Ember Bear

Overview

Ember Bear is a Russian state-sponsored cyber espionage group that has been active since at least 2020, linked to Russia's General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) 161st Specialist Training Center (Unit 29155). Ember Bear has primarily focused operations against Ukrainian government and telecommunication entities, but has also operated against critical infrastructure entities in Europe and the Americas. Ember Bear conducted the WhisperGate destructive wiper attacks against Ukraine in early 2022. There is some confusion as to whether Ember Bear overlaps with another Russian-linked entity referred to as Saint Bear. At present available evidence strongly suggests these are distinct activities with different behavioral profiles.

Regions

Ukraine

Capabilities

• Supply-chain compromise — ATT&CK T1195
• Destructive / data-wiping operations — ATT&CK T1561.002; software: WhisperGate
• Exploitation of public-facing / client applications — ATT&CK T1190, T1203
• Custom malware/implant development — ATT&CK: 4 attributed custom malware families

TTPs — 47 techniques across 14 tactics

Tools & malware (11)

P.A.S. Webshell · CrackMapExec · Responder · ngrok · reGeorg · WhisperGate · Saint Bot · PsExec · Rclone · BloodHound · Impacket

Reporting (3)

• Russian Military Cyber Actors Target U.S. and Global Critical Infrastructure — US Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency et al
• Cadet Blizzard emerges as a novel and distinct Russian threat actor — Microsoft Threat Intelligence
• Who is EMBER BEAR? — CrowdStrike