SYMBOLCOMMON_NAMEaka. SYNONYMS

AridViper  (Back to overview)

aka: APT-C-23, Arid Viper, Bearded Barbie, Desert Falcon, Two-tailed Scorpion

AridViper is a state-sponsored APT primarily targeting military personnel, journalists, and dissidents in the Middle East, with a focus on Israel and Palestine. The group employs custom-developed mobile malware, including variants like AridSpy, GnatSpy, and Micropsia, often delivered through spear-phishing emails and deceptive applications. Their operations involve sophisticated social engineering tactics, including the use of fake social media profiles and weaponized apps masquerading as legitimate services. AridViper's activities are characterized by a blend of technical sophistication and psychological manipulation, aiming to exfiltrate sensitive data from compromised systems.


Associated Families
apk.glancelove apk.gnatspy apk.spyc23 apk.unidentified_004 ios.phenakite win.aridgopher win.aridhelper win.barbie win.barbwire win.micropsia

References
2023-12-14 ⋅ SentinelOne ⋅ Aleksandar Milenkoski
Gaza Cybergang | Unified Front Targeting Hamas Opposition
BarbWire Micropsia Pierogi AridViper
2023-04-04 ⋅ Symantec ⋅ Threat Hunter Team
Mantis: New Tooling Used in Attacks Against Palestinian Targets
Arid Gopher Micropsia
2022-04-06 ⋅ Cybereason ⋅ Cybereason Nocturnus
Operation Bearded Barbie: APT-C-23 Campaign Targeting Israeli Officials
Barb(ie) Downloader BarbWire
2022-03-22 ⋅ The Register ⋅ Jeff Burt
What does Go-written malware look like? Here's a sample under the microscope
Arid Gopher
2022-03-21 ⋅ DeepInstinct ⋅ Asaf Gilboa, Simon Kenin
What is Arid Gopher? An Analysis of a New, Never-Before-Seen Malware Variant
Arid Gopher AridHelper
2022-02-02 ⋅ Cisco ⋅ Asheer Malhotra, Vitor Ventura
Arid Viper APT targets Palestine with new wave of politically themed phishing attacks, malware
Micropsia
2021-05-04 ⋅ malware4all ⋅ malware4all
Grab your own copy of Phenakite iOS malware today
Phenakite
2021-04-21 ⋅ Facebook ⋅ Michael Flossman, Michael Scott
Technical Paper // Taking Action Against Arid Viper
Viper RAT Micropsia
2020-09-30 ⋅ ESET Research ⋅ Lukáš Štefanko
APT‑C‑23 group evolves its Android spyware
SpyC23
2020-02-16 ⋅ Check Point Research ⋅ Check Point Research
Hamas Android Malware On IDF Soldiers-This is How it Happened
Unidentified APK 004
2019-08-15 ⋅ Github (jeFF0Falltrades) ⋅ Jeff Archer
MICROPSIA (APT-C-23)
Micropsia
2018-07-08 ⋅ Check Point Research ⋅ Check Point Research
APT Attack In the Middle East: The Big Bang
Micropsia The Big Bang
2018-07-03 ⋅ Haaretz ⋅ Yaniv Kubovich
Hamas Cyber Ops Spied on Hundreds of Israeli Soldiers Using Fake World Cup, Dating Apps
GlanceLove
2018-07-03 ⋅ ClearSky ⋅ ClearSky Research Team
Infrastructure and Samples of Hamas’ Android Malware Targeting Israeli Soldiers
GlanceLove
2017-12-18 ⋅ Trend Micro ⋅ Ecular Xu, Grey Guo
New GnatSpy Mobile Malware Family Discovered
GnatSpy
2017-06-19 ⋅ Cisco Talos ⋅ Emmanuel Tacheau, Martin Lee, Paul Rascagnères, Vanja Svajcer, Warren Mercer
Delphi Used To Score Against Palestine
Micropsia AridViper
2017-06-14 ⋅ ThreatConnect ⋅ ThreatConnect Research Team
Phantom of the Opaera: New KASPERAGENT Malware Campaign
KasperAgent AridViper
2017-04-05 ⋅ Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 ⋅ Tom Lancaster, Tomer Bar
Targeted Attacks in the Middle East Using KASPERAGENT and MICROPSIA
KasperAgent Micropsia
2017-02-16 ⋅ Kaspersky Labs ⋅ IDF C4I, Ido Naor
Breaking The Weakest Link Of The Strongest Chain
GlanceLove
2017-02-16 ⋅ Lookout ⋅ Michael Flossman
ViperRAT: The mobile APT targeting the Israeli Defense Force that should be on your radar
Viper RAT AridViper
2017-02-16 ⋅ Kaspersky Labs ⋅ IDF C4I, Ido Naor
Breaking The Weakest Link Of The Strongest Chain
Viper RAT AridViper
2017-02-05 ⋅ IDF ⋅ IDF
Hamas Uses Fake Facebook Profiles to Target Israeli Soldiers
GlanceLove
2015-09-18 ⋅ Proofpoint ⋅ Proofpoint Staff
Operation Arid Viper Slithers Back into View
AridViper
2015-02-25 ⋅ Trend Micro ⋅ Trend Micro Threat Research Team
OPERATION ARID VIPER: Bypassing the Iron Dome
AridViper
2015-02-19 ⋅ Security Affairs ⋅ Pierluigi Paganini
Arid Viper – Israel entities targeted by malware packaged with sex video
AridViper
2015-02-18 ⋅ Trend Micro ⋅ Trendmicro
Sexually Explicit Material Used as Lures in Recent Cyber Attacks
AridViper
2015-02-17 ⋅ Kaspersky Labs ⋅ Ghareeb Saad, Mohamad Amin Hasbini
The Desert Falcons targeted attacks
AridViper
2015-02-01 ⋅ Kaspersky Labs ⋅ GReAT
The Desert Falcons Targeted Attacks
AridViper

Credits: MISP Project