Cinnamon Tempest G1021
Also known as DEV-0401, Emperor Dragonfly, BRONZE STARLIGHT.
Cinnamon Tempest is a China-based threat group that has been active since at least 2021 deploying multiple strains of ransomware based on the leaked Babuk source code. Cinnamon Tempest does not operate their ransomware on an affiliate model or purchase access but appears to act independently in all stages of the attack lifecycle. Based on victimology, the short lifespan of each ransomware variant, and use of malware attributed to government-sponsored threat groups, Cinnamon Tempest may be motivated by intellectual property theft or cyberespionage rather than financial gain.
Documented targeting: Financial Services, Government
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 3 of 19 of this actor's documented techniques today (16%). 6 are out of scope for automated testing (social engineering, denial of service, physical).
+6 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
PlugX, Cobalt Strike, Impacket, Sliver, Pandora, Rclone, Cheerscrypt, HUI Loader.
Emulate Cinnamon Tempest. Audit-Ready pentest, $99.
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Launch this pentestFrequently asked questions
Who is Cinnamon Tempest (G1021)?
Cinnamon Tempest is a China-based threat group that has been active since at least 2021 deploying multiple strains of ransomware based on the leaked Babuk source code. Cinnamon Tempest does not operate their ransomware on an affiliate model or purchase access but appears to act independently in all stages of the attack lifecycle. Based on victimology, the short lifespan of each ransomware variant, and use of malware attributed to government-sponsored threat groups, Cinnamon Tempest may be motivated by intellectual property theft or cyberespionage rather than financial gain.
What sectors does Cinnamon Tempest target?
Based on MITRE ATT&CK, Cinnamon Tempest has been observed targeting Financial Services, Government.
Can TurboPentest test for Cinnamon Tempest?
TurboPentest can autonomously exercise 3 of 19 of this actor's documented techniques today. 6 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 Cinnamon Tempest?
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.