Threat Actor: FIN7
FIN7 is classified as an advanced Organized Cybercrime Syndicate originating primarily from Eastern Europe / Russia. Driven by operational objectives spanning point-of-sale (pos) infiltration, credit card exfiltration & ransomware partnerships, this threat entity has maintained an active footprint from 2013 - Present. In enterprise telemetry and malware repository classification, FIN7 has been corroborated across 2 distinct malware families with over 3,502 validated sample hashes.
Operational Threat Profile & Targeting
| Known Aliases | Carbanak Group, Navigator Group, Sangria Tempest, ELBRUS |
|---|---|
| Targeted Sectors | Hospitality & Casual Dining, Retail Outlets, Casino Resorts, Financial Institutions |
| Primary Motivations | Point-of-Sale (POS) Infiltration, Credit Card Exfiltration & Ransomware Partnerships |
| Dominant Payload Categories | Banking Trojan · Hacktool |
| MITRE ATT&CK Reference | https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0046/ ↗ |
Primary Observed MITRE ATT&CK Tradecraft
The following offensive techniques have been empirically verified across implants and campaign tooling weaponized by FIN7:
T1055— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1056.001— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1113— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1021.001— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1543.003— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1071.001— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1059.003— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1055.001— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1055.012— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1573.002— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1021.002— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1003.001— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1105— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)T1082— weaponized across 1 catalog payload(s)
Exploited Vulnerabilities (CVEs)
Telemetry confirms FIN7 has actively weaponized the following Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures in enterprise intrusions:
- CVE-2012-0158 — Technical Dossier & Exploitation Analysis (NVD ↗)
- CVE-2013-3906 — Technical Dossier & Exploitation Analysis (NVD ↗)
- CVE-2014-1761 — Technical Dossier & Exploitation Analysis (NVD ↗)
- CVE-2022-42948 — Technical Dossier & Exploitation Analysis (NVD ↗)
Attributed Catalog Malware Families (2 Families)
The following malware implants in the SystemHelpDesk catalog have been verified in operational campaigns attributed to FIN7:
| Family | Category | Sample Count | Technical Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| cobaltstrike | Hacktool | 3,500 | Cobalt Strike (specifically its Beacon payload component) is the world's most ubiquitous commercial adversary simulation and post-exploitation framework. Origin... |
| carbanak | Banking Trojan | 2 | Carbanak (also cataloged across international law enforcement and intelligence communities as Anunak) is an elite, multi-million dollar cyber heist malware fram... |
Official US Federal & CISA Advisories
Official intelligence alerts and joint cybersecurity advisories published regarding FIN7 operations:
SOC Hardening & Defensive Containment
Defending enterprise perimeters against campaigns staged by FIN7 requires defense-in-depth posture enforcement:
- Egress Filtering & C2 Interception: Enforce strict egress inspection and block communication to unclassified external IP blocks, fast-flux proxy relays, and dynamic DNS providers.
- Credential Isolation & Privileged Access Management: Enforce FIDO2 hardware MFA across all administrative and VPN entry points to prevent session token hijacking and password reuse.
- Attack Surface Reduction & Patch Velocity: Prioritize remediation of public-facing edge network appliances (VPN concentrators, web servers, file transfer appliances).