PULSE NAME
Analysis of StreamSpy, a new Trojan horse utilizing WebSocket in Mahabusa (APT-Q-36)
WHITE PetrP.73 2025-12-03 Modified: 2025-12-03
60
IOCs
HIGH VOLUME
The analysis of the StreamSpy Trojan, attributed to the Mahabusa group (also known as APT-Q-36), reveals its innovative use of WebSocket for communication, marking a significant evolution in its attack methodology. This group has been active for over a decade, with a focus on cyber espionage directed at various sectors in the Asian region, including government, military, energy, industrial, research, education, diplomacy, and economic organizations. StreamSpy leverages the WebSocket protocol to maintain persistent and real-time communication with its command and control (C2) servers, which allows for dynamic and covert data extraction. This technique presents advantages over traditional HTTP-based communications by facilitating a two-way interactive channel capable of bypassing certain network defenses. The use of WebSocket can also make traffic patterns harder to detect, increasing the malware's stealth and operational longevity.
Indicators of Compromise (9 / 60 total)
All CVE FileHash-MD5 FileHash-SHA1 FileHash-SHA256 URL domain hostname
TYPEINDICATORDESCRIPTIONCREATED
FileHash-MD5 0fe90212062957a529cba3938613c4da 2025-12-03
FileHash-MD5 1c335be51fc637b50d41533f3bef2251 2025-12-03
FileHash-MD5 20c9ac59c444625a7ee364b410da8f11 2025-12-03
FileHash-MD5 838e4d85346001dd04e11359b04c7c24 2025-12-03
FileHash-MD5 c3c277cca23f3753721435da80cad1ea 2025-12-03
FileHash-MD5 df626ce2ad3d3dea415984a9d3839373 2025-12-03
FileHash-MD5 e0ac399cff3069104623cc38395bd946 2025-12-03
FileHash-MD5 e4a7a85feff6364772cf1d12d8153a69 2025-12-03
FileHash-MD5 f78fd7e4d92743ef6026de98291e8dee 2025-12-03