# Winter Vivern: threat group profile

> Winter Vivern is a threat group thought to operate from Russia. Public reporting links it to 22 attack techniques, with 1 country or victim named. This free profile shows how it works and who it targets, so you can judge the risk to you.

Canonical page: https://www.edgeprotect.io/threat-actors/winter-vivern
Breadcrumb: [Home](https://www.edgeprotect.io/) > [Threat groups](https://www.edgeprotect.io/threat-actors) > Winter Vivern

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Attack techniques | 22 (plus 14 sub-techniques) |
| Countries and victims named | 1 |
| Thought to operate from | Russia |
| Other names | 4 |
| Public reports | 8 |

## Who is Winter Vivern?

Winter Vivern is a threat group thought to operate from Russia. Public reporting links it to 22 attack techniques, with 1 country or victim named.

### Also known as

UAC-0114, TA473, TAG-70, TA-473

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

### What public reporting says

> Winter Vivern is a cyberespionage group first revealed by DomainTools in 2021. It is thought to have been active since at least 2020 and it targets governments in Europe and Central Asia. To compromise its targets, the group uses malicious documents, phishing websites, and a custom PowerShell backdoor.

## How does Winter Vivern attack? Stage by stage

Each technique is a known way attackers research, get in, stay hidden or do damage. Here are the 22 linked to Winter Vivern. Some techniques belong to more than one stage. Public reporting also lists 14 more specific variations of them, called sub-techniques.

### 1. Research (1)

- T1595: Active Scanning

### 2. Preparation (2)

- T1583: Acquire Infrastructure
- T1584: Compromise Infrastructure

### 3. Getting in (3)

- T1189: Drive-by Compromise
- T1190: Exploit Public-Facing Application
- T1566: Phishing

### 4. Running code (3)

- T1053: Scheduled Task/Job
- T1059: Command and Scripting Interpreter
- T1204: User Execution

### 5. Staying in (1)

- T1053: Scheduled Task/Job

### 6. Taking control (1)

- T1053: Scheduled Task/Job

### 7. Hiding (2)

- T1036: Masquerading
- T1140: Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

### 8. Disabling defences (0)

- None linked in public reporting.

### 9. Stealing passwords (1)

- T1056: Input Capture

### 10. Looking around (3)

- T1033: System Owner/User Discovery
- T1082: System Information Discovery
- T1083: File and Directory Discovery

### 11. Spreading (0)

- None linked in public reporting.

### 12. Gathering data (4)

- T1056: Input Capture
- T1113: Screen Capture
- T1114: Email Collection
- T1119: Automated Collection

### 13. Keeping contact (2)

- T1071: Application Layer Protocol
- T1105: Ingress Tool Transfer

### 14. Taking data out (2)

- T1020: Automated Exfiltration
- T1041: Exfiltration Over C2 Channel

### 15. Causing damage (0)

- None linked in public reporting.

## Who does Winter Vivern go after?

**Countries and victims named:** Germany

See threats by industry: https://www.edgeprotect.io/industries

## Public reports about Winter Vivern

- https://www.sentinelone.com/labs/winter-vivern-uncovering-a-wave-of-global-espionage/
- https://www.domaintools.com/resources/blog/winter-vivern-a-look-at-re-crafted-government-maldocs
- https://www.welivesecurity.com/en/eset-research/winter-vivern-exploits-zero-day-vulnerability-roundcube-webmail-servers/
- https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/exploitation-dish-best-served-cold-winter-vivern-uses-known-zimbra-vulnerability
- https://socprime.com/blog/uac-0114-group-aka-winter-vivern-attack-detection-hackers-launch-malicious-phishing-campaigns-targeting-government-entities-of-ukraine-and-poland/
- https://cybersecuritynews.com/russian-hackers-xss-flaw/
- https://www.recordedfuture.com/russia-aligned-tag-70-targets-european-government-and-military-mail
- https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Unternehmen-und-Organisationen/Cyber-Sicherheitslage/Analysen-und-Prognosen/Threat-Intelligence/Aktive_APT-Gruppen/aktive-apt-gruppen_node.html

## Frequently asked questions

### Who is Winter Vivern?

Winter Vivern is a threat group thought to operate from Russia. Public reporting links it to 22 attack techniques, with 1 country or victim named.

### Where is Winter Vivern thought to be based?

Public reporting places Winter Vivern as operating from Russia. Attribution is never certain: it rests on the tools, infrastructure and targets researchers have seen.

### Who does Winter Vivern target?

In public reporting, 1 countries and victims are named, including Germany.

### How does Winter Vivern attack?

Public reporting links Winter Vivern to 22 attack techniques. Most of them are about gathering data, getting in and running code.

### How do I know if Winter Vivern 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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