G0098: BlackTech
BlackTech is a suspected Chinese cyber espionage group that has primarily targeted organizations in East Asia--particularly Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong--and the US since at least 2013. BlackTech has used a combination of custom malware, dual-use tools, and living off the land tactics to compromise media, construction, engineering, electronics, and financial company networks.[1][2][3]
Security context for executives and security teams
G0098: BlackTech describes [BlackTech](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0098) is a suspected Chinese cyber espionage group that has primarily targeted organizations in East Asia--particularly Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong--and the US since at least 2013. [BlackTech](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0098) has used a combination of custom malware, dual-use tools, and living off the land tactics to compromise media, construction, engineering, electronics, and financial company networks.(Citation: TrendMicro BlackTech June 2017)(Citation: Symante...
Executive priority
G0098: BlackTech is an official MITRE ATT&CK group. Glexia treats it as defensive behavior context for prioritizing monitoring, control validation, and response planning without using the object by itself as an attribution claim.
Technical view
Security teams should validate G0098: BlackTech by reviewing the official ATT&CK relationships, mapped tactics (the mapped ATT&CK tactic context), supported platforms (the platforms named in the official object), and available local telemetry before making detection or mitigation decisions.
Likely telemetry
- Official ATT&CK relationships and object metadata
Detection direction
- Validate whether G0098: BlackTech appears in your detection coverage and tabletop scenarios.
- Use the object to align executive risk language with SOC, incident response, and detection engineering work.
- Do not treat ATT&CK relationship context as attribution without corroborating evidence.
Mitigation priorities
- Map the object to existing controls and identify missing telemetry or response ownership.
- Prioritize mitigations that reduce exposure on the listed platforms and tactics.
- Review adjacent ATT&CK relationships before changing policy, detections, or reporting language.
Additional notes and limits
Baseline Glexia take generated from the official MITRE ATT&CK STIX object, source hash, tactics, platforms, and detection fields. It is safe to replace with a richer model-generated take for the same source hash later.
This baseline take is source-grounded and schema-validated, but it does not include environment-specific telemetry, incident evidence, or threat-intelligence corroboration.
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
BlackTech
BlackTech is a suspected Chinese cyber espionage group that has primarily targeted organizations in East Asia--particularly Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong--and the US since at least 2013. BlackTech has used a combination of custom malware, dual-use tools, and living off the land tactics to compromise media, construction, engineering, electronics, and financial company networks.[1][2][3]
How security teams should use this page
Treat this object as behavior context, not an attribution claim. Validate the related groups, software, data sources, and mitigations against official ATT&CK relationships and your own telemetry before making control-coverage decisions.
Techniques used
This mirrors the MITRE pattern of making group, software, campaign, and technique relationships scannable. Relationship notes come from mirrored ATT&CK relationship text when available.
| Domain | ID | Name | Relationship / procedure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | T1566.002 | Spearphishing LinkSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1204.001 | Malicious LinkSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1588.003 | Code Signing CertificatesSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1046 | Network Service Discovery | |
| Enterprise | T1588.002 | ToolSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1190 | Exploit Public-Facing Application | |
| Enterprise | T1021.004 | SSHSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1106 | Native API | |
| Enterprise | T1203 | Exploitation for Client Execution | |
| Enterprise | T1566.001 | Spearphishing AttachmentSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1036.002 | Right-to-Left OverrideSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1574.001 | DLLSub-technique | BlackTech has used DLL side loading by giving DLLs hardcoded names and placing them in searched directories.CitationTrend Micro Waterbear December 2019 |
| Enterprise | T1204.002 | Malicious FileSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1588.004 | Digital CertificatesSub-technique | BlackTech has used valid, stolen digital certificates for some of their malware and tools.CitationESET PLEAD Malware July 2018 |
Groups, software, and campaigns
S0435: PLEAD
PLEAD is a remote access tool (RAT) and downloader used by BlackTech in targeted attacks in East Asia including Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong.[1][2] PLEAD has also been referred to as TSCookie, though more recent reporting indicates likely separation between the two. PLEAD was observed in use as early as March 2017.[3][2]
S0437: Kivars
S0029: PsExec
S0436: TSCookie
S0696: Flagpro
S0579: Waterbear
All related ATT&CK context
Object version and sync metadata
The fields below describe the current mirrored snapshot. When Glexia retains multiple ATT&CK source imports, you can open the table to compare the same object across releases (hashes and MITRE timestamps). For MITRE’s own release notes and roadmap, see ATT&CK resources — Updates.
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(2)
| Release | Bundle imported | Object version | Modified | Status | Raw hash |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19.2 | 2.0 | Current bundle | 875364c1da4d… | ||
| 19.1 | 2.0 | Older bundle | 18585c51b455… |
Mirrored ATT&CK source object
The raw object is retained through the mirrored ATT&CK source bundle and object hash. The raw endpoint returns the exact object from the mirrored bundle when available.
External references and citations
MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.
- [1]TrendMicro BlackTech June 2017
Bermejo, L., et al. (2017, June 22). Following the Trail of BlackTech’s Cyber Espionage Campaigns. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
Open source URL - [2]Symantec Palmerworm Sep 2020
Threat Intelligence. (2020, September 29). Palmerworm: Espionage Gang Targets the Media, Finance, and Other Sectors. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
Open source URL - [3]Reuters Taiwan BlackTech August 2020
Lee, Y. (2020, August 19). Taiwan says China behind cyberattacks on government agencies, emails. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
Open source URL - [4]IronNet BlackTech Oct 2021
Demboski, M., et al. (2021, October 26). China cyber attacks: the current threat landscape. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
Open source URL - [5]Palmerworm
(Citation: Symantec Palmerworm Sep 2020)(Citation: IronNet BlackTech Oct 2021)
- [6]mitre-attackG0098Open source URL
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