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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →AthenaGo, a Go-written Windows remote access trojan analyzed by Cisco Talos in 2017, used Tor2Web proxy domains to reach command-and-control (C2) servers hosted on Tor. The proxy let the malware contact those servers without including a local Tor client. Talos documented two hardcoded proxy domains, an RSA-and-AES-protected exchange, and commands that could inspect or control the infected computer. Its findings describe the samples and campaign analyzed at the time; they do not establish whether the infrastructure is active today.
What AthenaGo was—and what the name means
Cisco Talos published its analysis on February 8, 2017. It described AthenaGo as a Go-written Windows remote access trojan capable of downloading and running additional binaries. Talos chose the name because the malware author used “Athena” in a source path and the C2 domain began with “athena.” This is a distinct malware family from the older Athena HTTP/IRC bot also discussed in the report; Talos said the older bot did not appear to share AthenaGo’s functionality. Read the Talos analysis.
Why Tor2Web mattered to its C2 connection
Tor2Web proxies provide a way for a client that is not running a local Tor client to reach resources hosted on Tor. In the analyzed AthenaGo sample, the proxy was a route to the C2 infrastructure—not malware itself, and not evidence that AthenaGo operated a Tor node. Talos identified two hardcoded domains: athenabeicoxjr2l[.]onion[.]to and athenabeicoxjr2l[.]onion[.]link. The brackets are a defanging convention used to make the indicators less likely to be opened as links.
Using a proxy did not guarantee anonymity or make the C2 permanently resilient. Talos noted that proxy domains could be identified and blocked. Its report does not establish the present availability or comparative reliability of either domain.
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How AthenaGo’s C2 exchange worked
Talos described a sequence in which the malware generated an RSA public/private key pair, checked its hardcoded C2 routes, and then exchanged host information and commands with the selected server. The report also says AthenaGo queried canihazip[.]com to learn the infected system’s external IP address.
- Check the proxy routes: The sample sent HTTP
HEADrequests to its two hardcoded domains and selected whichever server it could reach first. If neither responded, it slept for four seconds before retrying. - Send its initial message: It sent an HTTP
POSTrequest to/helowith its RSA public key and basic survey information. The server returned an AES key. - Initialize the session: AthenaGo sent an HTTP
POSTrequest to/initcontaining encoded system survey information. Talos lists the operating system, OS version, username and domain, and hostname among the details. - Request instructions: If initialization succeeded, the malware sent an HTTP
GETrequest to/cmd. Talos says the command response was Base64 URL encoded and AES-CBC encrypted.
The two routes served the same operational purpose in Talos’s account: the sample tried both and used the one it could reach first. The report does not provide evidence that one was more secure, reliable, or available than the other.
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How the 2017 campaign delivered the malware
Talos reported that the campaign used macro-enabled Microsoft Word documents imitating Portugal’s postal service. Portuguese-language prompts encouraged recipients to enable macros. The documents downloaded a ZIP archive containing the Go binary, unpacked it, and launched it. Talos said the evidence suggested Portuguese-speaking victims were targeted and noted that the analyzed documents had first been uploaded to VirusTotal from Portugal. The sample established persistence by placing a copy in a Windows Startup directory. These are observations about the campaign analyzed in 2017, not a current assessment of targeting or later variants. Talos’s report covers the delivery documents and campaign context.
What commands the analyzed binary supported
Talos documented six command names. Together, they show that the sample could inspect the host, terminate processes, retrieve files, and run code or system commands. They do not, by themselves, establish that a particular victim suffered data theft or credential collection.
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| Command | Behavior Talos documented |
|---|---|
ListDir |
Returned a directory listing. |
ListProcesses |
Returned a list of running processes. |
KillProcess |
Invoked taskkill against a target process. |
DownloadFile |
Retrieved a file to a specified location. |
DLRUN |
Retrieved a file to %TEMP% and executed it. |
RunCMD |
Executed system commands using Go’s os/exec. |
For commands that produced output, the malware sent the results to C2 in an HTTP POST request to /cmd. The capabilities therefore allowed remote operators to gather host information and execute actions, but Talos’s account should not be read as proof of what happened on every infected system. See Talos’s command descriptions.
What the report does—and does not—establish
The Talos analysis is a historical technical account of specific samples and a campaign observed in 2017. It documents the Tor2Web route, C2 protocol, delivery method, persistence behavior, and supported commands. It does not establish that the listed domains or infrastructure remain active, that AthenaGo is currently being deployed, or that the same behavior applies to later variants. Treat the domains as historical indicators, not current indicators of compromise, unless current threat-intelligence sources independently validate them.
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Talos concluded that AthenaGo illustrated how malware authors were changing implementation approaches in attempts to evade network defenses and compromise targets. That statement belongs to the report’s 2017 assessment, rather than a measurement of current prevalence or success.
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