Inside Hexane: Sophisticated Cyber Tools and Tactics Targeting Critical Industries

Hexane (LYCEUM), a threat actor primarily targeting the Middle East’s oil, gas, and telecommunications sectors, has expanded its attack methods. Using spear-phishing emails with malicious Excel macros, the group delivers DanBot, a RAT capable of DNS and HTTP-based command and control, file transfer, and command execution. Additional tools include a PowerShell-based keylogger, credential decryption scripts, and LDAP data-extraction tools targeting Active Directory accounts. They employ social engineering, password spraying, and DNS tunneling to maintain access, frequently rotating C2 infrastructure. The group’s activity indicates continued cyber threats within these critical sectors.