Head Mare is a presumed hacktivist group targeting Russian and Belarusian sectors, spreading PhantomRAT via specially crafted RAR archives.
Analyst brief
Head Mare is a presumed hacktivist threat actor targeting Russian and Belarusian sectors, primarily using a remote access malware called PhantomRAT. They employ specially crafted RAR archives to execute malicious code, which represents a TTP distinct from previous vulnerability-based attacks. Defenders should focus on detecting suspicious RAR attachments, PhantomRAT's C2 communications, and this RAR-based attack chain, which has also been used by groups like Forest Blizzard.
Head Mare
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Head Mare is a hacktivism focussed threat actor group known for targeting Russia and Belarus sectors using a remote access malware called PhantomRAT. They have been observed executing malicious code through specially crafted RAR archives, different from previous attacks exploiting vulnerabilities. The attribution of their campaign to Ukraine is uncertain due to limited visibility inside Russian networks. PhantomCore's use of RAR archives in their attack chain has been previously observed in other threat actor groups like Forest Blizzard.