MuddyWater is an espionage group thought to operate from Iran, with suspected state backing. Public reporting links it to 43 attack techniques, and to attacks on government organisations, with 9 countries and victims named. This free profile shows how it works and who it targets, so you can judge the risk to you.
MuddyWater has 11 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
Security companies each give the same group their own name, so one group can have many.
What public reporting says
The MuddyWater attacks are primarily against Middle Eastern nations. However, we have also observed attacks against surrounding nations and beyond, including targets in India and the USA. MuddyWater attacks are characterized by the use of a slowly evolving PowerShell-based first stage backdoor we call “POWERSTATS”. Despite broad scrutiny and reports on MuddyWater attacks, the activity continues with only incremental changes to the tools and techniques.
Public reports about MuddyWater (16)
Each technique is a known way attackers research, get in, stay hidden or do damage. Here are the 43 linked to MuddyWater, laid out from first look to final blow. Some techniques belong to more than one stage. Pick a stage to see them. Public reporting also lists 39 more specific variations of them, called sub-techniques.
Mapping the network, accounts and data once inside.
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 (9)
A public profile tells you who a group is. Your account tells you whether it matters to you: we match the software you run to the flaws threat groups use, and we keep watching, so you hear about anything that affects you as soon as we know.
MuddyWater is an espionage group thought to operate from Iran, with suspected state backing. Public reporting links it to 43 attack techniques, and to attacks on government organisations, with 9 countries and victims named.
Public reporting places MuddyWater 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 9 countries and victims are named, including Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Turkey and Iraq.
Public reporting links MuddyWater to 43 attack techniques. Most of them are about looking around, keeping contact with their servers and running code.
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.
Create a free account and tell us the software you run. We match the software you run against flaws threat groups use, rank them 0 to 100 and keep watching, so you hear about it as soon as we know.
No card neededNothing to installIntelligence and alerts free