Home/Threat Actor/APT29
Threat Actor

APT29

apt29_cozybear · russia · active since 2008

APT29 (SVR / Cozy Bear / Midnight Blizzard / NOBELIUM / The Dukes) is a Russian Foreign Intelligence Service cyber-espionage actor active since 2008, attributed by US/UK governments to the SVR, responsible for the 2015 DNC intrusion, the 2019-2021 SolarWinds software supply-chain compromise, sustained COVID-19 vaccine research targeting, the 2024 Midnight Blizzard compromise of Microsoft corporate, and continuing identity-and-cloud-focused operations against NATO governments, defense, technology, and managed-service-provider targets.

russia confidence: high 35 aliases MITRE ATT&CK G0118 ↗

Profile

APT29 is a Russian state-sponsored cyber-espionage actor attributed to the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation). Active since at least 2008, it is one of the two most prominent Russian threat actors alongside APT28.

the two have repeatedly targeted the same victims independently. APT29 is the better tradecraft and operates with patience, focusing on long-dwell collection rather than the broader, noisier operations of APT28. The group is best known for the 2015 DNC intrusion, the 2019-2021 SolarWinds supply-chain compromise (one of the most consequential cyber operations in history, affecting US Treasury, DOJ, DHS, State, Commerce, Microsoft, FireEye/Mandiant, and thousands of others), sustained COVID-19 vaccine research targeting in 2020, and the January 2024 compromise of Microsoft corporate (Midnight Blizzard). APT29's tradecraft has shifted heavily toward identity-and cloud-centric attack surfaces: SAML token forgery (golden-token attacks), OAuth application abuse, service principal manipulation, AD FS modification (MagicWeb), residential-proxy obfuscation, password spraying against dormant accounts, MFA-fatigue, and device-code authentication phishing. The malware toolkit ranges from the early Duke-family implants (MiniDuke, CozyDuke, SeaDuke, HAMMERTOSS) through the SolarWinds-era weapons (SUNBURST, SUNSPOT, TEARDROP, Raindrop, Sibot, GoldFinder, GoldMax) to the recent NOBELIUM toolkit (EnvyScout, BoomBox, VaporRage, MagicWeb, FoggyWeb).

Aliases

35
apt29cozy bearcozybearcozydukethe dukesmidnight blizzardnobeliumunc2452unc3524dark halosolarstormstellarparticleyttriumiron ritualiron hemlocknoblebaronblue kitsunebluebravocloaked ursacloudlookcraneflyfritillarygrizzly steppegroup 100itg11minidionisseaduketa421uac-0029apt-c-42atk 7blue dev 5g0016apt 29apt-29

Notable Campaigns

9
2024Midnight Blizzard Compromise of Microsoft Corporate (Jan 2024)
2024Joint Advisory AA24-057A, SVR Cyber Actors Adapt Tactics for Initial Cloud Access
2024Device Code Authentication Phishing
2023JetBrains TeamCity Exploitation (CVE-2023-42793)
2021NOBELIUM Sustained Targeting (Post-SolarWinds)
2020COVID-19 Vaccine Research Targeting
2019-2021SolarWinds Compromise (C0024 / Solorigate / Sunburst)
2015DNC Compromise (Summer 2015)
2013-2019Operation Ghost (C0023)

Attribution & Reporting

Attributed by
White HouseUS Department of StateCISANSAFBIUS Department of JusticeUK NCSCUK GovernmentMicrosoftMandiantFireEyeCrowdStrikeVolexityF-SecureESETSymantecPWCKasperskySecureworksPalo Alto Networks Unit 42SentinelOneIBM X-ForceTalosCERT-FRGoogle TAG
Key reporting
reportF-Secure: The Dukes, 7 Years of Russian Cyberespionage (September 2015)
reportFireEye: APT29, HAMMERTOSS, Stealthy Tactics Define a Russian Cyber Threat Group (July 2015)
reportCrowdStrike: Bears in the Midst, Intrusion into the Democratic National Committee (June 2016)
reportESET: Operation Ghost, The Dukes Aren't Back, They Never Left (October 2019)
reportNCSC UK / NSA / CSE: Advisory, APT29 Targets COVID-19 Vaccine Development (July 2020)
reportVolexity: Dark Halo Leverages SolarWinds Compromise to Breach Organizations (December 2020)
reportFireEye / Mandiant: Highly Evasive Attacker Leverages SolarWinds Supply Chain Compromises with SUNBURST Backdoor (December 2020)
reportCrowdStrike: SUNSPOT, An Implant in the Build Process (January 2021)
reportMicrosoft: Deep Dive into the Solorigate Second-Stage Activation (January 2021)
reportMicrosoft / FireEye / CrowdStrike: GoldMax, GoldFinder, Sibot, Analyzing NOBELIUM Malware (March 2021)
reportWhite House Fact Sheet: Imposing Costs for Harmful Foreign Activities by the Russian Government (April 2021)
reportNSA / CISA / FBI / NCSC: SVR Cyber Actors Targeting US and Allied Networks (April 2021)
reportNCSC UK: Further TTPs Associated with SVR Cyber Actors (May 2021)
reportMicrosoft: Breaking Down NOBELIUM's Latest Early-Stage Toolset (May 2021)
reportMandiant: APT29 Continues Targeting Microsoft (February 2024)
reportMandiant: UNC3524, Eye Spy on Your Email (May 2022)
reportMicrosoft: MagicWeb, NOBELIUM's Post-Compromise Trick to Authenticate as Anyone (August 2022)
reportCISA AA24-057A: SVR Cyber Actors Adapt Tactics for Initial Cloud Access (February 2024)
reportFBI IC3 Industry Alert 240226, SVR Initial Access Methods (February 2024)
reportMicrosoft: Midnight Blizzard, Guidance for Responders on Nation-State Attack (January 2024)
reportBlackpoint: Threat Profile, APT29 (June 2024)
reportEuRepoC: APT Profile, APT 29 (February 2023)
reportCERT-FR CTI-011: Russian Intelligence Service Threat (2021)
reportPWC: WellMess Malware, Analysis and Command Control

Detection Blind Spots

60 techniques
Across this actor’s 60 mapped techniques, the share covered by each detection layer. Low bars are where you’d be blind if this actor targeted you.
Behavioral / log (Sigma)51/60 · 85%
Analytics (MITRE CAR)28/60 · 46%
Runtime / container (Falco)4/60 · 6%
File / malware (YARA)0/60 · 0%
Network (Suricata/Snort)13/60 · 21%
Vuln scan (Nuclei)0/60 · 0%

Atomic Test Plan

30 techniques
Runnable Atomic Red Team tests covering this actor’s mapped techniques - validate your detections against this specific adversary. Cross-reference the blind spots above. For authorized lab / purple-team use. Open the full builder
Intelligence Graph · click any node to traverse
CVETechnique ActorTool Family
drag to reposition · click any node to traverse · button top-right enlarges
External lookups - second-class, for what we don’t hold ourselves
Vulnerabilities
CISA KEV catalog
CWE weaknesses
CAPEC attack patterns
Package vulnerabilities
Threat intelligence
Threat actors
Tools & malware
ATT&CK techniques
IOCs
Detection & defense
Sigma rules
YARA rules
Atomic Red Team tests
D3FEND countermeasures
Compliance
NIST 800-53
ISO 27001:2022
SOC 2 TSC
PCI-DSS v4.0
CIS Controls v8.1
About
All capabilities
Live statistics
Data sources
Privacy policy
Terms of service
threatengine.sh  ·  Open-source threat intelligence platform  ·  100+ authoritative sources  ·  Every fact traces to its origin