Moses Staff

Overview

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. 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.

Naming & attribution

Moses Staff is tracked under 3 names across the industry. It uses 12 documented ATT&CK techniques — more than 35% of the 174 groups tracked here.

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.

• Play — 7 shared techniques (23% overlap)
• Volatile Cedar — 3 shared techniques (21% overlap)
• MirrorFace China — 9 shared techniques (20% overlap)
• Blue Mockingbird — 5 shared techniques (17% overlap)
• BackdoorDiplomacy — 4 shared techniques (17% overlap)
• Metador — 3 shared techniques (17% overlap)

Capabilities

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

TTPs — 12 techniques across 8 tactics

Tools & malware (4)

PyDCrypt · PsExec · DCSrv · StrifeWater

Reporting (3)

• How Microsoft names threat actors — Microsoft
• StrifeWater RAT: Iranian APT Moses Staff Adds New Trojan to Ransomware Operations — Cybereason Nocturnus
• Uncovering MosesStaff techniques: Ideology over Money — Checkpoint Research