S0493: GoldenSpy
GoldenSpy is a backdoor malware which has been packaged with legitimate tax preparation software. GoldenSpy was discovered targeting organizations in China, being delivered with the "Intelligent Tax" software suite which is produced by the Golden Tax Department of Aisino Credit Information Co. and required to pay local taxes.[1]
Security context for executives and security teams
S0493: GoldenSpy describes [GoldenSpy](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0493) is a backdoor malware which has been packaged with legitimate tax preparation software. [GoldenSpy](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0493) was discovered targeting organizations in China, being delivered with the "Intelligent Tax" software suite which is produced by the Golden Tax Department of Aisino Credit Information Co. and required to pay local taxes.(Citation: Trustwave GoldenSpy June 2020)
Executive priority
S0493: GoldenSpy is an official MITRE ATT&CK software. 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 S0493: GoldenSpy by reviewing the official ATT&CK relationships, mapped tactics (the mapped ATT&CK tactic context), supported platforms (Windows), and available local telemetry before making detection or mitigation decisions.
Likely telemetry
- Official ATT&CK relationships and object metadata
- Network, endpoint, and security-tool telemetry
Detection direction
- Validate whether S0493: GoldenSpy 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.
GoldenSpy
GoldenSpy is a backdoor malware which has been packaged with legitimate tax preparation software. GoldenSpy was discovered targeting organizations in China, being delivered with the "Intelligent Tax" software suite which is produced by the Golden Tax Department of Aisino Credit Information Co. and required to pay local taxes.[1]
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 | T1543.003 | Windows ServiceSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1082 | System Information Discovery | |
| Enterprise | T1136.001 | Local AccountSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1571 | Non-Standard Port | |
| Enterprise | T1041 | Exfiltration Over C2 Channel | |
| Enterprise | T1195.002 | Compromise Software Supply ChainSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1036.005 | Match Legitimate Resource Name or LocationSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1106 | Native API | |
| Enterprise | T1059.003 | Windows Command ShellSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1083 | File and Directory Discovery | |
| Enterprise | T1070.004 | File DeletionSub-technique | GoldenSpy's uninstaller can delete registry entries, files and folders, and finally itself once these tasks have been completed.CitationTrustwave GoldenSpy2 June 2020 |
| Enterprise | T1071.001 | Web ProtocolsSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1105 | Ingress Tool Transfer | |
| Enterprise | T1497.003 | Time Based ChecksSub-technique | |
| Enterprise | T1027.013 | Encrypted/Encoded FileSub-technique | GoldenSpy's uninstaller has base64-encoded its variables. CitationTrustwave GoldenSpy2 June 2020 |
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 | 1.1 | Current bundle | 109c4581ff7a… | ||
| 19.1 | 1.1 | Older bundle | 109c4581ff7a… |
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]Trustwave GoldenSpy June 2020
Trustwave SpiderLabs. (2020, June 25). The Golden Tax Department and Emergence of GoldenSpy Malware. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
Open source URL - [2]mitre-attackS0493Open source URL
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