What public reporting says
Charming Kitten (aka Parastoo, aka Newscaster) is an group with a suspected nexus to Iran that targets organizations involved in government, defense technology, military, and diplomacy sectors.
Charming Kitten threat group
Charming Kitten is an espionage group thought to operate from Iran, with suspected state backing. Public reporting links it to attacks on government and military organisations, with 5 countries and victims named. This free profile brings together what is known about it, so you can judge the risk to you.
- Attack techniques
- 0
- Countries and victims named
- 5
- Thought to operate from
- Iran
- Suspected backing
- Iran
- Motive
- Espionage
- Other names
- 7
Built from public reporting, with every source listed below.
Overview
Who is Charming Kitten?
Charming Kitten has 7 other names in security research. Below is what published reporting says about it, with a link to every report so you can check the detail yourself.
Also known as
NewscasterParastooiKittensGroup 83NewsBeefG0058CharmingCypress
Security companies each give the same group their own name, so one group can have many.
Public reports about Charming Kitten (21)
- Operation Newscasterwikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)
- Macdownloader Macos Malwaregithub.io (opens in a new tab)
- File 2581720763 PDFseebug.org · 2014 · PDF (opens in a new tab)
- Iran Hackers Oilrig Use Fake Personas on Facebook Linkedin for Cyberespionageforbes.com · 2017 (opens in a new tab)
- Parastoo Hacks Iaeacryptome.org · 2012 (opens in a new tab)
- Report Shamoon StoneDrill Finalsecurelist.com · 2017 · PDF (opens in a new tab)
- Freezer Paper Around Free Meatsecurelist.com (opens in a new tab)
- Broschuere 2016 10 Bfv Cyber Brief 2016 04verfassungsschutz.de · 2016 · PDF (opens in a new tab)
Targets
Who does Charming Kitten go after?
The sectors and places named in public reporting about this group. If yours is on the list, it is worth knowing how they work and which flaws they use.
Countries and victims named (5)
- 01U.S. government/defense sector websites
- 02Saudi Arabia
- 03Israel
- 04Iraq
- 05United Kingdom
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Charming Kitten is an espionage group thought to operate from Iran, with suspected state backing. Public reporting links it to attacks on government and military organisations, with 5 countries and victims named.
Public reporting places Charming Kitten as operating from Iran, with suspected state backing. Attribution is never certain: it rests on the tools, infrastructure and targets researchers have seen.
In public reporting, sectors named include government and military, and 5 countries and victims are named, including U.S. government/defense sector websites, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Iraq.
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