Careto

🔴 High
Also known as: The Mask, Mask, Ugly Face, Careto

This threat actor targets governments, diplomatic missions, private companies in the energy sector, and academics for espionage purposes. The Mask is an advanced threat actor that has been involved in cyber-espionage operations since at least 2007. The name “Mask” comes from the Spanish slang word “Careto” (“Ugly Face” or “Mask”) which the authors included in some of the malware modules. More than 380 unique victims in 31 countries have been observed to date.What makes “The Mask” special is the complexity of the toolset used by the attackers. This includes an extremely sophisticated malware, a rootkit, a bootkit, 32-and 64-bit Windows versions, Mac OS X and Linux versions and possibly versions for Android and iPad/iPhone (Apple iOS).

🌍 Country Spain
📅 Activity 2014 — 2014
⚡ Risk Level High
🎯 Incident Type Espionage
Government Private sector
2014
2014

Targeted Victims

Morocco France Libya Venezuela Poland Brazil Spain United States South Africa Tunisia United Kingdom Switzerland Iran Germany

Introduction

This threat actor targets governments, diplomatic missions, private companies in the energy sector, and academics for espionage purposes. The Mask is an advanced threat actor that has been involved in cyber-espionage operations since at least 2007. The name “Mask” comes from the Spanish slang word “Careto” (“Ugly Face” or “Mask”) which the authors included in some of the malware modules. More than 380 unique victims in 31 countries have been observed to date.What makes “The Mask” special is the complexity of the toolset used by the attackers. This includes an extremely sophisticated malware, a rootkit, a bootkit, 32-and 64-bit Windows versions, Mac OS X and Linux versions and possibly versions for Android and iPad/iPhone (Apple iOS).

Activities and Tactics

Targeted Sectors: Government, Private sector

Country of Origin: 🏳️ Spain

Risk Level: High

First Seen: 2014

Last Activity: 2014

Incident Type: Espionage

Suspected Victims: Morocco, France, Libya, Venezuela, Poland, Brazil, Spain, United States, South Africa, Tunisia…

Notable Campaigns

Information pending cataloguing.

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs)

Information pending cataloguing.

Notable Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

No atomic indicators are listed in this profile. The APTnotes snapshot indexes 1 public reports that may contain IOCs; see Source Attribution for dataset links.

Malware and Tools

  • CyberGate
  • XtremeRAT
  • DroidJack
  • Androrat
  • Cyber Eye RAT
  • Windows Remote Desktop

Attribution and Evidence

Country of Origin: Spain Additional attribution information pending cataloguing.

References

References pending cataloguing.