CURIUM

Also known as: Crimson Sandstorm, CURIUM, TA456, Tortoise Shell, Yellow Liderc, IMPERIAL KITTEN, Imperial Kitten, DUSTYCAVE, Cuboid Sandstorm, Smoke Sandstorm, Tortoiseshell, DEV-0228

CURIUM is an Iranian threat group, first reported in September 2019 and active since at least July 2018, targeting IT service providers in the Middle East. Symantec Tortoiseshell 2019 CURIUM has since invested in building relationships with potential targets via social media over a period of months to establish trust and confidence before sending malware. Security researchers note CURIUM has demonstrated great patience and persistence by chatting with potential targets daily and sending benign files to help lower their security consciousness. Microsoft Iranian Threat Actor Trends November 2021

🌍 Country Iran
🎯 Incident Type Espionage
🧭 ATT&CK G1012
Defense Government Military Finance Energy Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Telecoms High-Tech Media NGOs Civil Society Legal Rail Transportation

Introduction

CURIUM is an Iranian threat group, first reported in September 2019 and active since at least July 2018, targeting IT service providers in the Middle East. Symantec Tortoiseshell 2019 CURIUM has since invested in building relationships with potential targets via social media over a period of months to establish trust and confidence before sending malware. Security researchers note CURIUM has demonstrated great patience and persistence by chatting with potential targets daily and sending benign files to help lower their security consciousness. Microsoft Iranian Threat Actor Trends November 2021

Activities and Tactics

Targeted Sectors: Defense, Government, Military, Finance, Energy, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Telecoms, High-Tech, Media, NGOs, Civil Society, Legal, Rail, Transportation

Country of Origin: 🇮🇷 Iran

Incident Type: Espionage

Suspected Victims: United States, Israel, Middle East, Europe

Notable Campaigns

Information pending cataloguing.

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs)

Information pending cataloguing.

Notable Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

No curated IOCs are currently published for this actor. This section will be updated when stable, attributable indicators are available.

Malware and Tools

Information pending cataloguing.

Attribution and Evidence

Country of Origin: Iran Additional attribution information pending cataloguing.

References

[1] MITRE ATT&CK MITRE ATT&CK entry [2] Symantec Tortoiseshell 2019 [3] Microsoft Iranian Threat Actor Trends November 2021