North Korean hackers | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Threat actors associated with North Korea are  continuing  to  target  the cybersecurity community using a zero-day bug in an unspecified software over the past several weeks to infiltrate their machines. The findings come from Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG), which found the adversary setting up fake accounts on social media platforms like  X  (formerly Twitter) and  Mastodon  to forge relationships with potential targets and build trust. "In one case, they carried on a months-long conversation, attempting to collaborate with a security researcher on topics of mutual interest," security researchers Clement Lecigne and Maddie Stone  said . "After initial contact via X, they moved to an encrypted messaging app such as Signal, WhatsApp, or Wire." The social engineering exercise ultimately paved the way for a malicious file containing at least one zero-day in a popular software package. The vulnerability is currently in the process of being fixed. The payload, for its part, perf

The North Korean threat actor known as  Andariel  has been observed employing an arsenal of malicious tools in its cyber assaults against corporations and organizations in the southern counterpart. "One characteristic of the attacks identified in 2023 is that there are numerous malware strains developed in the Go language," the AhnLab Security Emergency Response Center (ASEC)  said  in a deep dive released last week. Andariel, also known by the names Nicket Hyatt or Silent Chollima, is a sub-cluster of the  Lazarus Group  that's known to be active since at least 2008. Financial institutions, defense contractors, government agencies, universities, cybersecurity vendors, and energy companies are among the top targets for the state-sponsored group to fund espionage activities and illegally generate revenue for the country. Attack chains mounted by the adversary have leveraged a variety of initial infection vectors, such as spear-phishing, watering holes, and supply chain attacks, as

North Korean nation-state actors affiliated with the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) have been attributed to the  JumpCloud hack  following an operational security (OPSEC) blunder that exposed their actual IP address. Google-owned threat intelligence firm Mandiant attributed the activity to a threat actor it tracks under the name UNC4899, which likely shares overlaps with clusters already being monitored as Jade Sleet and TraderTraitor, a group with a history of striking blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors. UNC4899 also overlaps with  APT43 , another hacking crew associated with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that was unmasked earlier this March as conducting a series of campaigns to gather intelligence and siphon cryptocurrency from targeted companies. The adversarial collective's modus operandi is characterized by the use of Operational Relay Boxes ( ORBs ) using L2TP IPsec tunnels along with commercial VPN providers to disguise the attacker's

The North Korean nation-state threat actor known as  Kimsuky  has been linked to a social engineering campaign targeting experts in North Korean affairs with the goal of stealing Google credentials and delivering reconnaissance malware. "Further, Kimsuky's objective extends to the theft of subscription credentials from NK News," cybersecurity firm SentinelOne  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. "To achieve this, the group distributes emails that lure targeted individuals to log in on the malicious website nknews[.]pro, which masquerades as the authentic NK News site. The login form that is presented to the target is designed to capture entered credentials." NK News , established in 2011, is an American subscription-based news website that provides stories and analysis about North Korea. The disclosure comes days after U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies  issued an alert  warning of Kimsuky's use of social engineering tactics to strik

U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies have issued a new alert warning of North Korean cyber actors' use of social engineering tactics to strike think tanks, academia, and news media sectors. The "sustained information gathering efforts" have been attributed to a state-sponsored cluster dubbed  Kimsuky , which is also known by the names APT43, ARCHIPELAGO, Black Banshee, Emerald Sleet (previously Thallium), Nickel Kimball, and Velvet Chollima. "North Korea relies heavily on intelligence gained from these spear-phishing campaigns," the agencies  said . "Successful compromises of the targeted individuals enable Kimsuky actors to craft more credible and effective spear-phishing emails that can be leveraged against sensitive, high-value targets." Acting in tandem, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)  imposed sanctions  on the North Korean hacking group and identified  two cryptocurrency addresses  used by the entity that have rece

Cybersecurity researchers have offered a closer look at the RokRAT remote access trojan that's employed by the North Korean state-sponsored actor known as  ScarCruft . "RokRAT is a sophisticated remote access trojan (RAT) that has been observed as a critical component within the attack chain, enabling the threat actors to gain unauthorized access, exfiltrate sensitive information, and potentially maintain persistent control over compromised systems," ThreatMon  said . ScarCruft , active since at least 2012, is a  cyber espionage group  that operates on behalf of the North Korean government, exclusively focusing on targets in its southern counterpart. The group is believed to be a subordinate element within North Korea's Ministry of State Security (MSS). Attack chains mounted by the group have leaned heavily on social engineering to spear-phish victims and deliver payloads onto target networks. This includes exploiting vulnerabilities in Hancom's Hangul Word

The North Korean state-sponsored threat actor known as  Kimsuky  has been discovered using a new reconnaissance tool called  ReconShark  as part of an ongoing global campaign. "[ReconShark] is actively delivered to specifically targeted individuals through spear-phishing emails, OneDrive links leading to document downloads, and the execution of malicious macros," SentinelOne researchers Tom Hegel and Aleksandar Milenkoski  said . Kimsuky  is also known by the names APT43, ARCHIPELAGO, Black Banshee, Emerald Sleet (previously Thallium), Nickel Kimball, and Velvet Chollima. Active since at least 2012, the  prolific   threat actor  has been linked to  targeted   attacks  on non-governmental organizations (NGOs), think tanks, diplomatic agencies, military organizations, economic groups, and research entities across North America, Asia, and Europe. The latest intrusion set documented by SentinelOne leverages geopolitical themes related to North Korea's nuclear proliferat

A financially-motivated North Korean threat actor is suspected to be behind a new Apple macOS malware strain called  RustBucket . "[RustBucket] communicates with command and control (C2) servers to download and execute various payloads," Jamf Threat Labs researchers Ferdous Saljooki and Jaron Bradley  said  in a technical report published last week.  The Apple device management company attributed it to a threat actor known as BlueNoroff, a subgroup within the infamous Lazarus cluster that's also tracked under the monikers APT38, Nickel Gladstone, Sapphire Sleet, Stardust Chollima, and TA444. The connections stem from tactical and infrastructure overlaps with a  prior campaign  exposed by Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky in late December 2022 likely aimed at Japanese financial entities using fake domains impersonating venture capital firms. BlueNoroff, unlike other constituent entities of the Lazarus Group, is known for its  sophisticated   cyber-enabled heists

A new North Korean nation-state cyber operator has been attributed to a series of campaigns orchestrated to gather strategic intelligence that aligns with Pyongyang's geopolitical interests since 2018. Google-owned Mandiant, which is tracking the activity cluster under the moniker  APT43 , said the group's motives are both espionage- and financially-motivated, leveraging techniques like  credential harvesting  and social engineering to further its objectives. The monetary angle to its attack campaigns is an attempt on the part of the threat actor to generate funds to meet its "primary mission of collecting strategic intelligence." Victimology patterns suggest that targeting is focused on South Korea, the U.S., Japan, and Europe, spanning government, education, research, policy institutes, business services, and manufacturing sectors. The threat actor was also observed straying off course by striking health-related verticals and pharma companies from October 2020

A North Korean espionage group tracked as  UNC2970  has been observed employing previously undocumented malware families as part of a spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. and European media and technology organizations since June 2022. Google-owned Mandiant said the threat cluster shares "multiple overlaps" with a  long-running   operation   dubbed  " Dream Job " that employs job recruitment lures in email messages to trigger the infection sequence. UNC2970 is the new moniker designated by the threat intelligence firm to a set of North Korean cyber activity that maps to UNC577 (aka Temp.Hermit ), and which also comprises another nascent threat cluster tracked as UNC4034. The UNC4034 activity, as  documented  by Mandiant in September 2022, entailed the use of WhatsApp to socially engineer targets into downloading a  backdoor  called AIRDRY.V2 under the pretext of sharing a skills assessment test. "UNC2970 has a concerted effort towards obfuscation and emp

The North Korea-linked  Lazarus Group  has been observed weaponizing flaws in an undisclosed software to breach a financial business entity in South Korea twice within a span of a year. While the first attack in May 2022 entailed the use of a vulnerable version of a certificate software that's widely used by public institutions and universities, the re-infiltration in October 2022 involved the exploitation of a zero-day in the same program. Cybersecurity firm AhnLab Security Emergency Response Center (ASEC)  said  it's refraining from divulging more specifics owing to the fact that "the vulnerability has not been fully verified yet and a software patch has not been released." The adversarial collective, after obtaining an initial foothold by an unknown method, abused the zero-day bug to perform lateral movement, shortly after which the AhnLab V3 anti-malware engine was disabled via a  BYOVD attack . It's worth noting here that the Bring Your Own Vulnerable D

A new backdoor associated with a malware downloader named  Wslink  has been discovered, with the tool likely used by the notorious North Korea-aligned Lazarus Group, new findings reveal. The payload, dubbed  WinorDLL64  by ESET, is a fully-featured implant that can exfiltrate, overwrite, and delete files; execute PowerShell commands; and obtain comprehensive information about the underlying machine. Its other features comprise listing active sessions, creating and terminating processes, enumerating drives, and compressing directories. Wslink was  first documented  by the Slovak cybersecurity firm in October 2021, describing it as a "simple yet remarkable" malware loader that's capable of executing received modules in memory. "The Wslink payload can be leveraged later for lateral movement, due to its specific interest in network sessions," ESET researcher Vladislav Hrčka  said . "The Wslink loader listens on a port specified in the configuration and can

A North Korean nation-state group notorious for crypto heists has been attributed to a new wave of malicious email attacks as part of a "sprawling" credential harvesting activity targeting a number of industry verticals, marking a significant shift in its strategy. The state-aligned threat actor is being tracked by Proofpoint under the name  TA444 , and by the larger cybersecurity community as APT38,  BlueNoroff , Copernicium, and Stardust Chollima. TA444 is "utilizing a wider variety of delivery methods and payloads alongside blockchain-related lures, fake job opportunities at prestigious firms, and salary adjustments to ensnare victims," the enterprise security firm  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. The advanced persistent threat is something of an aberration among state-sponsored groups in that its operations are financially motivated and geared towards generating illicit revenue for the Hermit Kingdom as opposed to espionage and data theft. T

BlueNoroff , a subcluster of the notorious Lazarus Group, has been observed adopting new techniques into its playbook that enable it to bypass Windows Mark of the Web ( MotW ) protections. This includes the use of optical disk image (.ISO extension) and virtual hard disk (.VHD extension) file formats as part of a novel infection chain, Kaspersky disclosed in a report published today. "BlueNoroff created numerous fake domains impersonating venture capital companies and banks," security researcher Seongsu Park said , adding the new attack procedure was flagged in its telemetry in September 2022. Some of the bogus domains have been found to imitate ABF Capital, Angel Bridge, ANOBAKA, Bank of America, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, most of which are located in Japan, signalling a "keen interest" in the region. It's worth pointing out that although MotW bypasses have been documented in the wild before, this is the first time they have been incorporated by

The North Korea-linked  ScarCruft  group has been attributed to a previously undocumented backdoor called Dolphin that the threat actor has used against targets located in its southern counterpart. "The backdoor [...] has a wide range of spying capabilities, including monitoring drives and portable devices and exfiltrating files of interest, keylogging and taking screenshots, and stealing credentials from browsers," ESET researcher Filip Jurčacko  said  in a new report published today. Dolphin is said to be selectively deployed, with the malware using cloud services like Google Drive for data exfiltration as well as command-and-control. The Slovak cybersecurity company said it found the implant deployed as a final-stage payload as part of a watering hole attack in early 2021 directed against a South Korean digital newspaper. The campaign, first uncovered by  Kaspersky  and  Volexity  last year,  entailed  the weaponization of two Internet Explorer flaws ( CVE-2020-1380