Naikon

MITRE ATT&CK: G0019 View on attack.mitre.org

Aliases: PLA Unit 78020, OVERRIDE PANDA, Camerashy, BRONZE GENEVA, Naikon, BRONZE STERLING

First seen
2010-01-01 00:00:00
Origin
CN
Primary motivation
espionage
Sophistication
advanced
Resource level
government
Actor type
Espionage
Last IoC activity
2026-06-16 02:00:35
Profile updated
2026-07-07 12:31:57

Targeted industries: government-and-public-sector defense-and-aerospace education-and-nonprofits

Targeted regions: country_code:vn country_code:th country_code:ph country_code:mm country_code:id

Context

Naikon is assessed to be a state-sponsored cyber espionage group attributed to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Chengdu Military Region Second Technical Reconnaissance Bureau (Military Unit Cover Designator 78020). Active since at least 2010, Naikon has primarily conducted operations against government, military, and civil organizations in Southeast Asia, as well as against international bodies such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). While Naikon shares some characteristics with APT30, the two groups do not appear to be exact matches.

Detection coverage

  • 3 YARA rules
  • 310 Sigma rules

Malware & tools used

  • Domain Accounts (attack-pattern)
  • Remote System Discovery (attack-pattern)
  • Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder (attack-pattern)
  • Security Software Discovery (attack-pattern)
  • Network Service Discovery (attack-pattern)
  • Windows Management Instrumentation (attack-pattern)
  • Add-ins (attack-pattern)
  • System Network Configuration Discovery (attack-pattern)
  • Match Legitimate Resource Name or Location (attack-pattern)
  • Spearphishing Attachment (attack-pattern)
  • Masquerade Task or Service (attack-pattern)
  • Scheduled Task (attack-pattern)
  • Malicious File (attack-pattern)
  • DLL (attack-pattern)
  • HDoor (malware)
  • Net (malware)
  • WinMM (malware)
  • Nebulae (malware)
  • RainyDay (malware)
  • Tasklist (malware)
  • SslMM (malware)
  • Aria-body (malware)
  • netsh (malware)
  • Sys10 (malware)
  • Systeminfo (malware)

Related threat objects

Reports & references

  • Mandiant — Apt Groups (report)
  • Mandiant — Cds19 Executive S08 Achievement Unlocked (report)
  • Kaspersky — The Naikon Apt (report)
  • Mandiant — Spear Phishing The News Cycle Apt Actors Leverage Interest In The Disappearance Of Malaysian Flight Mh 370 (report)
  • media.kasperskycontenthub.com — Thenaikonapt Msnmm1 (report)
  • usa.kaspersky.com — Naikon Targeted Attacks (report)
  • web.archive.org — Bkdr Rarstone New Rat To Watch Out For (report)
  • threatconnect.com — Naikon (report)
  • MITRE ATT&CK — G0019 (report)
  • secureworks.com — Bronze Geneva (report)
  • cyware.com — Chinese Naikon Group Back With New Espionage Attack 66A8413D (report)
  • cluster25.io — Lotus Panda Awake Last Strike (report)
  • cloud.google.com — Updated Cyber Threat Actor Naming System (report)
  • Kaspersky — 69953 (report)
  • cdn2.hubspot.net — Project Camerashy Threatconnect Copyright 2015 (report)

External references