Threat Actor Profile
High APT
Description

Deep Panda is a suspected Chinese threat group known to target many industries, including government, defense, financial, and telecommunications. (Citation: Alperovitch 2014) The intrusion into healthcare company Anthem has been attributed to Deep Panda. (Citation: ThreatConnect Anthem) This group is also known as Shell Crew, WebMasters, KungFu Kittens, and PinkPanther. (Citation: RSA Shell Crew) Deep Panda also appears to be known as Black Vine based on the attribution of both group names to the Anthem intrusion. (Citation: Symantec Black Vine) Some analysts track Deep Panda and APT19 as the same group, but it is unclear from open source information if the groups are the same. (Citation: ICIT China's Espionage Jul 2016)

Confidence Score
90%
Known Aliases
Deep Panda Shell Crew WebMasters KungFu Kittens PinkPanther Black Vine
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 (10)
T1027.005 - Indicator Removal from Tools
Defense Evasion
T1218.010 - Regsvr32
Defense Evasion
T1564.003 - Hidden Window
Defense Evasion
T1018 - Remote System Discovery
Discovery
T1057 - Process Discovery
Discovery
T1047 - Windows Management Instrumentation
Execution
T1059.001 - PowerShell
Execution
T1021.002 - SMB/Windows Admin Shares
Lateral Movement
T1505.003 - Web Shell
Persistence
T1546.008 - Accessibility Features
Privilege Escalation
Indicators of Compromise

Loading IOCs…

IOC KQL for Sentinel
STIX Data
{'aliases': ['Deep Panda',
             'Shell Crew',
             'WebMasters',
             'KungFu Kittens',
             'PinkPanther',
             'Black Vine'],
 'created': '2017-05-31T21:31:49.412Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': '[Deep Panda](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0009) is a '
                'suspected Chinese threat group known to target many '
                'industries, including government, defense, financial, and '
                'telecommunications. (Citation: Alperovitch 2014) The '
                'intrusion into healthcare company Anthem has been attributed '
                'to [Deep Panda](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0009). '
                '(Citation: ThreatConnect Anthem) This group is also known as '
                'Shell Crew, WebMasters, KungFu Kittens, and PinkPanther. '
                '(Citation: RSA Shell Crew) [Deep '
                'Panda](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0009) also appears to '
                'be known as Black Vine based on the attribution of both group '
                'names to the Anthem intrusion. (Citation: Symantec Black '
                'Vine) Some analysts track [Deep '
                'Panda](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0009) and '
                '[APT19](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0073) as the same '
                'group, but it is unclear from open source information if the '
                "groups are the same. (Citation: ICIT China's Espionage Jul "
                '2016)',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'G0009',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0009'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: Alperovitch 2014)',
                          'source_name': 'Deep Panda'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: RSA Shell Crew)',
                          'source_name': 'Shell Crew'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: RSA Shell Crew)',
                          'source_name': 'WebMasters'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: RSA Shell Crew)',
                          'source_name': 'KungFu Kittens'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: RSA Shell Crew)',
                          'source_name': 'PinkPanther'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: Symantec Black Vine)',
                          'source_name': 'Black Vine'},
                         {'description': 'Alperovitch, D. (2014, July 7). Deep '
                                         'in Thought: Chinese Targeting of '
                                         'National Security Think Tanks. '
                                         'Retrieved November 12, 2014.',
                          'source_name': 'Alperovitch 2014',
                          'url': 'https://web.archive.org/web/20200424075623/https:/www.crowdstrike.com/blog/deep-thought-chinese-targeting-national-security-think-tanks/'},
                         {'description': 'DiMaggio, J.. (2015, August 6). The '
                                         'Black Vine cyberespionage group. '
                                         'Retrieved January 26, 2016.',
                          'source_name': 'Symantec Black Vine',
                          'url': 'https://web.archive.org/web/20170823094836/http:/www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/the-black-vine-cyberespionage-group.pdf'},
                         {'description': 'RSA Incident Response. (2014, '
                                         'January). RSA Incident Response '
                                         'Emerging Threat Profile: Shell Crew. '
                                         'Retrieved January 14, 2016.',
                          'source_name': 'RSA Shell Crew',
                          'url': 'https://www.rsa.com/content/dam/en/white-paper/rsa-incident-response-emerging-threat-profile-shell-crew.pdf'},
                         {'description': 'Scott, J. and Spaniel, D. (2016, '
                                         'July 28). ICIT Brief - China’s '
                                         'Espionage Dynasty: Economic Death by '
                                         'a Thousand Cuts. Retrieved June 7, '
                                         '2018.',
                          'source_name': "ICIT China's Espionage Jul 2016",
                          'url': 'https://web.archive.org/web/20171017072306/https://icitech.org/icit-brief-chinas-espionage-dynasty-economic-death-by-a-thousand-cuts/'},
                         {'description': 'ThreatConnect Research Team. (2015, '
                                         'February 27). The Anthem Hack: All '
                                         'Roads Lead to China. Retrieved '
                                         'January 26, 2016.',
                          'source_name': 'ThreatConnect Anthem',
                          'url': 'https://www.threatconnect.com/the-anthem-hack-all-roads-lead-to-china/'}],
 'id': 'intrusion-set--a653431d-6a5e-4600-8ad3-609b5af57064',
 'modified': '2025-04-16T20:37:39.486Z',
 'name': 'Deep Panda',
 'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
 'revoked': False,
 'spec_version': '2.1',
 'type': 'intrusion-set',
 'x_mitre_attack_spec_version': '3.2.0',
 'x_mitre_contributors': ['Andrew Smith, @jakx_'],
 'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
 'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_version': '1.2'}
Quick Actions
Related TTPs (10)
Indicator Removal from Tools
Defense Evasion

Regsvr32
Defense Evasion

Hidden Window
Defense Evasion

Remote System Discovery
Discovery

Process Discovery
Discovery