Daggerfly

Overview

Daggerfly is a People's Republic of China-linked APT entity active since at least 2012. Daggerfly has targeted individuals, government and NGO entities, and telecommunication companies in Asia and Africa. Daggerfly is associated with exclusive use of MgBot malware and is noted for several potential supply chain infection campaigns.

Naming & attribution

Daggerfly is tracked under 3 names across the industry. It uses 17 documented ATT&CK techniques — more than 48% of the 174 groups tracked here. Activity attributed since at least 2012.

Distinctive techniques

Techniques this group uses that are rare across the other 173 tracked groups — these carry more signal than the near-universal ones.

• T1587.002 Code Signing Certificates — used by 3 of 174 groups

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.

• Winter Vivern Russia — 7 shared techniques (19% overlap)
• APT19 China — 6 shared techniques (19% overlap)
• Patchwork — 9 shared techniques (18% overlap)
• Molerats — 5 shared techniques (18% overlap)
• Stealth Falcon — 5 shared techniques (18% overlap)
• GALLIUM China — 7 shared techniques (17% overlap)

Targets

Government · Individuals · Universities

Regions

Hong Kong · India · Macao · Malaysia · Nigeria · Taiwan

Capabilities

• Supply-chain compromise — ATT&CK T1195.002
• Custom malware/implant development — ATT&CK: 4 attributed custom malware families

TTPs — 17 techniques across 9 tactics

Tools & malware (6)

PlugX · MgBot · BITSAdmin · MacMa · Nightdoor · Reg

Reporting (3)

• Daggerfly: Espionage Group Makes Major Update to Toolset — Threat Hunter Team
• Evasive Panda leverages Monlam Festival to target Tibetans — Ahn Ho, Facundo Muñoz, & Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé
• Evasive Panda APT group delivers malware via updates for popular Chinese software — Facundo Muñoz