In the world of cybercrime, there are script kiddies (who copy code), cybercriminals (who steal money), and then there are APTs (Advanced Persistent Threats). APTs are funded by nation-states. They check in from 9-to-5, have HR departments, pension plans, and unlimited budgets. Their goal is not money; it is Intelligence and Strategic Destruction.
The Threat Landscape
Security researchers (FireEye, CrowdStrike, Mandiant) assign names to track these groups.
- Russia: Fancy Bear (APT28), Cozy Bear (APT29), Sandworm. Focus: Political disruption, Ukraine, NATO.
- China: APT41 (Double Dragon), Hafnium. Focus: Intellectual Property theft (stealing jet engine designs, AI algorithms).
- North Korea: Lazarus Group. Focus: Generating revenue (staling Crypto) to fund nuclear weapons.
- USA: Equation Group (NSA). Focus: Counter-terrorism, signals intelligence.
1. TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, Procedures)
APTs operate differently from ransomware gangs. They are Stealthy.
"Living off the Land" (LotL): They avoid bringing custom malware because Antivirus solutions scan for files.
Instead, they use tools already installed on your computer: PowerShell, WMI, Bash, Bitsadmin.
Why write a virus when you can just execute:
powershell -e JABjAGwAaQBlAG4AdAAgAD0AIABuAGUAdwAtAG8AYgBq... (Base64 Encoded)
2. Supply Chain Attacks (The SolarWinds Case)
The hardest target in the world is the US Government.
So APT29 (Russia) didn't attack the US Government directly. They attacked SolarWinds, a company that makes IT monitoring software used by the government.
They hacked the build server and injected a backdoor into the source code of the legitimate `SolarWinds.Orion.Core.dll`.
Then SolarWinds digitally signed the update and pushed it to 18,000 customers.
The victims (including Microsoft and the Pentagon) installed the malware themselves, believing it was a security update. This is the ultimate Checkmate.
3. Persistence (Is Not Installing)
The "P" in APT. They want to stay in your network for years.
They use subtle persistence:
- Golden SAML: Stealing the signing key for your Single Sign-On (Active Directory Federation Services). They can mint their own "Admin" tokens. You can change your password, but they bypass passwords entirely.
- Web Shells: Leaving a tiny `.aspx` file deep in an Exchange Server directory.
- Scheduled Tasks: A task named "GoogleUpdate" that runs a malicious script every Tuesday at 3 AM.