Tropic Trooper

Overview

Tropic Trooper is an unaffiliated threat group that has led targeted campaigns against targets in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. Tropic Trooper focuses on targeting government, healthcare, transportation, and high-tech industries and has been active since 2011.

Naming & attribution

Tropic Trooper is tracked under 3 names across the industry. It uses 40 documented ATT&CK techniques — more than 74% of the 174 groups tracked here. Activity attributed since 2011.

Distinctive techniques

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

• T1052.001 Exfiltration over USB — used by 2 of 174 groups
• T1547.004 Winlogon Helper DLL — 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.

• Sidewinder India — 18 shared techniques (35% overlap)
• Darkhotel South Korea — 15 shared techniques (31% overlap)
• Higaisa South Korea — 14 shared techniques (26% overlap)
• Patchwork — 16 shared techniques (25% overlap)
• Mustang Panda China — 24 shared techniques (24% overlap)
• APT19 China — 12 shared techniques (24% overlap)

Targets

Government · Military

Capabilities

• Exploitation of public-facing / client applications — ATT&CK T1203
• Custom malware/implant development — ATT&CK: 5 attributed custom malware families

TTPs — 40 techniques across 9 tactics

Tools & malware (6)

USBferry · ShadowPad · PoisonIvy · BITSAdmin · YAHOYAH · KeyBoy

Reporting (3)

• Tropic Trooper’s Back: USBferry Attack Targets Air gapped Environments — Chen, J.
• On-demand Webcast: CrowdStrike Experts on COVID-19 Cybersecurity Challenges and Recommendations — Busselen, M
• Tropic Trooper’s New Strategy — Horejsi, J., et al