Sea Turtle is a state-sponsored cyber espionage group known for DNS hijacking and credential theft.
Analyst brief
Sea Turtle (also tracked as COSMIC WOLF, Marbled Dust, SILICON, Teal Kurma, UNC1326) is a state-sponsored cyber espionage group, with its origin not tied to Turkey in this context. The group primarily targets national security organizations in Germany, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa. Their key TTPs involve acquiring and manipulating DNS infrastructure (T1583.002), exploiting public-facing applications (T1190), phishing (T1566), and employing Adversary-in-the-Middle (T1557) attacks alongside the SnappyTCP malware to steal credentials and intercept traffic. Defenders should prioritize securing DNS servers, patching public-facing vulnerabilities, reinforcing anti-phishing measures, and monitoring for anomalous DNS queries and remote data staging activities.
Sea Turtle
COSMIC WOLFMarbled DustSILICON
unknown
This blog post discusses the technical details of a state-sponsored attack manipulating DNS systems. While this incident is limited to targeting primarily national security organizations in the Middle East and North Africa, and we do not want to overstate the consequences of this specific campaign, we are concerned that the success of this operation will lead to actors more broadly attacking the global DNS system. DNS is a foundational technology supporting the Internet. Manipulating that system has the potential to undermine the trust users have on the internet. That trust and the stability of the DNS system as a whole drives the global economy. Responsible nations should avoid targeting this system, work together to establish an accepted global norm that this system and the organizations that control it are off-limits, and cooperate in pursuing those actors who act irresponsibly by targeting this system.
Monitor system and application logs to detect clearing of system logs and prevention of command history logging.
FAQ2
What techniques does the Sea Turtle group primarily use to gain initial access into target networks?+
Sea Turtle (also tracked as COSMIC WOLF) primarily relies on exploiting vulnerabilities in public-facing web applications (T1190) and phishing (T1566) to gain initial access.
What recommendations are provided to defenders against the DNS manipulation threat posed by Sea Turtle?+
Defenders are advised to prioritize securing DNS servers, patching vulnerabilities in public-facing applications, reinforcing anti-phishing measures, and monitoring for anomalous DNS queries.