Confucius

Overview

Confucius is a cyber espionage group that has primarily targeted military personnel, high-profile personalities, business persons, and government organizations in South Asia since at least 2013. Security researchers have noted similarities between Confucius and Patchwork, particularly in their respective custom malware code and targets.

Naming & attribution

Confucius is tracked under 2 names across the industry. It uses 19 documented ATT&CK techniques — more than 51% of the 174 groups tracked here. Activity attributed since at least 2013.

Closest groups by technique overlap

Computed from shared ATT&CK techniques. Overlap is not attribution — distinct actors converge on the same tradecraft — but a high share is a useful pivot.

• Sidewinder India — 13 shared techniques (36% overlap)
• Molerats — 9 shared techniques (35% overlap)
• LazyScripter — 10 shared techniques (34% overlap)
• Inception Russia — 10 shared techniques (32% overlap)
• TA2541 — 11 shared techniques (31% overlap)
• Patchwork — 13 shared techniques (28% overlap)

Capabilities

• Exploitation of public-facing / client applications — ATT&CK T1203

TTPs — 19 techniques across 9 tactics

Tools & malware (1)

WarzoneRAT

Reporting (3)

• Confucius Uses Pegasus Spyware-related Lures to Target Pakistani Military — Lunghi, D
• Confucius APT deploys Warzone RAT — Uptycs Threat Research Team
• Deciphering Confucius: A Look at the Group's Cyberespionage Operations — Lunghi, D and Horejsi, J