Threat Actor Profile: APT41

A. Overview

APT41 is a sophisticated Chinese state-sponsored threat group that conducts both espionage and financially motivated operations.

B. Known Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs)

• Initial Access: Spear-phishing, exploiting known vulnerabilities (e.g., Citrix CVE-2019-19781, Apache Struts).
• Persistence: Web shells, registry modifications, scheduled tasks.
• Privilege Escalation: Credential dumping, exploitation of privilege escalation vulnerabilities.
• Defense Evasion: Obfuscation, code signing with stolen certificates.
• Lateral Movement: PsExec, WMI, RDP.
• Command & Control: Use of dynamic DNS and encrypted communication channels.
• Exfiltration: Secure copy protocols, cloud storage abuse.

C. Industries/Countries Targeted

• Countries: U.S., UK, India, Japan, Germany, and more.
• Industries: Healthcare, telecom, education, software, gaming, and government agencies.

D. Malware/Ransomware Families Used

• Cobalt Strike
• ShadowPad
• China Chopper
• PlugX
• Winnti