S1028: Action RAT
Action RAT is a remote access tool written in Delphi that has been used by SideCopy since at least December 2021 against Indian and Afghani government personnel.[1]
Security context for executives and security teams
S1028: Action RAT describes [Action RAT](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1028) is a remote access tool written in Delphi that has been used by [SideCopy](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G1008) since at least December 2021 against Indian and Afghani government personnel.(Citation: MalwareBytes SideCopy Dec 2021)
Executive priority
S1028: Action RAT 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 S1028: Action RAT 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 S1028: Action RAT 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.
Action RAT
Action RAT is a remote access tool written in Delphi that has been used by SideCopy since at least December 2021 against Indian and Afghani government personnel.[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 | T1140 | Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information | Action RAT can use Base64 to decode actor-controlled C2 server communications.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1105 | Ingress Tool Transfer | Action RAT has the ability to download additional payloads onto an infected machine.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1047 | Windows Management Instrumentation | Action RAT can use WMI to gather AV products installed on an infected host.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1071.001 | Web ProtocolsSub-technique | Action RAT can use HTTP to communicate with C2 servers.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1016 | System Network Configuration Discovery | Action RAT has the ability to collect the MAC address of an infected host.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1027 | Obfuscated Files or Information | Action RAT's commands, strings, and domains can be Base64 encoded within the payload.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1082 | System Information Discovery | Action RAT has the ability to collect the hostname, OS version, and OS architecture of an infected host.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1083 | File and Directory Discovery | Action RAT has the ability to collect drive and file information on an infected machine.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1033 | System Owner/User Discovery | Action RAT has the ability to collect the username from an infected host.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1518.001 | Security Software DiscoverySub-technique | Action RAT can identify AV products on an infected host using the following command: `cmd.exe WMIC /Node:localhost /Namespace:\\root\SecurityCenter2 Path AntiVirusProduct Get displayName /Format:List`.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1005 | Data from Local System | Action RAT can collect local data from an infected machine.[1] |
| Enterprise | T1059.003 | Windows Command ShellSub-technique | Action RAT can use `cmd.exe` to execute commands on an infected host.[1] |
Groups, software, and campaigns
G1008: SideCopy
SideCopy is a Pakistani threat group that has primarily targeted South Asian countries, including Indian and Afghani government personnel, since at least 2019. SideCopy's name comes from its infection chain that tries to mimic that of Sidewinder, a suspected Indian threat group.[1]
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 | 1.0 | Current bundle | 2525ec8a2dfb… | ||
| 19.1 | 1.0 | Older bundle | 2525ec8a2dfb… |
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]MalwareBytes SideCopy Dec 2021
Threat Intelligence Team. (2021, December 2). SideCopy APT: Connecting lures victims, payloads to infrastructure. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
Open source URL - [2]mitre-attackS1028Open source URL
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.
