Threat Actor Profile
High APT
Description

DarkHydrus is a threat group that has targeted government agencies and educational institutions in the Middle East since at least 2016. The group heavily leverages open-source tools and custom payloads for carrying out attacks. (Citation: Unit 42 DarkHydrus July 2018) (Citation: Unit 42 Playbook Dec 2017)

Confidence Score
90%
Known Aliases
DarkHydrus
Tags
mitre-attack stix-2.1 intrusion-set
First Seen

Unknown

Last Updated

Unknown

Active Status
Active
Created

April 29, 2026

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques (7)
T1187 - Forced Authentication
Credential Access
T1221 - Template Injection
Defense Evasion
T1564.003 - Hidden Window
Defense Evasion
T1059.001 - PowerShell
Execution
T1204.002 - Malicious File
Execution
T1566.001 - Spearphishing Attachment
Initial Access
T1588.002 - Tool
Resource Development
Indicators of Compromise

Loading IOCs…

IOC KQL for Sentinel
STIX Data 
{'aliases': ['DarkHydrus'],
 'created': '2018-10-17T00:14:20.652Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': '[DarkHydrus](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0079) is a '
                'threat group that has targeted government agencies and '
                'educational institutions in the Middle East since at least '
                '2016. The group heavily leverages open-source tools and '
                'custom payloads for carrying out attacks. (Citation: Unit 42 '
                'DarkHydrus July 2018) (Citation: Unit 42 Playbook Dec 2017)',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'G0079',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0079'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: Unit 42 DarkHydrus July '
                                         '2018)',
                          'source_name': 'DarkHydrus'},
                         {'description': 'Falcone, R., et al. (2018, July 27). '
                                         'New Threat Actor Group DarkHydrus '
                                         'Targets Middle East Government. '
                                         'Retrieved August 2, 2018.',
                          'source_name': 'Unit 42 DarkHydrus July 2018',
                          'url': 'https://researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com/2018/07/unit42-new-threat-actor-group-darkhydrus-targets-middle-east-government/'},
                         {'description': 'Unit 42. (2017, December 15). Unit '
                                         '42 Playbook Viewer. Retrieved '
                                         'December 20, 2017.',
                          'source_name': 'Unit 42 Playbook Dec 2017',
                          'url': 'https://pan-unit42.github.io/playbook_viewer/'}],
 'id': 'intrusion-set--6b9ebeb5-20bf-48b0-afb7-988d769a2f01',
 'modified': '2025-04-25T14:49:28.547Z',
 'name': 'DarkHydrus',
 'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
 'spec_version': '2.1',
 'type': 'intrusion-set',
 'x_mitre_attack_spec_version': '3.2.0',
 'x_mitre_contributors': ['Oleg Skulkin, Group-IB'],
 'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
 'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_version': '1.3'}
Quick Actions
Related TTPs (7)
Forced Authentication
Credential Access
Template Injection
Defense Evasion
Hidden Window
Defense Evasion
PowerShell
Execution
Malicious File
Execution
View All 7 TTPs
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