Threats Feed|MuddyWater|Last Updated 28/01/2026|AuthorCertfa Radar|Publish Date07/03/2024

MuddyWater's Covert Phishing Campaign Targets Israeli Government Sectors

  • Actor Motivations: Espionage
  • Attack Vectors: Spear Phishing
  • Attack Complexity: Medium
  • Threat Risk: Low Impact/High Probability

Threat Overview

In March 2024, the National Cyber Directorate of Israel detected a sophisticated phishing campaign attributed to the Iranian group MuddyWater. This campaign, primarily targeting government and local government sectors in Israel, employs phishing emails with links to malicious ZIP files hosted on Onehub. These files contain the ScreenConnect tool, which enables remote control over compromised computers, allowing for sustained network access. MuddyWater is known for its expertise in social engineering and exploiting vulnerabilities, actively targeting sectors like aviation, academia, communications, government, and energy. Their focus is on maintaining a stealthy presence to facilitate further malicious activities.

Detected Targets

TypeDescriptionConfidence
SectorGovernment Agencies and Services
Verified
RegionIsrael
Verified

Extracted IOCs

  • ws.onehub[.]com
  • 3e27d0ba0af54707a212c61f54fcb849
  • 5d013b96a25f0610cd1ac45d61d44d7e
  • 5d61614099d6d567441d15c58d6517b0
  • 6bc591f4e8eb1ea54b4d6defd019bee8
  • a2571577f281eda9548d9047b37cbbb8
  • 0467a0dd4f9e92d54e3d059aed49f282f2ccf40e
  • 05018fa6bed64e912ea6398964a827e6ac980294
  • 71093d587278185fd831783acb2a97444ad661d8
  • a65d4b46ba7fcb3b023f61303e65f0c494b63386
  • bb8647eeaf1acadbb2aa7d67222d4ab8054ac645
  • 0a3f7cefa0edd06425e2361fc5a6122a045d0ff73d5005f2902c449fd4d87e78
  • 4b41b605ffc0e31bd9d460d5a296ac6e8cfd56a215dc131e90ec2654f0ffe31b
  • 743dcb0efe49a0b6925f3e6d4aa98df262942600046d730dcfe5729fad5c0e4d
  • 7e6a5e32596b99f45ea9099a14507a82c10a460c56585499d7cd640f2625567f
  • 804e92b3ebc37694e76df74773e87771666076fef472163fe14424ba474edb67
  • 85103955e35a1355ce68a92eaedd8f9376de1927d95bf12657b348dea6a8077b
  • af31ac5afd79aee6cb5985640369ca91a0f5929f49e6f4cb6ac947e0056c5d44
  • bab601635aafeae5fbfe1c1f7204de17b189b345efd91c46001f6d83efbb3c5a
  • hxxps://ws.onehub[.]com/files/fssfypeo
  • hxxps://ws.onehub[.]com/files/guicxazo
  • hxxps://ws.onehub[.]com/files/its3pn2g
  • hxxps://ws.onehub[.]com/files/jgt2zodj
  • hxxps://ws.onehub[.]com/files/x68hqy91
  • hxxp://ws.onehub[.]com/files/97lrcyvc
  • hxxp://ws.onehub[.]com/files/gts7uevh
  • hxxp://ws.onehub[.]com/files/rkbziarl
  • hxxp://ws.onehub[.]com/files/v5ww52ne
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Tip: 28 related IOCs (0 IP, 1 domain, 9 URL, 0 email, 18 file hash) to this threat have been found.

Overlaps

MuddyWaterMuddyWater Expands Cyber Espionage Tactics Using Atera Agents Across Multiple Sectors

Source: HarfangLab - April 2024

Detection (four cases): 4b41b605ffc0e31bd9d460d5a296ac6e8cfd56a215dc131e90ec2654f0ffe31b, 7e6a5e32596b99f45ea9099a14507a82c10a460c56585499d7cd640f2625567f, 85103955e35a1355ce68a92eaedd8f9376de1927d95bf12657b348dea6a8077b, bab601635aafeae5fbfe1c1f7204de17b189b345efd91c46001f6d83efbb3c5a

MuddyWaterMuddyWater's Renewed Cyber Campaign Targets Israeli Entities

Source: Deep Instinct - November 2023

Detection (one case): ws.onehub[.]com

Static KittenStatic Kitten Launches Cyberespionage Attack on UAE and Kuwait Government Sectors

Source: Anomali - February 2021

Detection (one case): ws.onehub[.]com

Hint: Overlaps are extracted automatically by examining the IOCs associated with all indexed threats and actors.

About Affiliation
MuddyWater
MuddyWater is an Iranian MOIS-linked threat cluster active since at least 2017, formally attributed by US Cyber Command in 2022. The group conducts persistent espionage operations against government, telecommunications, defense, and energy sector targets across the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe. MuddyWater is characterized by spear phishing with macro-enabled documents, heavy use of legitimate remote administration tools for post-compromise access, and custom PowerShell-based malware. It is tracked under numerous aliases including Seedworm, Mango Sandstorm, Mercury, TEMP.Zagros, Static Kitten, and TA450.
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