Anatomy of a Threat: APT31 and the Global Espionage Campaign

In the shadows of global geopolitics, a different kind of conflict is being waged. It is a war fought not with soldiers, but with keystrokes; not for territory, but for information. In this arena, nation-state actors operate with patience and precision, and few are as persistent or pervasive as the group known as Advanced Persistent Threat 31.

Who is APT31?

Advanced Persistent Threat 31 (APT31), also widely known by aliases such as Zirconium, Judgment Panda, and Violet Typhoon, is a sophisticated cyber espionage group operating on behalf of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Attributed to China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), APT31 has been conducting extensive, global intelligence-gathering campaigns for over a decade.

Unlike threat actors motivated by immediate financial gain, APT31’s primary objective is to support China’s long-term strategic and national interests. This involves infiltrating networks to steal intellectual property, monitor foreign policy discussions, and gather intelligence on individuals and organizations deemed critical or adversarial to the PRC’s agenda. Their operations are a direct extension of state policy, making them a formidable and well-resourced adversary.

Anatomy of an Attack:

Activities and TTPs

APT31 is a highly adaptable group that blends stealth with opportunism. Their campaigns are characterized by a multi-pronged approach designed to gain initial access, maintain persistence, and exfiltrate data while evading detection.

1. Initial Compromise (Gaining a Foothold) The group employs a variety of vectors to breach its targets’ perimeters:

• Spear-Phishing: APT31 crafts highly convincing phishing emails, often leveraging current events or topics relevant to their targets. These emails may contain malicious links to credential harvesting sites or attachments that deploy malware. They have been known to embed invisible tracking pixels in emails to conduct reconnaissance on their targets before launching the main attack.
• Exploitation of Public-Facing Applications: The group is proficient at scanning for and exploiting vulnerabilities in internet-facing network devices and applications, such as routers, VPNs, and web servers.
• Living Off the Land and Legitimate Services: A key tactic is the abuse of legitimate cloud services like Dropbox and GitHub to host malware and for command-and-control (C2) communications. This allows their malicious traffic to blend in with normal network activity, frustrating traditional security monitoring.

2. Execution, Persistence, and Evasion Once inside a network, APT31 focuses on stealth and longevity:

• Custom Malware: The group deploys a range of custom malware, including backdoors and data collectors known as SOGU, LUCKYBIRD, and SLOWGYRO.
• Establishing Persistence: To ensure long-term access, APT31 uses techniques like creating scheduled tasks, modifying registry keys, and using DLL side-loading to load their malware into legitimate processes.
• Defense Evasion: APT31 is adept at operational security. They use compromised home routers and other network devices as a proxy network to anonymize their infrastructure and make attribution difficult.

3. Targeting Profile APT31’s targeting is broad but strategic, focusing on entities that hold valuable political or economic intelligence. In Canada, government agencies have directly attributed attacks against members of Parliament and government networks to APT31. Their global targets include:

• Government and diplomatic organizations
• Aerospace, defense, and technology sectors
• Telecommunications providers
• Dissidents, journalists, and human rights organizations critical of the PRC

Mitigation and Defense Strategies

Defending against a sophisticated state-sponsored actor like APT31 requires a resilient, intelligence-led security program.

• Aggressive Patch and Vulnerability Management: Regularly patch all internet-facing systems and network devices to close the vulnerabilities APT31 is known to exploit.
• Harden the Human Element: Conduct ongoing, sophisticated phishing awareness training that simulates the targeted nature of APT31’s campaigns.
• Network Segmentation: Segment networks to limit an attacker’s ability to move laterally from a compromised system to more critical parts of the infrastructure.
• Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Mandate MFA on all external services, especially email, VPNs, and cloud accounts, to mitigate the risk of credential compromise.
• Application Control and EDR: Use an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) solution to monitor for suspicious process chains and block the execution of unauthorized tools and scripts.

How Mjolnir Security Can Help

Mjolnir Security possesses deep expertise and vast experience in confronting nation-state threats like APT31. Our approach is built on the understanding that defeating a persistent adversary requires more than just technology; it requires an adversarial mindset.

Our Incident Response (IR) and Digital Forensics (DFIR) teams have frontline experience in investigating and remediating complex intrusions from state-sponsored groups. We understand their TTPs, their operational cadence, and their ultimate objectives. This allows us to not only eradicate the immediate threat but also to provide the strategic intelligence needed to harden your defenses against future attacks. Our proactive Threat Hunting services are designed to find evidence of these “low-and-slow” attackers before they achieve their goals.

Prepare for Battle: The Mjolnir Security Wargaming Platform

Knowledge is only half the battle; preparation is the other. Mjolnir Security’s next-generation Wargaming Platform provides an unparalleled training ground for your defense teams. Unlike other platforms that rely on pre-recorded logs and scripted scenarios, our cyber range immerses trainees in a live environment, using real-time attack telemetry from our global network of honeypots.

This allows your team to:

• Face Real Adversaries: Defend against attacks from actual APT groups and cybercriminals, not just simulations.
• Test and Refine Playbooks: Practice your incident response procedures against unpredictable, evolving threats.
• Develop Critical Thinking: Force defenders to move beyond checklists and analyze novel attack patterns as they emerge.

By training on our wargaming platform, your security team can build the muscle memory and strategic acumen required to effectively combat a persistent threat like APT31.

Conclusion

APT31 represents a clear and present threat to Canadian organizations and our allies. Their persistence, sophistication, and alignment with state objectives make them a formidable opponent. A successful defense requires a layered approach that combines robust technical controls, a vigilant and well-trained workforce, and proactive measures like threat hunting and realistic wargaming. In the ongoing battle for information, preparation and intelligence are the ultimate weapons.

References

1. Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. (2024). National Cyber Threat Assessment 2025-2026.
2. CBC News. (2024). MPs, senator ask why government didn’t warn them they were targeted by China-backed hackers.
3. CERT-FR. (2021). APT31 Intrusion Set Campaign. https://www.cert.ssi.gouv.fr/uploads/CERTFR-2021-CTI-013.pdf
4. SOCRadar. (2024). Dark Web Profile: APT31. https://socradar.io/dark-web-profile-apt31/
5. The Hacker News. (2025). Czech Republic Blames China-Linked APT31 Hackers for 2022 Cyberattack.