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IOC - Muddying the Tracks: The State-Sponsored Shadow Behind Chaos Ransomware
In early 2026, a sophisticated intrusion initially appearing to be a standard Chaos ransomware attack was assessed to be consistent with a targeted state-sponsored operation. While the threat actor operated under the banner of the Chaos ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) group, forensic analysis revealed the incident was a "false flag" masquerade. Technical artifacts, including a specific code-signing certificate and Command-and-Control (C2) infrastructure, suggest with moderate confidence that this activity is linked to MuddyWater (Seedworm), an Iranian Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) affiliated with the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS).
Indicators of Compromise (5 / 19 total)
| TYPE | INDICATOR | DESCRIPTION | CREATED | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FileHash-SHA256 | 1319d474d19eb386841732c728acf0c5fe64aa135101c6ceee1bd0369ecf97b6 | — | 2026-05-15 | |
| FileHash-SHA256 | 24857fe82f454719cd18bcbe19b0cfa5387bee1022008b7f5f3a8be9f05e4d14 | — | 2026-05-15 | |
| FileHash-SHA256 | 3df9dcc45d2a3b1f639e40d47eceeafb229f6d9e7f0adcd8f1731af1563ffb90 | — | 2026-05-15 | |
| FileHash-SHA256 | a92d28f1d32e3a9ab7c3691f8bfca8f7586bb0666adbba47eab3e1a8faf7ecc0 | — | 2026-05-15 | |
| FileHash-SHA256 | c86ab27100f2a2939ac0d4a8af511f0a1a8116ba856100aae03bc2ad6cb0f1e0 | — | 2026-05-15 |