Tempting Cedar Spyware
Tempting Cedar Spyware is a Lebanon-attributed nation-state APT group with an espionage motive, tracked by Brandefense. It targets organisations in 5 countries, including the United States and France.
- Origin
- Lebanon
- Techniques
- 0
- Exploited CVEs
- No CVE data
- First seen
- Jan 1, 2015
- Record updated
Who They Target.
About Tempting Cedar Spyware.
A hacking campaign used fake Facebook profiles to trick targets into downloading malware capable of stealing vast swathes of information, including messages, photos, audio recordings and even the exact location of victims. The group has been operating since as early as 2015 and is thought to have infected the Android phones of hundreds selected targets across the Middle East. The the highest concentration of infections is in Israel, but victims have also been seen in the US, China, Germany and France. Uncovered by researchers at Avast, the operation has been dubbed 'Tempting Cedar Spyware'. The name combines the main means of attack - by tricking victims using fake social media profiles purporting to be those of a young woman - with the Cedar tree, which features prominently on the flag of Lebanon. The campaign for distributing the malware begins with fake Facebook profiles which are designed to lure in victims - predominantly men - with 'flirty' conversations.
Last updated Sep 11, 2026. Compiled by Brandefense technologies from structured threat intelligence and reviewed by Brandefense analysts. Techniques follow the MITRE ATT&CK framework.