S0577: FrozenCell

FrozenCell is the mobile component of a family of surveillanceware, with a corresponding desktop component known as KasperAgent and Micropsia.[1]

There are multiple close variants of FrozenCell, such as VAMP[2], GnatSpy[3], Desert Scorpion and SpyC23, which add some additional functionality but are not significantly different from the original malware.

MobileS0577MalwareObject v1.1ModifiedFeb 19, 2025, 17:08 UTC (UTC+00:00)

S0577: FrozenCell describes [FrozenCell](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0577) is the mobile component of a family of surveillanceware, with a corresponding desktop component known as KasperAgent and [Micropsia](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0339).(Citation: Lookout FrozenCell) There are multiple close variants of [FrozenCell](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0577), such as VAMP(Citation: Unit42 VAMP 2017), GnatSpy(Citation: Trendmicro GnatSpy 2017), [Desert Scorpion](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0505) and [SpyC23](https://att...

Executive priority

S0577: FrozenCell 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 S0577: FrozenCell by reviewing the official ATT&CK relationships, mapped tactics (the mapped ATT&CK tactic context), supported platforms (Android), and available local telemetry before making detection or mitigation decisions.

Likely telemetry

Official ATT&CK relationships and object metadata

Detection direction

Validate whether S0577: FrozenCell 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.

Official MITRE ATT&CK definition

FrozenCell

FrozenCell is the mobile component of a family of surveillanceware, with a corresponding desktop component known as KasperAgent and Micropsia.[1]

View the same entry on attack.mitre.org (MITRE-hosted reference; in-page links above use the Glexia ATT&CK library.)

Glexia analysis

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.

ATT&CK relationship table

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.

Filter related techniques11 rows

Domain	ID	Name	Relationship / procedure
Mobile	T1430	Location Tracking	FrozenCell has used an online cell tower geolocation service to track targets.[1]
Mobile	T1533	Data from Local System	FrozenCell has retrieved device images for exfiltration.[1]
Mobile	T1407	Download New Code at Runtime	FrozenCell has downloaded and installed additional applications.[1]
Mobile	T1422	System Network Configuration Discovery	FrozenCell has collected phone metadata such as cell location, mobile country code (MCC), and mobile network code (MNC).[1]
Mobile	T1420	File and Directory Discovery	FrozenCell has searched for pdf, doc, docx, ppt, pptx, xls, and xlsx file types for exfiltration.[1]
Mobile	T1655.001	Match Legitimate Name or LocationSub-technique	FrozenCell has masqueraded as fake updates to chat applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, LINE, and LoveChat, as well as apps targeting Middle Eastern demographics.[1]
Mobile	T1636.004	SMS MessagesSub-technique	FrozenCell has read SMS messages for exfiltration.[1]
Mobile	T1409	Stored Application Data	FrozenCell has retrieved account information for other applications.[1]
Mobile	T1426	System Information Discovery	FrozenCell has gathered the device manufacturer, model, and serial number.[1]
Mobile	T1532	Archive Collected Data	FrozenCell has compressed and encrypted data before exfiltration using password protected .7z archives.[1]
Mobile	T1429	Audio Capture	FrozenCell has recorded calls.[1]

Associated objects

Groups, software, and campaigns

G1028: APT-C-23

APT-C-23 is a threat group that has been active since at least 2014.[1] APT-C-23 has primarily focused its operations on the Middle East, including Israeli military assets. APT-C-23 has developed mobile spyware targeting Android and iOS devices since 2017.[2]

Relationship explorer

All related ATT&CK context

Change history

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.

ATT&CK release: 19.2
Object version: 1.1
Created: Feb 17, 2021, 20:43 UTC (UTC+00:00)
Modified: Feb 19, 2025, 17:08 UTC (UTC+00:00)
Raw hash: d7af6d72b784bdb4...

Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases(2)

Release	Bundle imported	Object version	Modified	Status	Raw hash
19.2	Aug 6, 2026, 02:58 UTC (UTC+00:00)	1.1	Feb 19, 2025, 17:08 UTC (UTC+00:00)	Current bundle	`d7af6d72b784…`
19.1	Jul 14, 2026, 09:14 UTC (UTC+00:00)	1.1	Feb 19, 2025, 17:08 UTC (UTC+00:00)	Older bundle	`d7af6d72b784…`

Raw source

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.

Open mirrored raw JSON Open MITRE-hosted copy

Source references

External references and citations

MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.

[1]
Lookout FrozenCell
Michael Flossman. (2017, October 5). FrozenCell: Multi-platform surveillance campaign against Palestinians. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
Open source URL
[2]
Unit42 VAMP 2017
Bar, T., Lancaster, T. (2017, April 5). Targeted Attacks in the Middle East Using KASPERAGENT and MICROPSIA. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
Open source URL
[3]
Trendmicro GnatSpy 2017
Guo, G., Xu, E. (2017, December 18). New GnatSpy Mobile Malware Family Discovered. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
Open source URL
[4]
mitre-attackS0577
Open source URL

Source and licensing

Source: MITRE ATT&CK®. © 2026 The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation. MITRE ATT&CK and ATT&CK are registered trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Glexia is not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE.

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