The constant threat of cyberattacks has become an ever-present danger for all industries. As technology continues to advance, cybercriminals continue to create new ways of accessing confidential information. The latest alert from US and South Korean intelligence agencies highlights the threat posed by North Korean cyber actors and their use of social engineering tactics. According to the new alert, think tanks, academia, and news media sectors are being specifically targeted.
Kimsuky, the State-sponsored Cluster
The alert attributes Kimsuky as the state-sponsored cluster responsible for “sustained information gathering efforts.” Kimsuky is an auxiliary element within North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) that specializes in collecting tactical intelligence on geopolitical events and negotiations affecting the regime’s interests.
North Korea’s reliance on spear-phishing campaigns
The alert also emphasizes North Korea’s heavy reliance on intelligence gained from spear-phishing campaigns. These campaigns attempt to trick their victims into divulging confidential information by disguising themselves as trustworthy entities. North Korea has been known to use these tactics to great success in the past, and the alert warns that the practice is on the rise.
The goal of Kimsuky’s cyber program is to gain illicit access to confidential information, collect valuable geopolitical insights on the regime’s interests, and provide stolen data to the North Korean government. The alert highlighted that these tactics are highly successful and provide important intelligence for the North Korean government.
Crafting Convincing Online Personas – Kimsuky’s Tactics
The alert also mentions the tactics used by Kimsuky, which has been observed leveraging open-source information to identify potential targets of interest. They then craft their online personas to appear more legitimate by creating email addresses that resemble email addresses of real individuals whom they seek to impersonate. These online personas and email addresses can be so convincing that they can fool even the most well-informed individuals.
Concocting Convincing Email Messages
Kimsuky’s tactics don’t end with merely creating convincing online personas. The alert mentions that the adversary is also known to compromise the email accounts of the impersonated individuals to concoct convincing email messages. The emails contain password-protected malicious documents that, once accessed by the victim, provide Kimsuky with access to a treasure trove of confidential information.
Multiple personas to communicate with a single target
In addition to using multiple personas to communicate with a target, the electronic messages come bearing password-protected malicious documents. These tactics have proven highly successful, and the alert warns that individuals and organizations need to stay vigilant and take appropriate measures to ensure their networks and systems are adequately secured.
SentinelOne’s findings
The alert comes weeks after cybersecurity firm SentinelOne detailed Kimsuky’s use of custom tools like ReconShark (an upgraded version of BabyShark) and RandomQuery for reconnaissance and information exfiltration. Their findings corroborate the intelligence agencies’ alert that the threat posed by Kimsuky is increasing and has become more sophisticated.
The alert follows sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department against four entities and one individual who are involved in malicious cyber activities and fundraising schemes aimed at supporting North Korea’s strategic priorities. The sanctions aim to make it harder for the North Korean government to carry out its illicit cyber activities by targeting their ability to raise and move finances.
The alert from the US and South Korean intelligence agencies about the use of social engineering tactics by North Korean cyber actors is a timely reminder that we need to remain vigilant even in the face of sophisticated cyber threats. The alert provides valuable information on the tactics used by Kimsuky, and organizations need to take appropriate measures to ensure their systems and networks are adequately secured. The sanctions imposed by the US Treasury Department indicate that both the US and international community are taking the threat of cyber warfare seriously and are implementing measures to counter it.