Ke3chang

Overview

Ke3chang is a threat group attributed to actors operating out of China. Ke3chang has targeted oil, government, diplomatic, military, and NGOs in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and North America since at least 2010.

Naming & attribution

Ke3chang is tracked under 9 names across the industry. It uses 46 documented ATT&CK techniques — more than 81% of the 174 groups tracked here. Activity attributed since at least 2010.

Distinctive techniques

Techniques this group uses that are rare across the other 173 tracked groups — these carry more signal than the near-universal ones.

• T1558.001 Golden Ticket — used by 1 of 174 groups
• T1583.005 Botnet — 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.

• Chimera China — 25 shared techniques (31% overlap)
• FIN13 — 22 shared techniques (29% overlap)
• APT41 China — 28 shared techniques (28% overlap)
• menuPass China — 20 shared techniques (28% overlap)
• OilRig Iran — 26 shared techniques (27% overlap)
• APT3 China — 19 shared techniques (27% overlap)

Targets

Government

Regions

European Union · Germany · India · United Kingdom

Capabilities

• Exploitation of public-facing / client applications — ATT&CK T1190
• Custom malware/implant development — ATT&CK: 3 attributed custom malware families

TTPs — 46 techniques across 11 tactics

Tools & malware (11)

Ping · Okrum · Systeminfo · netstat · spwebmember · Mimikatz · Tasklist · MirageFox · Net · Neoichor · ipconfig

Reporting (3)

• How Microsoft names threat actors — Microsoft
• NICKEL targeting government organizations across Latin America and Europe — MSTIC
• MirageFox: APT15 Resurfaces With New Tools Based On Old Ones — Rosenberg, J