Description
Microsoft security research teams have detected a wide range of social engineering campaigns using weaponized legitimate open-source software by an actor tracked as ZINC. ZINC employed traditional social engineering tactics by initially connecting with individuals on LinkedIn, followed by communication over WhatsApp, which acted as the means of delivery for their malicious payloads. ZINC was found weaponizing a wide range of open-source software including PuTTY, KiTTY, TightVNC, Sumatra PDF Reader etc. For more technical and in-depth information about the attack, please read the [Microsoft Security blog post](https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2022/09/29/zinc-weaponizing-open-source-software/).This solution provides content to detect and investigate signals related to the attack in Microsoft Sentinel.
**Pre-requisites:**
This is a [domain solution](https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/sentinel/sentinel-solutions-catalog#domain-solutions) and does not include any data connectors. The content in this solution supports the connectors listed below. Install one or more of the listed solutions, to unlock the value provided by this solution.
1.Windows Security Events
2.Microsoft Defender XDR
3.Windows Server DNS
4.F5 Advanced WAF
5.Cisco ASA
6.Palo Alto Networks
7.Common Event Format
8.Fortinet FortiGate
9.Check Point
10.Microsoft 365
11.Azure Firewall
12.Microsoft Windows Firewall
13.Windows Forwarded Events
**Keywords:** Zinc, Open Source, ZetaNile , Putty, Kitty, TightVNC , EventHorizon, FoggyBrass, PhantomStar, threat actor, Adversary.
- Version
- 3.0.3
- Declared author / publisher
- Microsoft - support@microsoft.com
- Support tier
- Microsoft
Related content
Links established from declared identifiers and solution manifests.
Source provenance
GitHubDisplayed values come from files in Azure/Azure-Sentinel. They describe the published template, not your workspace configuration.
- Commit
9800e51↗- Source identifier
azure-sentinel-solution-zincopensource
GSTEP / CATALOG TRACKING
Added to catalog : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC
Last change observed : 16 Sept 2026 · 05:49 UTC