VB2019 paper: Pulling the PKPLUG: the adversary playbook for the long-standing espionage activity of a Chinese nation state adversary

Posted by on Feb 28, 2020

PKPLUG is the name used by Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 team for a China-based threat actor engaged in cyber espionage. The actor uses both off-the-shelf and custom-made malware and some of its infrastructure overlaps with other threat groups.

The group’s activities were detailed in a VB2019 paper by Unit 42’s Alex Hinchliffe, who described the playbook of this long-standing adversary. (A shorter version was published around the same time in a blog post.)

Automatic execution of the HenBox malware used by the PKPLUG adversary.

Today we publish Alex's paper in both HTML and PDF format as well as the recording of his VB2019 presentation.

Pulling the PKPLUG: the adversary playbook for the long-standing espionage activity of a Chinese nation-state adversary Read the paper (HTML) Download the paper (PDF)

Have you carried out research that furthers our understanding of the threat landscape? Have you discovered a technique that helps in the analysis of malware? The Call for Papers for VB2020 in Dublin is open! Submit your abstract before 15 March for a chance to make it onto the programme of one of the most international threat intelligence conferences.