G1040 Ransomwareour call,
not MITRE’s ATT&CK Group

Play

How MITRE ATT&CK characterizes this group¹: Play is a ransomware group that has been active since at least 2022 deploying Playcrypt ransomware against the business, government, critical infrastructure, healthcare, and media sectors in North America, South America, and Europe. Play actors employ a double-extortion model, encrypting systems after exfiltrating data, and are presumed by security researchers to operate as a closed group.

Origin / sponsor: not established from a curated public advisory — see Coverage & confidence. Not asserted here.

Read this as · tier is our editorial call, not MITRE’s

Read as a crew that turns access into an outage.

A ransomware classification means the path is funded to reach disruption and extortion — encryption, data theft for leverage, and downtime. Exposure here is a business-continuity problem, not just a patch ticket. All tradecraft below is sourced to MITRE ATT&CK.

Techniques

ATT&CK count¹

Named tools / malware

ATT&CK count²

Attributed campaigns

ATT&CK count¹

Tactics spanned

ATT&CK count¹

coverage gap

Activity bounds

no attributed campaign

Known for

— signature moves, each sourced to ATT&CK

ArsenalNamed tooling. ATT&CK attributes 9 tools/malware to this group, including Mimikatz, PsExec, Cobalt Strike, Nltest.²⁹

ReachFurthest outcome. This actor's cited tradecraft reaches as far as outcome 5 — Lights out — disruption & extortion. (editorial mapping over ATT&CK tactics).

Tradecraft heatmap

— ATT&CK techniques mapped onto the five attacker-outcome narratives

Each row is a documented technique (MITRE ATT&CK). Each column is one of the five attacker-outcome narratives a defender funds against. A filled cell means this technique’s own ATT&CK tactic defensibly advances that outcome. The mapping of technique→outcome is our editorial alignment over ATT&CK's tactic data, not a separately-sourced MITRE edge. A filled cell means one of the technique's own ATT&CK tactics defensibly advances that outcome; enabler tactics (C2, Defense Evasion, Discovery) heat no column.

1Front door

2Keys to the kingdom

3Lateral reach

4Data at risk

5Lights out

T1003.001 LSASS MemoryCredential Access

●

T1016 System Network Configuration DiscoveryDiscovery

T1018 Remote System DiscoveryDiscovery

T1021.002 SMB/Windows Admin SharesLateral Movement

●

T1027.010 Command ObfuscationDefense Evasion

T1030 Data Transfer Size LimitsExfiltration

●

T1048 Exfiltration Over Alternative ProtocolExfiltration

●

T1057 Process DiscoveryDiscovery

T1059.001 PowerShellExecution

●

T1059.003 Windows Command ShellExecution

●

T1070.001 Clear Windows Event LogsDefense Evasion

T1070.004 File DeletionDefense Evasion

T1078 Valid AccountsInitial Access / Persistence / Privilege Escalation / Defense Evasion

●

T1078.002 Domain AccountsInitial Access / Persistence / Privilege Escalation / Defense Evasion

●

T1078.003 Local AccountsInitial Access / Persistence / Privilege Escalation / Defense Evasion

●

T1082 System Information DiscoveryDiscovery

T1083 File and Directory DiscoveryDiscovery

T1105 Ingress Tool TransferCommand & Control

T1133 External Remote ServicesInitial Access / Persistence

●

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing ApplicationInitial Access

●

T1518.001 Security Software DiscoveryDiscovery

T1560.001 Archive via UtilityCollection

●

T1562.001 Disable or Modify ToolsDefense Evasion

T1587.001 MalwareResource Development

T1588.002 ToolResource Development

T1657 Financial TheftImpact

●

Reach: this actor’s cited techniques light columns 1·2·3·4·5 — furthest is 5 · Lights out. (furthest-position idiom, reused from the landing map).

A dot = this technique advances that outcome

Editorial: the technique→outcome alignment is our call over ATT&CK’s tactic data, not a separately-sourced MITRE edge — same basis the landing page declares. Enabler tactics (C2, defense evasion, discovery) heat no column.¹

Arsenal

— named tools & malware ATT&CK attributes to this group

MimikatzS0002 · Tool

ATT&CK S0002 ↗

PsExecS0029 · Tool

ATT&CK S0029 ↗

Cobalt StrikeS0154 · Malware

ATT&CK S0154 ↗

NltestS0359 · Tool

ATT&CK S0359 ↗

EmpireS0363 · Tool

ATT&CK S0363 ↗

BloodHoundS0521 · Tool

ATT&CK S0521 ↗

AdFindS0552 · Tool

ATT&CK S0552 ↗

WevtutilS0645 · Tool

ATT&CK S0645 ↗

+1 moreCoverage

ATT&CK attributes 9 tools/malware to G1040 in total; the full list is on the group page.

ATT&CK G1040 ↗

Campaign highlights

— attributed operations in the ATT&CK record

No attributed campaigns — coverage gap

Stated, not hidden

ATT&CK lists no first-class campaign object for G1040 at this snapshot. Public reporting may tie this actor to operations; those enter only with a named advisory under the same cite-or-die rule.

Latest activity

— with explicit confidence, and what we cannot yet claim

ATT&CK
snapshot

The most recent cited activity in this card is the ATT&CK record itself. We do not paste a “last seen this week” line we cannot source. Recency from secondary reporting appears here only when attached to a named advisory.

ATT&CK snapshot, compiled 2026-06-22Coverage gap — live “currently active” status not asserted

CVE ↔ actor bridge: no confirmed CVE link is established for this group. ATT&CK provides no first-class group→CVE relationship, so this card does not claim specific CVEs as “exploited by this actor” unless a named advisory says so. Absence of a CVE here is a coverage gap, never a clean bill — confirmed links surface as a cited, linked list as the advisory bridge grows.

Coverage & confidence

— what we know, and what we don’t

Established (cited)

Group identity, aliases, description — MITRE ATT&CK group page

26 techniques — ATT&CK technique pages (linked per row)

9 software (arsenal) — ATT&CK software pages

2 third-party research citations — ATT&CK external references

Coverage gaps — stated, not hidden

Origin/sponsor not established from a curated public advisory. ATT&CK prose may imply attribution but is not asserted here — absence of a curated source is a coverage finding, not a clean bill of attribution.

Threat tier is OUR editorial classification (rule-based), not a MITRE field — labeled as such.

Technique → outcome heatmap is editorial alignment over ATT&CK tactic data, not a separately-sourced MITRE edge.

Activity bounds are a floor from attributed-campaign dates only — flagged approx., not a true active-since range.

ATT&CK has no first-class group→CVE relationship; this card asserts no specific CVE without a named advisory.

No attributed ATT&CK campaign object — activity bounds cannot be established.