific government was publicly named in the final Unit 42 report. The group has been active since at least January 2024 and remained active through at least February 2026, with recent activity reportedly focused on Central and South America. According to the provided reporting, TGR-STA-1030 compromised at least 70 government and critical infrastructure organizations across 37 countries and conducted reconnaissance against government infrastructure associated with 155 countries. Victims included government ministries and departments, law enforcement and border control entities, ministries of finance, parliaments, diplomatic and trade-related bodies, telecommunications companies, and other critical infrastructure organizations. Reporting states the actor prioritizes strategic, economic, political, military, trade, diplomatic, and natural-resources intelligence collection. Observed initial access methods include targeted phishing and exploitation of known vulnerabilities in public-facing applications; the content explicitly mentions Microsoft Exchange, SAP/SAP Solution Manager, Atlassian products, Microsoft OMI, Struts2, D-Link, Ruijieyi Networks, Commvault, Eyou Email System, Beijing Grandview Century eHR Software, Weaver Ecology-OA, and Zhiyuan OA. Unit 42 reported no evidence of zero-day development or use. Phishing activity included MEGA-hosted ZIP archives containing the Diaoyu Loader and a zero-byte file named pic1.png. Diaoyu Loader used execution guardrails and anti-analysis checks, including screen-resolution requirements, dependency on pic1.png, and checks for security products such as Kaspersky, Avira, Bitdefender, SentinelOne, and Symantec/Norton. The loader retrieved staged content from GitHub and deployed Cobalt Strike. The group’s tooling includes Cobalt Strike, VShell, Havoc, Sliver, and SparkRAT; web shells including Behinder, neo-reGeorg, and Godzilla; and tunneling tools including GOST, FRPS, and IOX. Unit 42 also identified a Linux eBPF rootkit named ShadowGuard, assessed as unique to this actor, which hides processes and files/directories including those named swsecret. Reporting states the actor maintained persistence in some victim environments for months and exfiltrated sensitive data from email servers and file shares, including financial negotiations, contracts, banking and account information, and military-related operational updates.

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OPERATIONAL PROFILE

Targeting

Who, where, and (when attributed) which flag flies behind the operation. Pulled from open-source reporting and Mallory's analyst review.

Who they target

Sectors the actor has been observed targeting.

  • Government & Administration
  • Utilities

Where they're from

Attributed origin per open-source reporting.

  • CN
MITRE ATT&CK

Tradecraft

30 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.

12 of 15 tactics34 techniques×N= number of intelligence reports citing this technique
MITRE ATT&CK
TA0043
Reconnaissance
2 techniques
T1589
Gather Victim Identity Information
T1595
Active Scanning
TA0001
Initial Access
3 techniques
T1133
External Remote Services
T1190×5
Exploit Public-Facing Application
T1566×3
Phishing
T1566.001
Spearphishing Attachment
T1566.002
Spearphishing Link
T1566.003
Spearphishing via Service
TA0002
Execution
1 technique
T1204
User Execution
TA0003
Persistence
2 techniques
T1133
External Remote Services
T1505
Server Software Component
T1505.003×3
Web Shell
TA0004
Privilege Escalation
1 technique
T1068
Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
TA0005
Stealth
5 techniques
T1014×5
Rootkit
T1027
Obfuscated Files or Information
T1036
Masquerading
T1497×2
Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion
T1564
Hide Artifacts
T1564.001
Hidden Files and Directories
T1564.002
Hidden Users
T1564.006
Run Virtual Instance
TA0006
Credential Access
1 technique
T1003
OS Credential Dumping
TA0007
Discovery
3 techniques
T1046
Network Service Discovery
T1497×2
Virtualization/Sandbox Evasion
T1518
Software Discovery
T1518.001×2
Security Software Discovery
TA0008
Lateral Movement
1 technique
T1021
Remote Services
T1021.004
SSH
TA0009
Collection
1 technique
T1114
Email Collection
TA0011
Command and Control
4 techniques
T1071×2
Application Layer Protocol
T1090×2
Proxy
T1105×2
Ingress Tool Transfer
T1572
Protocol Tunneling
TA0010
Exfiltration
1 technique
T1041×2
Exfiltration Over C2 Channel
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Target overlap

Match sector + geo + tech-stack targeting against your real footprint.

Tradecraft mapping30

Every observed MITRE ATT&CK technique, grouped by tactic.

Malware arsenal14

Families this actor is known to deploy, with IOCs and behavior.

Exploited CVEs

CVEs this actor has used in known campaigns.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Observables

Domains, IPs, and hashes tied to this actor, refreshed continuously.