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T1409 Stored Application Data

Adversaries may try to access and collect application data resident on the device. Adversaries often target popular applications, such as Facebook, WeChat, and Gmail.1

Due to mobile OS sandboxing, this technique is only possible in three scenarios:

  • An application stores files in unprotected external storage
  • An application stores files in its internal storage directory with insecure permissions (e.g. 777)
  • The adversary gains root permissions on the device
Item Value
ID T1409
Sub-techniques
Tactics TA0035
Platforms Android, iOS
Version 3.1
Created 25 October 2017
Last Modified 24 October 2025

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S1079 BOULDSPY BOULDSPY can retrieve account information for third party services, such as Google, Telegram, WeChat, or WhatsApp.4
S0655 BusyGasper BusyGasper can collect data from messaging applications, including WhatsApp, Viber, and Facebook.30
S0529 CarbonSteal CarbonSteal can collect notes and data from the MiCode app.29
S1243 DCHSpy DCHSpy has collected files of interest on the device, including WhatsApp files.24
S0505 Desert Scorpion Desert Scorpion can collect account information stored on the device.21
S0550 DoubleAgent DoubleAgent has accessed browser history, as well as the files for 15 other apps.29
S1092 Escobar Escobar can request the GET_ACCOUNTS permission to get the list of accounts on the device, and can collect media files.25
S0405 Exodus Exodus Two extracts information from Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Gmail, IMO, Skype, Telegram, Viber, WhatsApp, and WeChat.1
S0509 FakeSpy FakeSpy can collect account information stored on the device, as well as data in external storage.5
S0408 FlexiSpy FlexiSpy uses a FileObserver object to monitor the Skype and WeChat database file and shared preferences to retrieve chat messages, account information, and profile pictures of the account owner and chat participants. FlexiSpy can also spy on popular applications, including Facebook, Hangouts, Hike, Instagram, Kik, Line, QQ, Snapchat, Telegram, Tinder, Viber, and WhatsApp.2
S1103 FlixOnline FlixOnline can steal data from a user’s WhatsApp account(s).22
S1067 FluBot FluBot has collected credentials, banking details and other information from the victim device.11
S1093 FlyTrap FlyTrap can collect Facebook account information, such as Facebook ID, email address, cookies, and login tokens.1716
S0577 FrozenCell FrozenCell has retrieved account information for other applications.26
S0551 GoldenEagle GoldenEagle has extracted messages from chat programs, such as WeChat.29
S1128 HilalRAT HilalRAT can access and retrieve files on a device.15
S1077 Hornbill Hornbill can collect voice notes and messages from WhatsApp, if installed.19
S1185 LightSpy LightSpy has collected payment history from WeChat Pay.131412
S0485 Mandrake Mandrake can collect all accounts stored on the device.6
C0054 Operation Triangulation During Operation Triangulation, the threat actors have collected and exfiltrated data from WhatsApp and Telegram.32
S0399 Pallas Pallas retrieves messages and decryption keys for popular messaging applications and other accounts stored on the device.3
S0316 Pegasus for Android Pegasus for Android accesses sensitive data in files, such as messages stored by the WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter applications. It also has the ability to access arbitrary filenames and retrieve directory listings.9
S0289 Pegasus for iOS Pegasus for iOS accesses sensitive data in files, such as saving Skype calls by reading them out of the Skype database files.23
S0295 RCSAndroid RCSAndroid can collect contacts and messages from popular applications, including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, Viber, Line, WeChat, Hangouts, Telegram, and BlackBerry Messenger.10
S1062 S.O.V.A. S.O.V.A. can gather session cookies from infected devices. S.O.V.A. can also abuse Accessibility Services to steal Google Authenticator tokens.87
G0034 Sandworm Team Sandworm Team can collect encrypted Telegram and Signal communications.31
S0327 Skygofree Skygofree has a capability to obtain files from other installed applications.28
S0324 SpyDealer SpyDealer exfiltrates data from over 40 apps such as WeChat, Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, and others.27
S1082 Sunbird Sunbird can exfiltrate browser history, BlackBerry Messenger files, IMO instant messaging content, and WhatsApp voice notes.19
S0329 Tangelo Tangelo accesses databases from WhatsApp, Viber, Skype, and Line.20
S0311 YiSpecter YiSpecter has modified Safari’s default search engine, bookmarked websites, opened pages, and accessed contacts and authorization tokens of the IM program “QQ” on infected devices.18

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1006 Use Recent OS Version Android 9 introduced a new security policy that prevents applications from reading or writing data to other applications’ internal storage directories, regardless of permissions.

References

  1. Security Without Borders. (2019, March 29). Exodus: New Android Spyware Made in Italy. Retrieved November 17, 2024. ↩↩

  2. K. Lu. (n.d.). Deep Technical Analysis of the Spyware FlexiSpy for Android. Retrieved September 10, 2019. ↩

  3. Blaich, A., et al. (2018, January 18). Dark Caracal: Cyber-espionage at a Global Scale. Retrieved April 11, 2018. ↩

  4. Kyle Schmittle, Alemdar Islamoglu, Paul Shunk, Justin Albrecht. (2023, April 27). Lookout Discovers Android Spyware Tied to Iranian Police Targeting Minorities: BouldSpy. Retrieved July 21, 2023. ↩

  5. O. Almkias. (2020, July 1). FakeSpy Masquerades as Postal Service Apps Around the World. Retrieved September 15, 2020. ↩

  6. R. Gevers, M. Tivadar, R. Bleotu, A. M. Barbatei, et al.. (2020, May 14). Uprooting Mandrake: The Story of an Advanced Android Spyware Framework That Went Undetected for 4 Years. Retrieved July 15, 2020. ↩

  7. Francesco Lubatti, Federico Valentini. (2022, November 8). SOVA malware is back and is evolving rapidly. Retrieved March 30, 2023. ↩

  8. ThreatFabric. (2021, September 9). S.O.V.A. - A new Android Banking trojan with fowl intentions. Retrieved February 6, 2023. ↩

  9. Mike Murray. (2017, April 3). Pegasus for Android: the other side of the story emerges. Retrieved April 16, 2017. ↩

  10. Veo Zhang. (2015, July 21). Hacking Team RCSAndroid Spying Tool Listens to Calls; Roots Devices to Get In. Retrieved December 22, 2016. ↩

  11. Europol. (2022, June 1). Takedown of SMS-based FluBot spyware infecting Android phones. Retrieved April 18, 2024. ↩

  12. Dmitry Bestuzhev. (2025, April 7). The Coordinated Kill Switch: LightSpy’s iOS Destructive Plugin Architecture Manages Device Disablement. Retrieved April 14, 2025. ↩

  13. Melikov, D. (2024, April 11). LightSpy Returns: Renewed Espionage Campaign Targets Southern Asia, Possibly India. Retrieved January 14, 2025. ↩

  14. ThreatFabric. (2023, October 2). LightSpy mAPT Mobile Payment System Attack. Retrieved January 17, 2025. ↩

  15. Agranovich, D., et al. (2022, April). Adversarial Threat Report. Retrieved April 2, 2024. ↩

  16. A. Yaswant. (2021, August 9). FlyTrap Android Malware Compromises Thousands of Facebook Accounts. Retrieved September 28, 2023. ↩

  17. Trend Micro. (2021, August 17). FlyTrap Android Malware Is Taking Over Facebook Accounts — Protect Yourself With a Malware Scanner. Retrieved September 28, 2023. ↩

  18. Claud Xiao. (2015, October 4). YiSpecter: First iOS Malware That Attacks Non-jailbroken Apple iOS Devices by Abusing Private APIs. Retrieved March 3, 2023. ↩

  19. Apurva Kumar, Kristin Del Rosso. (2021, February 10). Novel Confucius APT Android Spyware Linked to India-Pakistan Conflict. Retrieved June 9, 2023. ↩↩

  20. Lookout. (n.d.). Stealth Mango & Tangelo. Retrieved September 27, 2018. ↩

  21. A. Blaich, M. Flossman. (2018, April 16). Lookout finds new surveillanceware in Google Play with ties to known threat actor targeting the Middle East. Retrieved September 11, 2020. ↩

  22. Aviran Hazum, Bodgan Melnykov, Israel Wenik. (2021, April 7). New Wormable Android Malware Spreads by Creating Auto-Replies to Messages in WhatsApp. Retrieved January 26, 2024. ↩

  23. Lookout. (2016). Technical Analysis of Pegasus Spyware. Retrieved December 12, 2016. ↩

  24. Albrecht, J., Islamoglu, A. (2025, July 21). Lookout Discovers Iranian APT MuddyWater Leveraging DCHSpy During Israel-Iran Conflict . Retrieved September 19, 2025. ↩

  25. B. Toulas. (2022, March 12). Android malware Escobar steals your Google Authenticator MFA codes. Retrieved September 28, 2023. ↩

  26. Michael Flossman. (2017, October 5). FrozenCell: Multi-platform surveillance campaign against Palestinians. Retrieved November 11, 2020. ↩

  27. Wenjun Hu, Cong Zheng and Zhi Xu. (2017, July 6). SpyDealer: Android Trojan Spying on More Than 40 Apps. Retrieved September 18, 2018. ↩

  28. Nikita Buchka and Alexey Firsh. (2018, January 16). Skygofree: Following in the footsteps of HackingTeam. Retrieved September 24, 2018. ↩

  29. A. Kumar, K. Del Rosso, J. Albrecht, C. Hebeisen. (2020, June 1). Mobile APT Surveillance Campaigns Targeting Uyghurs - A collection of long-running Android tooling connected to a Chinese mAPT actor. Retrieved November 10, 2020. ↩↩↩

  30. Alexey Firsh. (2018, August 29). BusyGasper – the unfriendly spy. Retrieved October 1, 2021. ↩

  31. Roncone, G. et al. (n.d.). APT44: Unearthing Sandworm. Retrieved July 11, 2024. ↩

  32. Kucherin, G., et al. (2023, October 23). The outstanding stealth of Operation Triangulation. Retrieved April 18, 2024. ↩