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MargulasRAT is a custom remote access trojan associated with the SideCopy espionage cluster, a threat actor known for targeting Indian government, defense, and military-related personnel and organizations in South Asia. It has appeared alongside other SideCopy tooling such as CetaRAT, ReverseRAT, DetaRAT, ActionRAT, and AllaKore RAT, reflecting the group’s expanding malware arsenal and modular post-compromise tradecraft.
Observed delivery chains place MargulasRAT behind phishing operations using India-themed military and geopolitical lures. In documented campaigns, victims received phishing emails carrying a downloader disguised as a benign file, including image-themed executables. The downloader retrieved encrypted payload stages from remote infrastructure, decrypted them, displayed decoy content to distract the victim, established persistence through a script-based startup mechanism, and finally deployed the RAT.
MargulasRAT has been identified as a C# implant. Once active, it establishes socket-based command-and-control communications and transmits basic host profiling data including username, hostname, and operating system version. It then receives AES-protected tasking from the controller. Reported command support includes beaconing, stopping execution, downloading and executing additional payloads, self-updating, and capturing screenshots, indicating its role as a flexible espionage backdoor for interactive remote control and follow-on operations.
The malware is part of SideCopy’s broader intrusion ecosystem, which commonly uses lure documents themed around the Indian Ministry of Defence, regional military incidents, and other defense-related subjects. Campaign reporting links MargulasRAT use to spearphishing activity directed at government staff and defense-linked targets in India. Its operational context, command structure, and deployment patterns are consistent with intelligence collection and sustained access objectives rather than disruptive or destructive effects.
Mallory pivots from this family to the IOCs, detections, and named campaigns that touch your stack, and pages you when something new lands.
2 distinct threat actors attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
The report disclosed that the group used various attack weapons, including CetaRAT, ReverseRAT, MargulasRAT, AllakoreRAT, and several C# plugins.
13 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
25 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.
IPs, domains, and DNS infrastructure linked to this family.
File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.
Other indicator types observed in public reporting.
4 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Remote access trojan mentioned as part of SideCopy's known tooling.
RAT used by Sidecopy in campaigns targeting Indian government staff; additional Linux/macOS tooling also noted but unnamed.
SideCopy使用的远程控制木马，感染后与C2建立Socket连接，回传用户名、系统版本、主机名等主机信息，并接收经AES解密后的命令执行。支持停止退出、下载执行、接收并落盘执行更新、自定义加密回传心跳，以及按指定分辨率截屏并加密回传。
A custom remote access trojan family used in SideCopy infection chains.
Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.
Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.
CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.
Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.