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T1432 Access Contact List

An adversary could call standard operating system APIs from a malicious application to gather contact list (i.e., address book) data, or with escalated privileges could directly access files containing contact list data.

Item Value
ID T1432
Sub-techniques
Tactics TA0035
Platforms Android, iOS
Version 1.0
Created 25 October 2017
Last Modified 17 October 2018

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S0309 Adups Adups transmitted contact lists.2
S0304 Android/Chuli.A Android/Chuli.A stole contact list data stored both on the the phone and the SIM card.7
S0292 AndroRAT AndroRAT collects contact list information.10
S0422 Anubis Anubis can steal the device’s contact list.18
S0540 Asacub Asacub can collect the device’s contact list.33
S0480 Cerberus Cerberus can obtain the device’s contact list.22
S0323 Charger Charger steals contacts from the victim user’s device.8
S0425 Corona Updates Corona Updates can collect device contacts.20
S0505 Desert Scorpion Desert Scorpion can collect the device’s contact list.25
S0550 DoubleAgent DoubleAgent has accessed the contact list.35
S0507 eSurv eSurv can exfiltrate the device’s contact list.27
S0522 Exobot Exobot can access the device’s contact list.29
S0405 Exodus Exodus Two can download the address book.13
S0509 FakeSpy FakeSpy can collect the device’s contact list.28
S0408 FlexiSpy FlexiSpy can collect device contacts.1
S0423 Ginp Ginp can download the device’s contact list.19
S0535 Golden Cup Golden Cup can collect the device’s contact list.30
S0551 GoldenEagle GoldenEagle has collected a list of contacts.35
S0421 GolfSpy GolfSpy can obtain the device’s contact list.17
S0536 GPlayed GPlayed can access the device’s contact list.31
S0406 Gustuff Gustuff can collect the contact list.14
S0544 HenBox HenBox can access the device’s contact list.34
S0463 INSOMNIA INSOMNIA can collect the device’s contact list.21
S0485 Mandrake Mandrake can access the device’s contact list.23
S0407 Monokle Monokle can retrieve the device’s contact list.15
S0399 Pallas Pallas accesses the device contact list.11
S0316 Pegasus for Android Pegasus for Android accesses contact list information.5
S0289 Pegasus for iOS Pegasus for iOS gathers contacts from the system by dumping the victim’s address book.3
S0539 Red Alert 2.0 Red Alert 2.0 can collect the device’s contact list.32
S0403 Riltok Riltok can access and upload the device’s contact list to the command and control server.12
S0411 Rotexy Rotexy can access and upload the contacts list to the command and control server.16
S0549 SilkBean SilkBean can access device contacts.35
S0324 SpyDealer SpyDealer harvests contact lists from victims.6
S0305 SpyNote RAT SpyNote RAT can view contacts.9
S0328 Stealth Mango Stealth Mango uploads contact lists for various third-party applications such as Yahoo, AIM, GoogleTalk, Skype, QQ, and others.4
S0558 Tiktok Pro Tiktok Pro can access the device’s contact list.36
S0506 ViperRAT ViperRAT can collect the device’s contact list.26
G0112 Windshift Windshift has included contact list exfiltration in the malicious apps deployed as part of Operation BULL.37
S0489 WolfRAT WolfRAT can collect the device’s contact list.24

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1005 Application Vetting On Android, accessing the device contact list requires that the app hold the READ_CONTACTS permission. Apps that request this permission could be closely scrutinized to ensure that the request is appropriate. On iOS, the app vetting process can determine whether apps access the device contact list, with extra scrutiny applied to any that do so.

References

  1. Actis B. (2017, April 22). FlexSpy Application Analysis. Retrieved September 4, 2019. ↩

  2. Matt Apuzzo and Michael S. Schmidt. (2016, November 15). Secret Back Door in Some U.S. Phones Sent Data to China, Analysts Say. Retrieved February 6, 2017. ↩

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

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

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

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

  7. Costin Raiu, Denis Maslennikov, Kurt Baumgartner. (2013, March 26). Android Trojan Found in Targeted Attack. Retrieved December 23, 2016. ↩

  8. Oren Koriat and Andrey Polkovnichenko. (2017, January 24). Charger Malware Calls and Raises the Risk on Google Play. Retrieved January 24, 2017. ↩

  9. Shivang Desai. (2017, January 23). SpyNote RAT posing as Netflix app. Retrieved January 26, 2017. ↩

  10. Lookout. (2016, May 25). 5 active mobile threats spoofing enterprise apps. Retrieved December 19, 2016. ↩

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

  12. Tatyana Shishkova. (2019, June 25). Riltok mobile Trojan: A banker with global reach. Retrieved August 7, 2019. ↩

  13. Security Without Borders. (2019, March 29). Exodus: New Android Spyware Made in Italy. Retrieved September 3, 2019. ↩

  14. Vitor Ventura. (2019, April 9). Gustuff banking botnet targets Australia . Retrieved September 3, 2019. ↩

  15. Bauer A., Kumar A., Hebeisen C., et al. (2019, July). Monokle: The Mobile Surveillance Tooling of the Special Technology Center. Retrieved September 4, 2019. ↩

  16. T. Shishkova, L. Pikman. (2018, November 22). The Rotexy mobile Trojan – banker and ransomware. Retrieved September 23, 2019. ↩

  17. E. Xu, G. Guo. (2019, June 28). Mobile Cyberespionage Campaign ‘Bouncing Golf’ Affects Middle East. Retrieved January 27, 2020. ↩

  18. M. Feller. (2020, February 5). Infostealer, Keylogger, and Ransomware in One: Anubis Targets More than 250 Android Applications. Retrieved April 8, 2020. ↩

  19. ThreatFabric. (2019, November). Ginp - A malware patchwork borrowing from Anubis. Retrieved April 8, 2020. ↩

  20. T. Bao, J. Lu. (2020, April 14). Coronavirus Update App Leads to Project Spy Android and iOS Spyware. Retrieved April 24, 2020. ↩

  21. I. Beer. (2019, August 29). Implant Teardown. Retrieved June 2, 2020. ↩

  22. Threat Fabric. (2019, August). Cerberus - A new banking Trojan from the underworld. Retrieved June 26, 2020. ↩

  23. 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. ↩

  24. W. Mercer, P. Rascagneres, V. Ventura. (2020, May 19). The wolf is back… . Retrieved July 20, 2020. ↩

  25. 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. ↩

  26. M. Flossman. (2017, February 16). ViperRAT: The mobile APT targeting the Israeli Defense Force that should be on your radar. Retrieved September 11, 2020. ↩

  27. A. Bauer. (2019, April 8). Lookout discovers phishing sites distributing new iOS and Android surveillanceware. Retrieved September 11, 2020. ↩

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

  29. Threat Fabric. (2017, February). Exobot - Android banking Trojan on the rise. Retrieved October 29, 2020. ↩

  30. R. Iarchy, E. Rynkowski. (2018, July 5). GoldenCup: New Cyber Threat Targeting World Cup Fans. Retrieved October 29, 2020. ↩

  31. V. Ventura. (2018, October 11). GPlayed Trojan - .Net playing with Google Market . Retrieved November 24, 2020. ↩

  32. J. Chandraiah. (2018, July 23). Red Alert 2.0: Android Trojan targets security-seekers. Retrieved December 14, 2020. ↩

  33. T. Shishkova. (2018, August 28). The rise of mobile banker Asacub. Retrieved December 14, 2020. ↩

  34. A. Hinchliffe, M. Harbison, J. Miller-Osborn, et al. (2018, March 13). HenBox: The Chickens Come Home to Roost. Retrieved September 9, 2019. ↩

  35. 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. ↩↩↩

  36. S. Desai. (2020, September 8). TikTok Spyware. Retrieved January 5, 2021. ↩

  37. The BlackBerry Research & Intelligence Team. (2020, October). BAHAMUT: Hack-for-Hire Masters of Phishing, Fake News, and Fake Apps. Retrieved February 8, 2021. ↩

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