Procedure examples

Storm-1811 has prompted users to download and execute batch scripts that masquerade as legitimate update files during initial access and social engineering operations.

TeamTNT has disguised their scripts with docker-related file names.

Sandworm Team masqueraded malicious installers as Windows update packages to evade defense and entice users to execute binaries.

ZIRCONIUM has spoofed legitimate applications in phishing lures and changed file extensions to conceal installation of malware.

Contagious Interview has delivered BeaverTail malware masquerading as legitimate software or applications. Contagious Interview has also delivered malicious payloads masquerading as legitimate software drivers.

OilRig has used .doc file extensions to mask malicious executables.

Aoqin Dragon has used fake icons including antivirus and external drives to disguise malicious payloads.

Winter Vivern created specially-crafted documents mimicking legitimate government or similar documents during phishing campaigns.

BRONZE BUTLER has masked executables with document file icons including Word and Adobe PDF.

TA551 has masked malware DLLs as dat and jpg files.

Ember Bear has renamed the legitimate Sysinternals tool procdump to alternative names such as dump64.exe to evade detection.

LazyScripter has used several different security software icons to disguise executables.

Windshift has used icons mimicking MS Office files to mask malicious executables. Windshift has also attempted to hide executables by changing the file extension to ".scr" to mimic Windows screensavers.

Agrius used the Plink tool for tunneling and connections to remote machines, renaming it systems.exe in some instances.

APT28 has renamed the WinRAR utility to avoid detection.

PLATINUM has renamed rar.exe to avoid detection.

FIN13 has masqueraded staged data by using the Windows certutil utility to generate fake Base64 encoded certificates with the input file.

Nomadic Octopus attempted to make Octopus appear as a Telegram Messenger with a Russian interface.

The TrickBot downloader has used an icon to appear as a Microsoft Word document.

RCSession has used a file named English.rtf to appear benign on victim hosts.

WindTail has used icons mimicking MS Office files to mask payloads.

Pony has used the Adobe Reader icon for the downloaded file to look more trustworthy.

UPSTYLE has masqueraded filenames using examples such as `update.py`.

AppleSeed can disguise JavaScript files as PDFs.

EnvyScout has used folder icons for malicious files to lure victims into opening them.

DynoWiper has been named after well-known files schtask.exe, schtask2.exe, and <redacted>_update.exe.

The Dacls Mach-O binary has been disguised as a .nib file.

SombRAT can use a legitimate process name to hide itself.

WhisperGate has been disguised as a JPG extension to avoid detection as a malicious PE file.

Raindrop was built to include a modified version of 7-Zip source code (including associated export names) and Far Manager source code.

NotPetya drops PsExec with the filename dllhost.dat.

Flagpro can download malicious files with a .tmp extension and append them with .exe prior to execution.

DarkTortilla's payload has been renamed `PowerShellInfo.exe`.

BeaverTail has masqueraded as MiroTalk installation packages: “MiroTalk.dmg” for macOS and “MiroTalk.msi” for Windows, and has included login GUIs with MiroTalk themes.

DarkWatchman has used an icon mimicking a text file to mask a malicious executable.

Bisonal dropped a decoy payload with a .jpg extension that contained a malicious Visual Basic script.

DarkGate can masquerade as pirated media content for initial delivery to victims.

FoggyWeb can masquerade the output of C2 commands as a fake, but legitimately formatted WebP file.

Saint Bot has renamed malicious binaries as `wallpaper.mp4` and `slideshow.mp4` to avoid detection.

GlassWorm has masqueraded as legitimate VSCode extensions. GlassWorm has also impersonated Github projects.

RedLine Stealer malware has masqueraded as legitimate software such as "PDF Converter Software" which has been distributed through poisoned search engine results often resembling legitimate software lures with the combination of typo squatted domains.

RTM has been delivered as archived Windows executable files masquerading as PDF documents.

StrelaStealer PE executable payloads have used uncommon but legitimate extensions such as `.com` instead of `.exe`.

Ryuk can create .dll files that actually contain a Rich Text File format document.

Milan has used an executable named `companycatalogue` to appear benign.

NativeZone has, upon execution, displayed a message box that appears to be related to a Ukrainian electronic document management system.

Ramsay has masqueraded as a JPG image file.

TrailBlazer has used filenames that match the name of the compromised system in attempt to avoid detection.

PowGoop has disguised a PowerShell script as a .dat file (goopdate.dat).

BoomBox has the ability to mask malicious data strings as PDF files.