Technique.View on attack.mitre.org
Adversaries may steal monetary resources from targets through extortion, social engineering, technical theft, or other methods aimed at their own financial gain at the expense of the availability of these resources for victims. Financial theft is the ultimate objective of several popular campaign types including extortion by ransomware, business email compromise (BEC) and fraud, "pig butchering," bank hacking, and exploiting cryptocurrency networks.
Adversaries may Compromise Accounts to conduct unauthorized transfers of funds. In the case of business email compromise or email fraud, an adversary may utilize Impersonation of a trusted entity. Once the social engineering is successful, victims can be deceived into sending money to financial accounts controlled by an adversary. This creates the potential for multiple victims (i.e., compromised accounts as well as the ultimate monetary loss) in incidents involving financial theft.
Extortion by ransomware may occur, for example, when an adversary demands payment from a victim after Data Encrypted for Impact and Exfiltration of data, followed by threatening to leak sensitive data to the public unless payment is made to the adversary. Adversaries may use dedicated leak sites to distribute victim data.
Due to the potentially immense business impact of financial theft, an adversary may abuse the possibility of financial theft and seeking monetary gain to divert attention from their true goals such as Data Destruction and business disruption.
Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1657.
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| GroupAkira | Akira engages in double-extortion ransomware, exfiltrating files then encrypting them, in order to prompt victims to pay a ransom. |
| GroupAppleJeus | AppleJeus has targeted the cryptocurrency industry with the goal of stealing digital assets. |
| GroupCinnamon Tempest | Cinnamon Tempest has maintained leak sites for exfiltrated data in attempt to extort victims into paying a ransom. |
| GroupContagious Interview | Contagious Interview has stolen cryptocurrency wallet credentials and credit card information utilizing BeaverTail and InvisibleFerret malware. ESET Contagious Interview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret February 2025Esentire ContagiousInterview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret November 2024PaloAlto ContagiousInterview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret November 2023PaloAlto Unit42 ContagiousInterview BeaverTail InvisibileFerret October 2024Socket BeaverTail XORIndex HexEval Contagious Interview July 2025Socket HexEval BeaverTail Contagious Interview June 2025Zscaler ContagiousInterview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret November 2024 |
| GroupFIN13 | FIN13 has observed the victim's software and infrastructure over several months to understand the technical process of legitimate financial transactions, prior to attempting to conduct fraudulent transactions. |
| GroupINC Ransom | INC Ransom has stolen and encrypted victim's data in order to extort payment for keeping it private or decrypting it. |
| GroupKimsuky | Kimsuky has stolen and laundered cryptocurrency to self-fund operations including the acquisition of infrastructure. |
| GroupMalteiro | Malteiro targets organizations in a wide variety of sectors via the use of Mispadu banking trojan with the goal of financial theft. |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| MalwareBeaverTail | BeaverTail has searched the victim device for browser extensions commonly associated with cryptocurrency wallets. ESET Contagious Interview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret February 2025Esentire ContagiousInterview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret November 2024PaloAlto ContagiousInterview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret November 2023PaloAlto Unit42 ContagiousInterview BeaverTail InvisibileFerret October 2024Recorded Future Contagious Inteview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret OtterCookie February 2025 |
| MalwareCrocodilus | Crocodilus has stolen cryptocurrency wallet details from victim devices. |
| MalwareDarkGate | DarkGate can deploy payloads capable of capturing credentials related to cryptocurrency wallets. |
| MalwareEmbargo | Embargo has been leveraged in double-extortion ransomware, exfiltrating files then encrypting them, to prompt victims to pay a ransom. |
| MalwareGlassWorm | GlassWorm has the ability to steal credentials for cryptocurrency wallets. |
| MalwareInvisibleFerret | InvisibleFerret has searched the victim device credentials and files commonly associated with cryptocurrency wallets. |
| MalwareRedLine Stealer | RedLine Stealer has collected data from cryptocurrency wallets and harvested credit cards details from browsers. |
| MalwareTeamPCP Cloud Stealer | TeamPCP Cloud Stealer can search filesystems for cryptocurrency wallets such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Zcash, Dash, Ripple, and Monero. |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| CampaignSharePoint ToolShell Exploitation | During SharePoint ToolShell Exploitation, threat actors demanded ransom payments to unencrypt filesystems and to refrain from publishing sensitive data exfiltrated from victim networks. |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK® (Enterprise). ATT&CK® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
