NOBELIUM Group

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Description

NOBELIUM, also known as APT29, The Dukes, Cozy Bear, CozyDuke, Blue Kitsune, and Midnight Blizzard, is a sophisticated nation-state threat actor, reportedly associated with Russian intelligence. Active since at least 2008, this group primarily targets government networks in Europe and NATO member countries, along with research institutes and think tanks. Their operations typically involve advanced persistent threats (APT), leveraging techniques like spear-phishing, malware deployment, and long-term network compromise to achieve information theft and espionage. Notably, APT29 has been implicated in significant cyber espionage incidents, including the 2015 breach of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff email system and attacks on the Democratic National Committee in 2016. Their advanced tactics and persistent approach underscore the serious nature of threats posed by this group to global cybersecurity.

• Product: Splunk Enterprise, Splunk Enterprise Security, Splunk Cloud
• Datamodel: Endpoint, Network_Traffic, Web
• Last Updated: 2020-12-14
• Author: Patrick Bareiss, Michael Haag, Mauricio Velazco, Splunk
• ID: 758196b5-2e21-424f-a50c-6e421ce926c2

Narrative

This Analytic Story groups detections designed to trigger on a comprehensive range of Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) leveraged by the NOBELIUM Group, with a focus on their methods as observed in well-known public breaches.

Detections

Name	Technique	Type
Anomalous usage of 7zip	Archive via Utility, Archive Collected Data	Anomaly
Anomalous usage of Archive Tools	Archive via Utility, Archive Collected Data	Anomaly
Azure AD Admin Consent Bypassed by Service Principal	Additional Cloud Roles	TTP
Azure AD FullAccessAsApp Permission Assigned	Additional Email Delegate Permissions, Additional Cloud Roles	TTP
Azure AD High Number Of Failed Authentications From Ip	Brute Force, Password Guessing, Password Spraying	TTP
Azure AD Multi-Source Failed Authentications Spike	Compromise Accounts, Cloud Accounts, Brute Force, Password Spraying, Credential Stuffing	Hunting
Azure AD Multiple Service Principals Created by SP	Cloud Account	Anomaly
Azure AD Multiple Service Principals Created by User	Cloud Account	Anomaly
Azure AD Privileged Graph API Permission Assigned	Security Account Manager	TTP
Azure AD Privileged Role Assigned	Account Manipulation, Additional Cloud Roles	TTP
Azure AD Privileged Role Assigned to Service Principal	Account Manipulation, Additional Cloud Roles	TTP
Azure AD Service Principal Authentication	Cloud Accounts	TTP
Azure AD Service Principal Created	Cloud Account	TTP
Azure AD Service Principal New Client Credentials	Account Manipulation, Additional Cloud Credentials	TTP
Azure AD Service Principal Owner Added	Account Manipulation	TTP
Azure AD Tenant Wide Admin Consent Granted	Account Manipulation, Additional Cloud Roles	TTP
Detect Outbound SMB Traffic	File Transfer Protocols, Application Layer Protocol	TTP
Detect Prohibited Applications Spawning cmd exe	Command and Scripting Interpreter, Windows Command Shell	Hunting
Detect Rundll32 Inline HTA Execution	System Binary Proxy Execution, Mshta	TTP
First Time Seen Running Windows Service	System Services, Service Execution	Anomaly
Malicious PowerShell Process - Encoded Command	Obfuscated Files or Information	Hunting
O365 Added Service Principal	Cloud Account, Create Account	TTP
O365 Application Registration Owner Added	Account Manipulation	TTP
O365 ApplicationImpersonation Role Assigned	Account Manipulation, Additional Email Delegate Permissions	TTP
O365 FullAccessAsApp Permission Assigned	Additional Email Delegate Permissions, Additional Cloud Roles	TTP
O365 Multi-Source Failed Authentications Spike	Compromise Accounts, Cloud Accounts, Brute Force, Password Spraying, Credential Stuffing	Hunting
O365 Multiple Mailboxes Accessed via API	Remote Email Collection	TTP
O365 Multiple Service Principals Created by SP	Cloud Account	Anomaly
O365 Multiple Service Principals Created by User	Cloud Account	Anomaly
O365 Multiple Users Failing To Authenticate From Ip	Compromise Accounts, Cloud Accounts, Brute Force, Password Spraying, Credential Stuffing	TTP
O365 OAuth App Mailbox Access via EWS	Remote Email Collection	TTP
O365 OAuth App Mailbox Access via Graph API	Remote Email Collection	TTP
O365 Privileged Graph API Permission Assigned	Security Account Manager	TTP
O365 Service Principal New Client Credentials	Account Manipulation, Additional Cloud Credentials	TTP
O365 Tenant Wide Admin Consent Granted	Account Manipulation, Additional Cloud Roles	TTP
Sc exe Manipulating Windows Services	Windows Service, Create or Modify System Process	TTP
Scheduled Task Deleted Or Created via CMD	Scheduled Task, Scheduled Task/Job	TTP
Schtasks scheduling job on remote system	Scheduled Task, Scheduled Task/Job	TTP
Sunburst Correlation DLL and Network Event	Exploitation for Client Execution	TTP
Supernova Webshell	Web Shell, External Remote Services	TTP
TOR Traffic	Proxy, Multi-hop Proxy	TTP
Windows AdFind Exe	Remote System Discovery	TTP
Windows Rundll32 Inline HTA Execution	System Binary Proxy Execution, Mshta	TTP

Reference

• https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0016/
• https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/03/04/goldmax-goldfinder-sibot-analyzing-nobelium-malware/
• https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2020/12/evasive-attacker-leverages-solarwinds-supply-chain-compromises-with-sunburst-backdoor.html
• https://msrc-blog.microsoft.com/2020/12/13/customer-guidance-on-recent-nation-state-cyber-attacks/
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/01/25/midnight-blizzard-guidance-for-responders-on-nation-state-attack/

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