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GoldenBlacklist is a custom email-processing malware component used by the GoldenJackal cyberespionage group as part of its newer, highly modular toolset deployed from at least May 2022 to March 2024 against government and diplomatic targets, including an unnamed European Union government organization. It is also referenced in a Python implementation named GoldenPyBlacklist. Its function is to download an encrypted archive from a local server, process email messages contained within it, and retain or filter only messages of interest for subsequent exfiltration. Reporting describes it as part of GoldenJackal operations focused on stealing confidential information from high-value and potentially air-gapped systems. GoldenBlacklist operated alongside other GoldenJackal components including GoldenUsbCopy/GoldenUsbGo for USB-based collection, GoldenAce for USB propagation, GoldenMailer for exfiltration via Outlook SMTP, and GoldenDrive for exfiltration to Google Drive. The broader intrusion set has been associated with attacks on government and diplomatic entities in Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia. Initial access for GoldenJackal in these campaigns was not determined by ESET, though prior Kaspersky reporting suggested trojanized software and malicious Word documents as possible entry vectors. No GoldenBlacklist-specific indicators of compromise are directly provided in the content.
Mallory pivots from this family to the IOCs, detections, and named campaigns that touch your stack, and pages you when something new lands.
1 distinct threat actor attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
Another interesting malware component is GoldenBlacklist (and its Python-based implementation GoldenPyBlacklist), which filters and archives specific email messages from compromised systems before exfiltration.
4 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
“GoldenBlacklist… scans email messages and then keeps any that are of interest… ‘GoldenPyBlacklist’…”
GoldenUsbCopy monitors the insertion of USB drives and copies interesting files to an encrypted container stored on disk, GoldenBlacklist downloads an encrypted archive from a local server and processes email messages contained within, keeping only those of interest.
1 indicator attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.
File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.
5 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Collects and filters email content of interest; ingests encrypted archives from local servers and performs email scanning/selection.
Downloads encrypted archives from a local server and filters email messages to retain only those deemed interesting by the attackers.
Processes email messages to identify/prepare items of interest for later exfiltration.
A malware component that filters and archives selected email messages from compromised systems prior to exfiltration; GoldenPyBlacklist is its Python-based implementation.
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.