Magic Hound G0059
Also known as TA453, COBALT ILLUSION, Charming Kitten, ITG18, Phosphorus, Newscaster.
Magic Hound is an Iranian-sponsored threat group that conducts long term, resource-intensive cyber espionage operations, likely on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They have targeted European, U.S., and Middle Eastern government and military personnel, academics, journalists, and organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), via complex social engineering campaigns since at least 2014.
Documented targeting: Government, Defense, Education & Research, Media & Entertainment
Methodology
Relevance is a match on your industry sector and technology stack against the MITRE ATT&CK v19.1 group graph (174 groups, 821 software families, 56 campaigns). It is computed deterministically from that data, with no language model in the request path. It is a relevance match, not threat-intelligence probability data: it tells you which documented actors and techniques are worth emulating for an org like yours, not a forecast that any specific group will act.
TurboPentest can autonomously exercise 8 of 78 of this actor's documented techniques today (10%). 23 are out of scope for automated testing (social engineering, denial of service, physical).
+40 coming soonmore unlock with our internal pentesting agent, currently in private beta.
These counts are computed from the vendored MITRE ATT&CK graph and the published coverage map, and are reproducible from source.
In-scope techniques to emphasize
Known software
Mimikatz, PsExec, Net, Systeminfo, Ping, ipconfig, netsh, DownPaper, Pupy, Impacket, CharmPower, PowerLess, FRP.
Emulate Magic Hound. Audit-Ready pentest, $99.
Finds nothing? Your next pentest is free. If a pentest surfaces zero actionable findings, we credit you a free re-pentest. Once per target; does not apply to retests or Recon. You always walk away with real findings or a free redo.
Launch this pentestFrequently asked questions
Who is Magic Hound (G0059)?
Magic Hound is an Iranian-sponsored threat group that conducts long term, resource-intensive cyber espionage operations, likely on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. They have targeted European, U.S., and Middle Eastern government and military personnel, academics, journalists, and organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), via complex social engineering campaigns since at least 2014.
What sectors does Magic Hound target?
Based on MITRE ATT&CK, Magic Hound has been observed targeting Government, Defense, Education & Research, Media & Entertainment.
Can TurboPentest test for Magic Hound?
TurboPentest can autonomously exercise 8 of 78 of this actor's documented techniques today. 40 more need internal or assumed-breach access (the Adversarial-Depth tier), and the rest are out of scope for automated testing.
What does it cost to emulate Magic Hound?
An Audit-Ready pentest starts at $99 per target. If it surfaces zero actionable findings, your next pentest is free.
Reviewed by
Michel Chamberland, Founder & CEO of IntegSec. CISSP, OSCP, OSCE, with 20+ years in offensive security, alumni of IBM X-Force Red and Trustwave SpiderLabs.
Last reviewed July 30, 2026.