Careto
Also known as The Mask, Mask, Ugly Face
This threat actor targets governments, diplomatic missions, private companies in the energy sector, and academics for espionage purposes. 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).
Targets: Government, Private sector, Morocco, France, Libya, Venezuela, Poland, Brazil, Spain, United States, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Iran
CVEs in recent coverage
No CVEs named alongside this actor in the last 90 days.
Recent victims
No leak-site posts on record for this group.
Recent activity
- Of course, Monolith Soft did helped Nintendo with Ocarina of Time remake. My money's on the next remake in 2028 2026: Ocarina of Time remake 2027: Pokemon Windsmastodon · Nov 5, 2026
- Politico: America's foreign allies hope for a post-midterms check on Trump https://www. politico.com/news/2026/11/04/f oreign-allies-hope-for-a-post-midtermmastodon · Nov 4, 2026
- New PhaaS Platform Uses AI to Craft Phishing Lures and Mask Malicious Activity https://www. infosecurity-magazine.com/news /new-phaas-uses-ai-phishing-lures/mastodon · Oct 24, 2026
References
- https://securelist.com/the-caretomask-apt-frequently-asked-questions/58254/
- https://www.cfr.org/interactive/cyber-operations/careto
- https://d2538mqrb7brka.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2018/03/20133638/unveilingthemask_v1.0.pdf
From the MISP threat-actor galaxy, MITRE ATT&CK and RansomLook (CC BY 4.0). Activity is any post or advisory Watch Floor collected that names the actor or one of its aliases.