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Kimsuky APT evolves reconnaissance capabilities in new global campaign

Kimsuky is a North Korean advanced persistent threat (APT) group with a long history of targeted attacks across the world. Current understanding of the group indicates they are primarily assigned to intelligence collection and espionage operations in support of the North Korean government since at least 2012. In 2018 the group was observed deploying a malware family dubbed BabyShark, and latest observations indicate the group has evolved the malware with an expanded reconnaissance capability – SentinelLabs refers to this BabyShark component as ReconShark.

The ability of ReconShark to exfiltrate valuable information, such as deployed detection mechanisms and hardware information, indicates that ReconShark is part of a Kimsuky-orchestrated reconnaissance operation that enables subsequent precision attacks, possibly involving malware specifically tailored to evade defences and exploit platform weaknesses.

For the deployment of ReconShark, Kimsuky continues to make use of specially crafted phishing emails. Notably, the spear-phishing emails are made with a level of design quality tuned for specific individuals, increasing the likelihood of opening by the target. This includes proper formatting, grammar, and visual clues, appearing legitimate to unsuspecting users. Additionally, the targeted emails, which contain links to download malicious documents, and the malicious documents themselves, abuse the names of real individuals whose expertise is relevant to the lure subject such as political scientists.

Historically, Kimsuky targets have been located across countries in North America, Asia, and Europe. In the group’s latest campaigns, they continue their global targeting themed around various ongoing geopolitical topics. For example, the latest Kimsuky campaigns have focused on nuclear agendas between China and North Korea, relevant to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Key points:

  • SentinelLabs has observed ongoing attacks from Kimsuky, a North Korean state-sponsored APT that has a long history of targeting organisations across Asia, North America, and Europe.
  • Ongoing campaigns use a new malware component SentinelLabs has named ReconShark, which is actively delivered to specifically targeted individuals through spear-phishing emails, OneDrive links leading to document downloads, and the execution of malicious macros.
  • ReconShark functions as a reconnaissance tool with unique execution instructions and server communication methods. Recent activity has been linked to a wider set of activity SentinelLabs confidently attributes to North Korea.

Conclusion

The ongoing attacks from Kimsuky and their use of the new reconnaissance tool, ReconShark, highlight the evolving nature of the North Korean threat landscape. Organisations and individuals need to be aware of the TTPs used by North Korea state-sponsored APTs and take necessary precautions to protect themselves against such attacks. The link between recent activity and a wider set of previously unknown activity attributed to North Korea underscores the need for continued vigilance and collaboration.

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SentinelLabs Kimsuky APT research

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Irina Meier

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Eleven Hundred Agency

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