# DNSpionage: threat group profile

> DNSpionage is a threat group. Public reporting about it is still limited. This free profile brings together what is known about it, so you can judge the risk to you. It lists the other names the group goes by and links to every public report behind it.

Canonical page: https://www.edgeprotect.io/threat-actors/dnspionage
Breadcrumb: [Home](https://www.edgeprotect.io/) > [Threat groups](https://www.edgeprotect.io/threat-actors) > DNSpionage

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Attack techniques | 0 |
| Thought to operate from | Not known |
| Other names | 1 |
| Public reports | 6 |

## Who is DNSpionage?

DNSpionage is a threat group. Public reporting about it is still limited.

### Also known as

COBALT EDGEWATER

Security companies each give the same group their own name, so one group can have many.

### What public reporting says

> Cisco Talos recently discovered a new campaign targeting Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) affecting .gov domains, as well as a private Lebanese airline company. Based on our research, it's clear that this adversary spent time understanding the victims' network infrastructure in order to remain under the radar and act as inconspicuous as possible during their attacks. Based on this actor's infrastructure and TTPs, we haven't been able to connect them with any other campaign or actor that's been observed recently. This particular campaign utilizes two fake, malicious websites containing job postings that are used to compromise targets via malicious Microsoft Office documents with embedded macros. The malware utilized by this actor, which we are calling "DNSpionage," supports HTTP and DNS communication with the attackers. In a separate campaign, the attackers used the same IP to redirect the DNS of legitimate .gov and private company domains. During each DNS compromise, the actor carefully generated Let's Encrypt certificates for the redirected domains. These certificates provide X.509 certificates for TLS free of charge to the user. We don't know at this time if the DNS redirections were successful. In this post, we will break down the attackers' methods and show how they used malicious documents to attempt to trick users into opening malicious websites that are disguised as "help wanted" sites for job seekers. Additionally, we will describe the malicious DNS redirection and the timeline of the events.

## Public reports about DNSpionage

- https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2018/11/dnspionage-campaign-targets-middle-east.html
- https://blog.talosintelligence.com/2019/04/dnspionage-brings-out-karkoff.html
- https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2019/01/global-dns-hijacking-campaign-dns-record-manipulation-at-scale.html
- https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/widespread-dns-hijacking-activity-targets-multiple-sectors/
- https://krebsonsecurity.com/tag/dnspionage/
- https://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-profiles/cobalt-edgewater

## Frequently asked questions

### Who is DNSpionage?

DNSpionage is a threat group. Public reporting about it is still limited.

### How do I know if DNSpionage is a risk to my business?

Create an account and tell us the software you run. We match it against known flaws, including those linked to threat groups, rank each one from 0 to 100 and tell you as soon as we spot something that affects you.

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