Lucky Mouse

Lucky Mouse, also known as Emissary Panda, APT27, Threat Group 3390, Bronze Union, and several other names, is a malicious software (malware) attributed to a China-linked Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group. This malware has been active since at least 2013, targeting various industry verticals for intelligence gathering. The threat actor, Lucky Mouse, is known for its sophisticated techniques, such as installing webshells on SharePoint servers and employing DLL search order hijacking to elevate privileges once inside the network. The activity of Lucky Mouse has been observed in relation to specific political events and geographical targets. In August 2022, Sekoia.io noted a significant increase in malware attacks, including Lucky Mouse, originating from China and targeting Taiwan, coinciding with the visit of the U.S. House of Representatives speaker to Taiwan. Moreover, in April 2019, Unit 42 documented the Emissary Panda threat group compromising government organizations in two different Middle Eastern countries by installing webshells on their SharePoint servers. In September 2023, new attacks utilizing an updated SysUpdate toolkit were deployed against an Asian government and a Middle East-based telecommunications provider. These attacks were linked to the Budworm operation, another alias for the APT group responsible for Lucky Mouse. Additionally, prior research into a malware called Gallium revealed tactical similarities with multiple Chinese nation-state groups, including APT10, APT27 (Lucky Mouse), and APT41, further emphasizing the complex landscape of cyber threats associated with these actors.