# TA2101: threat group profile

> TA2101 is a threat group thought to operate from Russia. Public reporting about it is still limited. This free profile brings together what is known about it, so you can judge the risk to you. It lists the other names the group goes by and links to every public report behind it.

Canonical page: https://www.edgeprotect.io/threat-actors/ta2101
Breadcrumb: [Home](https://www.edgeprotect.io/) > [Threat groups](https://www.edgeprotect.io/threat-actors) > TA2101

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Attack techniques | 0 |
| Thought to operate from | Russia |
| Other names | 6 |
| Public reports | 10 |

## Who is TA2101?

TA2101 is a threat group thought to operate from Russia. Public reporting about it is still limited.

### Also known as

Maze Team, TWISTED SPIDER, GOLD VILLAGE, Storm-0216, DEV-0216, UNC2198

Security companies each give the same group their own name, so one group can have many.

### What public reporting says

> Proofpoint researchers detected campaigns from a relatively new actor, tracked internally as TA2101, targeting German companies and organizations to deliver and install backdoor malware. The actor initiated their campaigns impersonating the Bundeszentralamt fur Steuern, the German Federal Ministry of Finance, with lookalike domains, verbiage, and stolen branding in the emails. For their campaigns in Germany, the actor chose Cobalt Strike, a commercially licensed software tool that is generally used for penetration testing and emulates the type of backdoor framework used by Metasploit, a similar penetration testing tool. Proofpoint researchers have also observed this actor distributing Maze ransomware, employing similar social engineering techniques to those it uses for Cobalt Strike, while also targeting organizations in Italy and impersonating the Agenzia Delle Entrate, the Italian Revenue Agency. We have also recently observed the actor targeting organizations in the United States using the IcedID banking Trojan while impersonating the United States Postal Service (USPS).

## Public reports about TA2101

- https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-insight/post/ta2101-plays-government-imposter-distribute-malware-german-italian-and-us
- https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/double-trouble-ransomware-data-leak-extortion-part-1/
- https://adversary.crowdstrike.com/adversary/twisted-spider/
- https://analyst1.com/file-assets/RANSOM-MAFIA-ANALYSIS-OF-THE-WORLD%E2%80%99S-FIRST-RANSOMWARE-CARTEL.pdf
- https://www.secureworks.com/blog/how-cyber-adversaries-are-adapting-to-exploit-the-global-pandemic
- http://www.secureworks.com/research/threat-profiles/gold-village
- https://www.cysecurity.news/2023/12/twisted-spiders-dangerous-cactus.html
- https://x.com/MsftSecIntel/status/1730383711437283757
- https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/melting-unc2198-icedid-to-ransomware-operations
- https://youtu.be/U7p0J8aMZhM?t=193

## Frequently asked questions

### Who is TA2101?

TA2101 is a threat group thought to operate from Russia. Public reporting about it is still limited.

### Where is TA2101 thought to be based?

Public reporting places TA2101 as operating from Russia. Attribution is never certain: it rests on the tools, infrastructure and targets researchers have seen.

### How do I know if TA2101 is a risk to my business?

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