
Gamaredon Group
Also known as:IRON TILDEN · Primitive Bear · ACTINIUM · Armageddon · Shuckworm · DEV-0157 · Aqua Blizzard · NastyShrew
Overview
Gamaredon Group is a suspected Russian cyber espionage group that has targeted military, law enforcement, judiciary, non-profit, and non-governmental organizations in Ukraine since at least 2013. The name Gamaredon Group derives from a misspelling of the word "Armageddon," found in early campaigns. In November 2021, the Ukrainian government publicly attributed Gamaredon Group to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) Center 18, an assessment later supported by multiple independent cybersecurity researchers.
Naming & attribution
Gamaredon Group is tracked under 9 names across the industry. It uses 70 documented ATT&CK techniques — more than 94% of the 174 groups tracked here. Activity attributed since at least 2013.
| Name | First reported by |
|---|---|
| IRON TILDEN | Secureworks CTU |
| Primitive Bear | Unit 42 |
| ACTINIUM | Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center |
| Armageddon | Symantec |
| Shuckworm | Symantec |
| DEV-0157 | Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center |
| Aqua Blizzard | Microsoft |
| NastyShrew | Cloudflare |
| Gamaredon Group | Kasza, A. and Reichel, D |
Distinctive techniques
Techniques this group uses that are rare across the other 173 tracked groups — these carry more signal than the near-universal ones.
T1001Data Obfuscation — used by 1 of 174 groupsT1102.003One-Way Communication — used by 2 of 174 groupsT1137Office Application Startup — used by 2 of 174 groupsT1027.012LNK Icon Smuggling — used by 3 of 174 groupsT1491.001Internal Defacement — used by 3 of 174 groupsT1561.001Disk Content Wipe — used by 3 of 174 groupsT1568.001Fast Flux DNS — used by 3 of 174 groups
Closest groups by technique overlap
Computed from shared ATT&CK techniques. Overlap is not attribution — distinct actors converge on the same tradecraft — but a high share is a useful pivot.
- MuddyWater Iran — 33 shared techniques (31% overlap)
- Kimsuky North Korea — 45 shared techniques (29% overlap)
- FIN7 — 31 shared techniques (29% overlap)
- TA2541 — 22 shared techniques (29% overlap)
- APT32 Vietnam — 32 shared techniques (28% overlap)
- Mustang Panda China — 31 shared techniques (25% overlap)
Malware families with tracked indicators
One family attributed to Gamaredon Group, with 487 deduplicated indicators observed across abuse.ch ThreatFox, MalwareBazaar, URLhaus and SSLBL over the corpus's window (up to three years, as of 2026-10-30). MITRE documents what a group does; these are the indicators its malware families have surfaced in that window.
- Remcos487 indicators
Browse or copy the indicators by hash, domain, IP or URL, filtered by age from 1 day to 3 years.
Targets
Regions
Germany · Ukraine
Capabilities
- Destructive / data-wiping operations — ATT&CK T1561.001
- Custom malware/implant development — ATT&CK: 3 attributed custom malware families
TTPs — 70 techniques across 12 tactics
Resource Development
T1583.001DomainsT1583.003Virtual Private ServerT1583.006Web ServicesT1587.003Digital CertificatesT1588.002ToolT1608.001Upload Malware
Initial Access
T1566.001Spearphishing Attachment
Execution
T1047Windows Management InstrumentationT1053.005Scheduled TaskT1059.001PowerShellT1059.003Windows Command ShellT1059.005Visual BasicT1106Native APIT1204.001Malicious LinkT1204.002Malicious FileT1559.001Component Object Model
Persistence
Stealth
T1027Obfuscated Files or InformationT1027.004Compile After DeliveryT1027.010Command ObfuscationT1027.012LNK Icon SmugglingT1027.015CompressionT1027.016Junk Code InsertionT1036.005Match Legitimate Resource Name or LocationT1055Process InjectionT1070.004File DeletionT1140Deobfuscate/Decode Files or InformationT1218.005MshtaT1218.011Rundll32T1221Template InjectionT1480Execution GuardrailsT1497.001System ChecksT1564.003Hidden WindowT1620Reflective Code Loading
Defense Impairment
T1112Modify RegistryT1685Disable or Modify Tools
Discovery
Lateral Movement
T1021.005VNCT1080Taint Shared ContentT1091Replication Through Removable MediaT1534Internal Spearphishing
Collection
Command and Control
T1001Data ObfuscationT1071.001Web ProtocolsT1090ProxyT1090.003Multi-hop ProxyT1095Non-Application Layer ProtocolT1102Web ServiceT1102.002Bidirectional CommunicationT1102.003One-Way CommunicationT1105Ingress Tool TransferT1568Dynamic ResolutionT1568.001Fast Flux DNST1571Non-Standard Port
Exfiltration
Impact
T1491.001Internal DefacementT1561.001Disk Content Wipe
Tools & malware (6)
QuietSieve · Pteranodon · Remcos · Ping · Reg · PowerPunch
Reporting (3)
- Introducing the 2026 Cloudflare Threat Report — Cloudflare
- How Microsoft names threat actors — Microsoft
- ACTINIUM targets Ukrainian organizations — Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center