Names	Careto (Kaspersky)
The Mask (Kaspersky)
Mask (Kaspersky)
Ugly Face (Kaspersky)
Country	[Unknown]
Sponsor	State-sponsored
Motivation	Information theft and espionage
First seen	2007
Description	(Kaspersky) The Mask is an advanced threat actor that has been involved in cyber-espionage operations since at least 2007. The name “Mask” comes from the Spanish slang word “Careto” (“Ugly Face” or “Mask”) which the authors included in some of the malware modules.

More than 380 unique victims in 31 countries have been observed to date. What makes “The Mask” special is the complexity of the toolset used by the attackers. This includes an extremely sophisticated malware, a rootkit, a bootkit, 32-and 64-bit Windows versions, Mac OS X and Linux versions and possibly versions for Android and iPad/iPhone (Apple iOS).
Observed	Sectors: Education, Energy, Government and Diplomatic missions.
Countries: Brazil, France, Germany, Iran, Libya, Morocco, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, UK, USA, Venezuela.
Tools used	Careto.
Operations performed	2022	Careto is back: what’s new after 10 years of silence?
<https://securelist.com/careto-is-back/114942/>
Counter operations	Feb 2014	At the moment, all known Careto C&C servers are offline. The attackers began taking them offline in January 2014. We were also able to sinkhole several C&C servers, which allowed us to gather statistics on the operation.
<https://securelist.com/the-caretomask-apt-frequently-asked-questions/58254/>
Information	<https://d2538mqrb7brka.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2018/03/20133638/unveilingthemask_v1.0.pdf>
<https://securelist.com/the-caretomask-apt-frequently-asked-questions/58254/>
Last change to this card: 27 December 2024