Threat Actor Profile
High APT
Description

Moses Staff is a suspected Iranian threat group that has primarily targeted Israeli companies since at least September 2021. Moses Staff openly stated their motivation in attacking Israeli companies is to cause damage by leaking stolen sensitive data and encrypting the victim's networks without a ransom demand.(Citation: Checkpoint MosesStaff Nov 2021) Security researchers assess Moses Staff is politically motivated, and has targeted government, finance, travel, energy, manufacturing, and utility companies outside of Israel as well, including those in Italy, India, Germany, Chile, Turkey, the UAE, and the US.(Citation: Cybereason StrifeWater Feb 2022)

Confidence Score
90%
Known Aliases
Moses Staff DEV-0500 Marigold Sandstorm
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 (12)
T1105 - Ingress Tool Transfer
Command and Control
T1027.013 - Encrypted/Encoded File
Defense Evasion
T1553.002 - Code Signing
Defense Evasion
T1562.004 - Disable or Modify System Firewall
Defense Evasion
T1016 - System Network Configuration Discovery
Discovery
T1082 - System Information Discovery
Discovery
T1087.001 - Local Account
Discovery
T1190 - Exploit Public-Facing Application
Initial Access
T1021.002 - SMB/Windows Admin Shares
Lateral Movement
T1505.003 - Web Shell
Persistence
T1587.001 - Malware
Resource Development
T1588.002 - Tool
Resource Development
Indicators of Compromise

Loading IOCs…

IOC KQL for Sentinel
STIX Data
{'aliases': ['Moses Staff', 'DEV-0500', 'Marigold Sandstorm'],
 'created': '2022-08-11T22:47:27.686Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': '[Moses Staff](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1009) is a '
                'suspected Iranian threat group that has primarily targeted '
                'Israeli companies since at least September 2021. [Moses '
                'Staff](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1009) openly stated '
                'their motivation in attacking Israeli companies is to cause '
                'damage by leaking stolen sensitive data and encrypting the '
                "victim's networks without a ransom demand.(Citation: "
                'Checkpoint MosesStaff Nov 2021) \n'
                '\n'
                'Security researchers assess [Moses '
                'Staff](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1009) is politically '
                'motivated, and has targeted government, finance, travel, '
                'energy, manufacturing, and utility companies outside of '
                'Israel as well, including those in Italy, India, Germany, '
                'Chile, Turkey, the UAE, and the US.(Citation: Cybereason '
                'StrifeWater Feb 2022)',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'G1009',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1009'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: Microsoft Threat Actor '
                                         'Naming July 2023)',
                          'source_name': 'DEV-0500'},
                         {'description': '(Citation: Microsoft Threat Actor '
                                         'Naming July 2023)',
                          'source_name': 'Marigold Sandstorm'},
                         {'description': 'Checkpoint Research. (2021, November '
                                         '15). Uncovering MosesStaff '
                                         'techniques: Ideology over Money. '
                                         'Retrieved August 11, 2022.',
                          'source_name': 'Checkpoint MosesStaff Nov 2021',
                          'url': 'https://research.checkpoint.com/2021/mosesstaff-targeting-israeli-companies/'},
                         {'description': 'Cybereason Nocturnus. (2022, '
                                         'February 1). StrifeWater RAT: '
                                         'Iranian APT Moses Staff Adds New '
                                         'Trojan to Ransomware Operations. '
                                         'Retrieved August 15, 2022.',
                          'source_name': 'Cybereason StrifeWater Feb 2022',
                          'url': 'https://www.cybereason.com/blog/research/strifewater-rat-iranian-apt-moses-staff-adds-new-trojan-to-ransomware-operations'},
                         {'description': 'Microsoft . (2023, July 12). How '
                                         'Microsoft names threat actors. '
                                         'Retrieved November 17, 2023.',
                          'source_name': 'Microsoft Threat Actor Naming July '
                                         '2023',
                          'url': 'https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/security/intelligence/microsoft-threat-actor-naming?view=o365-worldwide'}],
 'id': 'intrusion-set--4c4a7846-45d5-4761-8eea-725fa989914c',
 'modified': '2024-04-11T00:39:25.190Z',
 'name': 'Moses Staff',
 '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': ['Hiroki Nagahama, NEC Corporation',
                          'Pooja Natarajan, NEC Corporation India',
                          'Manikantan Srinivasan, NEC Corporation India'],
 'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
 'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_version': '2.0'}
Quick Actions
Related TTPs (12)
Ingress Tool Transfer
Command and Control

Encrypted/Encoded File
Defense Evasion

Code Signing
Defense Evasion

Disable or Modify System Fire…
Defense Evasion

System Network Configuration …
Discovery