The 2017 leak of Equation Group tools by a mysterious group calling itself the Shadow Brokers was one of the most significant cyber security stories in recent years. Equation is regarded as one of the most technically adept espionage groups and the release of a trove of its tools had a major impact, with many attackers rushing to deploy the malware and exploits disclosed. One of these tools, the EternalBlue exploit, was used to devastating effect in the May 2017 WannaCry ransomware outbreak.
However, Symantec has now found evidence that the Buckeye cyber espionage group (aka APT3, Gothic Panda) began using Equation Group tools in attacks at least a year prior to the Shadow Brokers leak.
Beginning in March 2016, Buckeye began using a variant of DoublePulsar (Backdoor.Doublepulsar), a backdoor that was subsequently released by the Shadow Brokers in 2017. DoublePulsar was delivered to victims using a custom exploit tool (Trojan.Bemstour) that was specifically designed to install DoublePulsar.
