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Showing posts with label North Korean Hackers. Show all posts
North Korean Hackers
Amazon Security Cyber Attacks DPRK Infiltration Keystroke Latency North Korean Hackers

Amazon Busts DPRK Hacker on Tiny Typing Delay

 

Amazon recently uncovered a North Korean IT worker infiltrating its corporate network by tracking a tiny 110ms delay in keystrokes, highlighting a growing threat in remote hiring and cybersecurity. The anomaly, revealed by Amazon’s Chief Security Officer Stephen Schmidt, pointed to a worker supposedly based in the U.S. but actually operating from thousands of miles away.

The infiltration occurred when a contractor hired by Amazon shipped a company laptop to an individual later found to be a North Korean operative. Commands sent from the laptop to Amazon’s Seattle headquarters typically take less than 100 milliseconds, but these commands took over 110 milliseconds—a subtle clue that the user was located far from the U.S.. This delay signaled that the operator was likely in Asia, prompting further investigation.

Since April 2024, Amazon’s security team has blocked more than 1,800 attempts by North Korean workers to infiltrate its workforce, with attempts rising by 27% quarter-over-quarter in 2025. The North Korean operatives often use proxies and forged identities to access remote IT jobs, funneling earnings into the DPRK’s weapons programs and circumventing international sanctions.

Security monitoring revealed that the compromised laptop was being remotely controlled from China, though it did not have access to sensitive data. Investigators cross-referenced the suspect’s resume with system activity and identified a pattern consistent with previous North Korean fraud attempts. Schmidt noted that these operatives often fabricate employment histories tied to obscure consultancies, reuse the same feeder schools and firms, and display telltale signs such as mangled English idioms.

The front in this case was an Arizona woman who was sentenced to multiple years in prison for her role in a $1.7 million IT fraud ring that helped North Korean workers gain access to U.S. corporate networks. Schmidt emphasized that Amazon did not directly hire any North Koreans but warned that shipping company laptops to contractor proxies can create significant risks.

This incident underscores the importance of thorough background checks and advanced endpoint security for remote workers. Latency analysis, behavioral monitoring, and traffic forensics are now essential tools for detecting nation-state threats in the remote work era. Cybersecurity professionals are urged to go beyond basic vetting—such as LinkedIn scans—and adopt robust anomaly detection to protect against sophisticated grifters.As North Korean fraud tactics continue to evolve, companies must remain vigilant. Every lag, every odd behavior, and every unverified resume could be the first sign of a much larger threat hiding in plain sight.
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North Korean Hackers
Bybit crypto hack cryptocurrency theft Cyber Attacks DPRK nuclear funding fake remote tech jobs North Korea cyberattacks North Korean Hackers

North Korean Hackers Steal Billions Through Crypto Heists and Fake Remote Jobs to Fund Nuclear Program, Report Reveals

 

North Korean hackers have siphoned off billions of dollars by breaching cryptocurrency exchanges and using false identities to secure remote tech jobs abroad, according to a new international assessment of the country’s cyber operations.

The 138-page report, released by the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team—a coalition including the U.S. and 10 allied nations—found that Pyongyang’s government directs these covert schemes to bankroll its nuclear weapons research and development. The group was established last year to track North Korea’s adherence to U.N. sanctions.

The findings reveal that North Korea has leveraged cryptocurrencies to launder illicit funds and procure military equipment, effectively evading global restrictions tied to its nuclear ambitions. Investigators noted that hackers linked to Pyongyang routinely deploy malware against international corporations and institutions, aiming to disrupt systems and exfiltrate sensitive data.

Despite its isolation and limited economic power, North Korea has made substantial investments in offensive cyber warfare, achieving a level of sophistication that rivals China and Russia, the report concluded. Unlike other major cyber actors such as China, Russia, and Iran, North Korea primarily uses its hacking operations as a financial lifeline—employing cyberattacks and fake employees to generate state revenue.

The report further stated that, aided by actors in Russia and China, North Korea’s cyber campaigns have “been directly linked to the destruction of physical computer equipment, endangerment of human lives, private citizens’ loss of assets and property, and funding for the DPRK’s unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.”

The monitoring team—comprising the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, and the United Kingdom—was created after Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that previously empowered a panel of experts to oversee North Korea’s sanctions compliance. Its initial report in May examined North Korea’s military aid to Russia.

Earlier this year, hackers tied to North Korea executed one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history, stealing $1.5 billion in Ethereum from the exchange Bybit. The FBI later attributed the theft to a hacker collective operating under North Korea’s intelligence agency.

U.S. authorities have also alleged that thousands of North Korean IT professionals are secretly employed by American companies using stolen or fabricated identities. These workers allegedly infiltrate internal systems and redirect their earnings back to the North Korean regime—sometimes juggling multiple remote jobs simultaneously.

A request for comment sent to North Korea’s mission to the U.N. on Wednesday went unanswered.
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State-Sponsored Espionage
AI Misuse Cybersecurity Data Theft Deepfake Attacks Generative AI Kimsuky malware North Korean Hackers Phishing Campaigns State-Sponsored Espionage

North Korean Threat Actors Leverage ChatGPT in Deepfake Identity Scheme


North Korean hackers Kimsuky are using ChatGPT to create convincing deepfake South Korean military identification cards in a troubling instance of how artificial intelligence can be weaponised in state-backed cyber warfare, indicating that artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly useful in cyber warfare. 

As part of their cyber-espionage campaign, the group used falsified documents embedded in phishing emails targeting defence institutions and individuals, adding an additional layer of credibility to their espionage activities. 

A series of attacks aimed at deceiving recipients, delivering malicious software, and exfiltrating sensitive data were made more effective by the use of AI-generated IDs. Security monitors have categorised this incident as an AI-related hazard, indicating that by using ChatGPT for the wrong purpose, the breach of confidential information and the violation of personal rights directly caused harm. 

Using generative AI is becoming increasingly common in sophisticated state-sponsored operations. The case highlights the growing concerns about the use of generative AI in sophisticated operations. As a result of the combination of deepfake technology and phishing tactics, these attacks are harder to detect and much more damaging. 

Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42 has observed a disturbing increase in the use of real-time deepfakes for job interviews, in which candidates disguise their true identities from potential employers using this technology. In their view, the deepfake tactic is alarmingly accessible because it can be done in a matter of hours, with just minimal technical know-how, and with inexpensive consumer-grade hardware, so it is alarmingly accessible and easy to implement. 

The investigation was prompted by a report that was published in the Pragmatic Engineer newsletter that described how two fake applicants who were almost hired by a Polish artificial intelligence company raised suspicions that the candidates were being controlled by the same individual as deepfake personas. 

As a result of Unit 42’s analysis, these practices represent a logical progression from a long-standing North Korean cyber threat scheme, one in which North Korean IT operatives attempt to infiltrate organisations under false pretences, a strategy well documented in previous cyber threat reports. 

It has been repeatedly alleged that the hacking group known as Kimsuky, which operated under the direction of the North Korean state, was involved in espionage operations against South Korean targets for many years. In a 2020 advisory issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, it was suggested that this group might be responsible for obtaining global intelligence on Pyongyang's behalf. 

Recent research from a South Korean security firm called Genians illustrates how artificial intelligence is increasingly augmented into such operations. There was a report published in July about North Korean actors manipulating ChatGPT to create fake ID cards, while further experiments revealed that simple prompt adjustments could be made to override the platform's built-in limitations by North Korean actors. 

 It follows a pattern that a lot of people have experienced in the past: Anthropic disclosed in August that its Claude Code software was misused by North Korean operatives to create sophisticated fake personas, pass coding assessments, and secure remote positions at multinational companies. 

In February, OpenAI confirmed that it had suspended accounts tied to North Korea for generating fraudulent resumes, cover letters, and social media content intended to assist with recruitment efforts. These activities, according to Genians director Mun Chong-hyun, highlight the growing role AI has in the development and execution of cyber operations at many stages, from the creation of attack scenarios, the development of malware, as well as the impersonation of recruiters and targets. 

A phishing campaign impersonating an official South Korean military account (.mil.kr) has been launched in an attempt to compromise journalists, researchers, and human rights activists within this latest campaign. To date, it has been unclear how extensive the breach was or to what extent the hackers prevented it. 

Officially, the United States assert that such cyber activities are a part of a larger North Korea strategy, along with cryptocurrency theft and IT contracting schemes, that seeks to provide intelligence as well as generate revenue to circumvent sanctions and fund the nuclear weapons program of the country. 

According to Washington and its allies, Kimsuky, also known as APT43, a North Korean state-backed cyber unit that is suspected of being responsible for the July campaign, was already sanctioned by Washington and its allies for its role in promoting Pyongyang's foreign policy and sanction evasion. 

It was reported by researchers at South Korean cybersecurity firm Genians that the group used ChatGPT to create samples of government and military identification cards, which they then incorporated into phishing emails disguised as official correspondence from a South Korean defense agency that managed ID services, which was then used as phishing emails. 

Besides delivering a fraudulent ID card with these messages, they also delivered malware designed to steal data as well as allow remote access to compromised systems. It has been confirmed by data analysis that these counterfeit IDs were created using ChatGPT, despite the tool's safeguards against replicating government documents, indicating that the attackers misinterpreted the prompts by presenting them as mock-up designs. 

There is no doubt that Kimsuky has introduced deepfake technology into its operations in such a way that this is a clear indication that this is a significant step toward making convincing forgeries easier by using generative AI, which significantly lowers the barrier to creating them. 

It is known that Kimsuky has been active since at least 2012, with a focus on government officials, academics, think tanks, journalists, and activists in South Korea, Japan, the United States, Europe, and Russia, as well as those affected by North Korea's policy and human rights issues. 

As research has shown, the regime is highly reliant on artificial intelligence to create fake summaries and online personas. This enables North Korean IT operatives to secure overseas employment as well as perform technical tasks once they are embedded. There is no doubt that such operatives are using a variety of deceptive practices to obscure their origins and evade detection, including artificial intelligence-powered identity fabrication and collaboration with foreign intermediaries. 

The South Korean foreign ministry has endorsed that claim. It is becoming more and more evident that generative AI is increasingly being used in cyber-espionage, which poses a major challenge for global cybersecurity frameworks: assisting citizens in identifying and protecting themselves against threats not solely based on technical sophistication but based on trust. 

Although platforms like ChatGPT and other large language models may have guardrails in place to protect them from attacks, experts warn that adversaries will continue to seek out weaknesses in the systems and adapt their tactics through prompt manipulation, social engineering, and deepfake augmentation in an effort to defeat the system. 

Kimsuky is an excellent example of how disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and cybercrime erode traditional detection methods, as counterfeit identities, forged credentials, and distorted personas blur the line between legitimate interaction and malicious deception, as a result of artificial intelligence and cybercrime. 

The security experts are urging the public to take action by using a multi-layered approach that combines AI-driven detection tools, robust digital identity verification, cross-border intelligence sharing, and better awareness within targeted sectors such as defence, academia, and human rights industries. 

Developing AI technologies together with governments and private enterprises will be critical to ensuring they are harnessed responsibly while minimising misuse of these technologies. It is clear from this campaign that as adversaries continue to use artificial intelligence to sharpen their attacks, defenders must adapt just as fast to maintain trust, privacy, and global security as they do against adversaries.
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PylangGhost
Crypto Scam Infostealer malware North Korean Hackers PylangGhost

North Korean Hackers Target Crypto Professionals With Info-Stealing Malware

 

North Korean hackers are tricking crypto experts into attending elaborate phoney job interviews in order to access their data and install sophisticated malware on their devices. 

Cisco Talos disclosed earlier this week that a new Python-based remote access trojan called "PylangGhost" links malware to a North Korean hacking group dubbed "Famous Chollima," also known as "Wagemole.” "Based on the advertised positions, it is clear that the Famous Chollima is broadly targeting individuals with previous experience in cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies," the researchers explained. 

The effort uses fake employment sites that mimic reputable businesses like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Uniswap to recruit blockchain and crypto experts in India. The scam begins with bogus recruiters guiding job seekers to skill-testing websites, where they submit personal information and answer technical questions. 

Following completion of the assessments, candidates are directed to allow camera access for a video interview, and then urged to copy and execute malicious commands masked as video driver installations. 

Dileep Kumar H V, director of Digital South Trust, told Decrypt that to combat these scams, "India must mandate cybersecurity audits for blockchain firms and monitor fake job portals.” “CERT-In should issue red alerts, while MEITY and NCIIPC must strengthen global coordination on cross-border cybercrime,” he stated, calling for “stronger legal provisions” under the IT Act and “digital awareness campaigns.” 

The recently identified PylangGhost malware has the ability to harvest session cookies and passwords from more than 80 browser extensions, including well-known crypto wallets and password managers like Metamask, 1Password, NordPass, and Phantom. The Trojan runs remote commands from command-and-control servers and gains continuous access to compromised systems. 

This most recent operation fits in with North Korea's larger trend of cybercrime with a crypto focus, which includes the infamous Lazarus Group, which has been involved in some of the biggest heists in the industry. The regime is now focussing on individual professionals to obtain intelligence and possibly infiltrate crypto organisations from within, in addition to stealing money straight from exchanges. 

With campaigns like "Contagious Interview" and "DeceptiveDevelopment," the gang has been launching hiring-based attacks since at least 2023. These attacks have targeted cryptocurrency developers on platforms like GitHub, Upwork, and CryptoJobsList.
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North Korean Hackers
BitoPro hack crypto theft 2025 Cyber Attacks Lazarus Group cyberattack North Korean Hackers

BitoPro Blames North Korea’s Lazarus Group for $11 Million Crypto Theft During Hot Wallet Update

 

Taiwanese cryptocurrency exchange BitoPro has attributed a major cyberattack that resulted in the theft of approximately $11 million in digital assets to the infamous North Korean hacking group Lazarus. The breach occurred on May 8, 2025, when attackers exploited vulnerabilities during a hot wallet system upgrade.

According to BitoPro, its internal investigation uncovered evidence linking the incident to Lazarus, citing similarities in techniques and tactics observed in previous large-scale intrusions.

“The attack methodology bears resemblance to patterns observed in multiple past international major incidents, including illicit transfers from global bank SWIFT systems and asset theft incidents from major international cryptocurrency exchanges,” reads the company’s announcement.

BitoPro, which serves primarily Taiwanese customers and offers fiat currency transactions in TWD alongside various crypto assets, has over 800,000 registered users and processes nearly $30 million in trading volume each day.

During the attack, unauthorized withdrawals were conducted from an older hot wallet across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Tron, Solana, and Polygon. The stolen funds were subsequently funneled through decentralized exchanges and mixing services such as Tornado Cash, ThorChain, and Wasabi Wallet to obscure their origin.

Although the breach took place in early May, BitoPro publicly acknowledged the incident only on June 2, assuring users that platform operations remained unaffected and that impacted wallets were replenished using reserves.

The subsequent investigation concluded there was no evidence of insider involvement. Instead, attackers had carried out a sophisticated social engineering campaign that compromised an employee’s device responsible for managing cloud operations. Through this infection, they hijacked AWS session tokens, effectively bypassing multi-factor authentication protections to gain access to BitoPro’s cloud infrastructure.

The hackers’ command-and-control server then issued instructions to implant malicious scripts into the hot wallet host in preparation for the heist. By carefully simulating legitimate activity, they were able to transfer assets undetected when the wallet upgrade took place.

Once BitoPro became aware of the unauthorized activity, it deactivated the hot wallet system and rotated cryptographic keys, though by that point, roughly $11 million had already been drained.

The exchange has notified relevant authorities and collaborated with external cybersecurity specialists to conduct a thorough review, which concluded on June 11.

The Lazarus Group has developed a notorious reputation for targeting cryptocurrency platforms and decentralized finance ecosystems, with previous operations including a record-setting $1.5 billion theft from Bybit.
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OtterCookie
Infostealer Malicious Campaign malware North Korean Hackers OtterCookie

North Korean Hackers Deploy OtterCookie Malware in Contagious Interview Campaign

 

The North Korean hackers behind the ongoing Contagious Interview campaign have been observed launching a new JavaScript malware named OtterCookie. 

The campaign includes social engineering techniques, with the hacker team frequently posing as recruiters to trick job seekers into downloading malware during an interview process. This entails sharing malware-laced files via GitHub or the official package registry, paving the way for the propagation of malware like BeaverTail and InvisibleFerret. 

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42, which first detected the activity in November 2023, is tracking the cluster as CL-STA-0240. In September 2024, Singaporean cybersecurity company Group-IB disclosed the deployment of an upgraded version of BeaverTail that employs a modular approach, delegating its information-stealing capability to a collection of Python scripts known as CivetQ. 

According to the latest findings from Japanese cybersecurity company NTT Security Holdings, the JavaScript malware that launches BeaverTail is also designed to fetch and execute OtterCookie. 

The new malware is said to have been launched in September 2024, with a new variant identified in the wild last month. OtterCookie, upon running, establishes connections with a command-and-control (C2) server using the Socket.IO JavaScript library, and awaits further instructions. It is intended to execute shell commands that facilitate data theft, including files, clipboard items, and cryptocurrency wallet keys. 

The older OtterCookie variant discovered in September is functionally identical, but with a slight implementation difference: the cryptocurrency wallet key theft capability is directly incorporated into the malware, rather than a remote shell command. The discovery indicates that attackers are actively updating their tools while leaving the infection chain mostly intact, highlighting the campaign's efficacy. 

This comes as South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) sanctioned 15 individuals and one organisation in connection with a fraudulent IT worker program engineered by North Korea to establish a regular source of funds. These funds are funnelled to North Korea, often through data theft and other illegal means. 

Kim Ryu Song, one of the 15 sanctioned individuals, was also charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) earlier this month for allegedly participating in a long-running conspiracy to violate sanctions and commit wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft by illegally seeking employment in U.S. companies and non-profit organisations.
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UNC2970
Cyber Attacks Cyber-Espionage North Korean Hackers Threat Landscape UNC2970

North Korean Hackers Target Energy and Aerospace Industries in Novel Espionage Campaign

 

As per recent findings from Mandiant, companies operating in the energy and aerospace sectors are being targeted by a cyber-espionage campaign that has connections with North Korea.

The outfit behind the campaign, dubbed UNC2970, is most likely linked to North Korea and shares similarities with another Pyongyang-backed threat actor, TEMP.Hermit. Researchers at the Google-owned cybersecurity firm discovered UNC2970's latest campaign in June 2024 and published their findings on Tuesday. 

The group was initially identified in 2021, and it has since targeted victims in the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Sweden, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. 

According to the research, UNC2970 hackers engage with their victims via email and WhatsApp, posing as recruiters for well-known companies. They eventually share a malware archive that claims to have a job description in PDF format.

The PDF file can only be read with a trojanized version of SumatraPDF, an actual open-source document viewer that installs a backdoor called Mistpen via the Burnbook launcher. Researchers revealed that the attackers updated the open-source code of an older version of SumatraPDF for this campaign, but that the SumatraPDF service itself was not compromised. UNC2970 uses real job description text to target victims, including those employed in critical infrastructure sectors in the United States. 

The Mistpen virus is a fork of a legitimate plugin for the Notepad++ open-source text and source code editor. The backdoor has been upgraded over time with new features, including a network connectivity check, which complicates sample analysis, researchers noted. Although Mandiant does not name the specific victims of this attack, researchers believe the hackers are targeting senior or manager-level employees. 

"This suggests the threat actor aims to gain access to sensitive and confidential information typically restricted to higher-level employees,” researchers stated. "The hackers also tailor their malicious messages to better align with the victim's profile."
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North Korean Hackers
American Firms Data Breach Data Theft EDR IT Sector North Korean Hackers

KnowBe4 Avoids Data Breach After Hiring North Korean Hacker


 

American cybersecurity firm KnowBe4 recently discovered that a new hire, brought on as a Principal Software Engineer, was actually a North Korean state actor. This individual attempted to install data-stealing malware on the company's devices, but the threat was identified and neutralised before any data breach occurred.

This incident is the testament to the persistent threat from North Korean operatives posing as IT professionals, a danger that the FBI has been warning about since 2023. North Korea has a well-organised network of IT workers who disguise their true identities to secure employment with American companies. The revenue generated by these infiltrators funds the country's weapons programs, cyber operations, and intelligence gathering.

How the Hacker Bypassed Checks

Before hiring the malicious actor, KnowBe4 conducted extensive background checks, verified references, and held four video interviews. Despite these precautions, the individual used a stolen U.S. identity and AI tools to create a fake profile picture that matched during the video calls. This deception enabled the hacker to bypass the initial vetting process.

On July 15, 2024, KnowBe4's Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) system flagged an attempt to load malware from the Mac workstation recently issued to the new hire. The malware, designed to steal information stored in web browsers, was intended to capture any leftover credentials or data from the computer's previous user.

When confronted by KnowBe4's IT staff, the state actor initially offered excuses but soon ceased all communication.

Deceptive Hiring Practices

KnowBe4 CEO Stu Sjouwerman explained that the scheme involved tricking the company into sending the workstation to an "IT mule laptop farm" near the address provided by the fraudster. The hacker then used a VPN to connect to the device during U.S. working hours, making it seem like they were working as usual.

To prevent similar incidents, KnowBe4 advises companies to use isolated sandboxes for new hires, keeping them away from critical network areas. Additionally, firms should ensure that new employees' external devices are not used remotely and treat any inconsistencies in shipping addresses as potential red flags.

This incident at KnowBe4 zeroes in on the intricate  methods employed by North Korean hackers to infiltrate American companies. By staying vigilant and implementing robust security measures, firms can protect themselves from such threats.


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