Threat Actor Profile
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
Known Aliases
Tags
First Seen
Unknown
Last Updated
Unknown
Active Status
ActiveCreated
April 29, 2026
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques (10)
Indicators of Compromise
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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'}