Threat Actor Profile
High APT
Description

HEXANE is a cyber espionage threat group that has targeted oil & gas, telecommunications, aviation, and internet service provider organizations since at least 2017. Targeted companies have been located in the Middle East and Africa, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, and Tunisia. HEXANE's TTPs appear similar to APT33 and OilRig but due to differences in victims and tools it is tracked as a separate entity.(Citation: Dragos Hexane)(Citation: Kaspersky Lyceum October 2021)(Citation: ClearSky Siamesekitten August 2021)(Citation: Accenture Lyceum Targets November 2021)

Confidence Score
90%
Known Aliases
HEXANE Lyceum Siamesekitten Spirlin
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 (36)
T1056.001 - Keylogging
Collection
T1102.002 - Bidirectional Communication
Command and Control
T1105 - Ingress Tool Transfer
Command and Control
T1110 - Brute Force
Credential Access
T1110.003 - Password Spraying
Credential Access
T1555 - Credentials from Password Stores
Credential Access
T1555.003 - Credentials from Web Browsers
Credential Access
T1027.010 - Command Obfuscation
Defense Evasion
T1010 - Application Window Discovery
Discovery
T1016 - System Network Configuration Discovery
Discovery
T1016.001 - Internet Connection Discovery
Discovery
T1018 - Remote System Discovery
Discovery
T1033 - System Owner/User Discovery
Discovery
T1049 - System Network Connections Discovery
Discovery
T1057 - Process Discovery
Discovery
T1069.001 - Local Groups
Discovery
T1082 - System Information Discovery
Discovery
T1518 - Software Discovery
Discovery
T1053.005 - Scheduled Task
Execution
T1059.001 - PowerShell
Execution
T1059.005 - Visual Basic
Execution
T1204.002 - Malicious File
Execution
T1567.002 - Exfiltration to Cloud Storage
Exfiltration
T1021.001 - Remote Desktop Protocol
Lateral Movement
T1534 - Internal Spearphishing
Lateral Movement
T1546.003 - Windows Management Instrumentation Even…
Privilege Escalation
T1589 - Gather Victim Identity Information
Reconnaissance
T1589.002 - Email Addresses
Reconnaissance
T1591.004 - Identify Roles
Reconnaissance
T1583.001 - Domains
Resource Development
T1583.002 - DNS Server
Resource Development
T1585.001 - Social Media Accounts
Resource Development
T1585.002 - Email Accounts
Resource Development
T1586.002 - Email Accounts
Resource Development
T1588.002 - Tool
Resource Development
T1608.001 - Upload Malware
Resource Development
Indicators of Compromise

Loading IOCs…

IOC KQL for Sentinel
STIX Data
{'aliases': ['HEXANE', 'Lyceum', 'Siamesekitten', 'Spirlin'],
 'created': '2018-10-17T00:14:20.652Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': '[HEXANE](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1001) is a cyber '
                'espionage threat group that has targeted oil & gas, '
                'telecommunications, aviation, and internet service provider '
                'organizations since at least 2017. Targeted companies have '
                'been located in the Middle East and Africa, including Israel, '
                'Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, and Tunisia. '
                "[HEXANE](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1001)'s TTPs appear "
                'similar to [APT33](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0064) and '
                '[OilRig](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0049) but due to '
                'differences in victims and tools it is tracked as a separate '
                'entity.(Citation: Dragos Hexane)(Citation: Kaspersky Lyceum '
                'October 2021)(Citation: ClearSky Siamesekitten August '
                '2021)(Citation: Accenture Lyceum Targets November 2021)',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'G1001',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1001'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: Accenture Lyceum Targets '
                                         'November 2021)',
                          'source_name': 'Spirlin'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: ClearSky Siamesekitten '
                                         'August 2021)',
                          'source_name': 'Siamesekitten'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: SecureWorks August 2019)',
                          'source_name': 'Lyceum'},
                         {'description': 'Accenture. (2021, November 9). Who '
                                         'are latest targets of cyber group '
                                         'Lyceum?. Retrieved June 16, 2022.',
                          'source_name': 'Accenture Lyceum Targets November '
                                         '2021',
                          'url': 'https://www.accenture.com/us-en/blogs/cyber-defense/iran-based-lyceum-campaigns'},
                         {'description': 'ClearSky Cyber Security . (2021, '
                                         'August). New Iranian Espionage '
                                         'Campaign By “Siamesekitten” - '
                                         'Lyceum. Retrieved June 6, 2022.',
                          'source_name': 'ClearSky Siamesekitten August 2021',
                          'url': 'https://www.clearskysec.com/siamesekitten/'},
                         {'description': 'Dragos. (n.d.). Hexane. Retrieved '
                                         'October 27, 2019.',
                          'source_name': 'Dragos Hexane',
                          'url': 'https://dragos.com/resource/hexane/'},
                         {'description': 'Kayal, A. et al. (2021, October). '
                                         'LYCEUM REBORN: COUNTERINTELLIGENCE '
                                         'IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Retrieved June '
                                         '14, 2022.',
                          'source_name': 'Kaspersky Lyceum October 2021',
                          'url': 'https://vblocalhost.com/uploads/VB2021-Kayal-etal.pdf'},
                         {'description': 'SecureWorks 2019, August 27 LYCEUM '
                                         'Takes Center Stage in Middle East '
                                         'Campaign Retrieved. 2019/11/19 ',
                          'source_name': 'SecureWorks August 2019',
                          'url': 'https://www.secureworks.com/blog/lyceum-takes-center-stage-in-middle-east-campaign'}],
 'id': 'intrusion-set--f29b7c5e-2439-42ad-a86f-9f8984fafae3',
 'modified': '2024-08-14T15:24:19.141Z',
 'name': 'HEXANE',
 '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': ['Dragos Threat Intelligence',
                          'Mindaugas Gudzis, BT Security'],
 'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
 'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack', 'ics-attack'],
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_version': '2.3'}
Quick Actions
Related TTPs (36)
Keylogging
Collection

Bidirectional Communication
Command and Control

Ingress Tool Transfer
Command and Control

Brute Force
Credential Access

Password Spraying
Credential Access