North Korea Aggressively Targeting Crypto Industry with Well-Disguised Social Engineering Attacks


The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK” aka North Korea) is conducting highly tailored, difficult-to-detect social engineering campaigns against employees of decentralized finance (“DeFi”), cryptocurrency, and similar businesses to deploy malware and steal company cryptocurrency.

North Korean social engineering schemes are complex and elaborate, often compromising victims with sophisticated technical acumen. Given the scale and persistence of this malicious activity, even those well versed in cybersecurity practices can be vulnerable to North Korea’s determination to compromise networks connected to cryptocurrency assets. North Korean malicious cyber actors conducted research on a variety of targets connected to cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over the last several months.

Read more…
Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division


Sign up for our Newsletter


Related:

  • North Korean Hackers Were Behind Crypto’s Largest ‘Theft of All Time’

    February 21, 2025

    Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence said North Korea’s Lazarus Group was behind Bybit’s $1.46 billion hack. In an earlier post on social media platform X, Arkham offered a bounty of 50,000 ARKM tokens for anyone who could identify the attackers for Friday’s hack. Later, the platform said onchain sleuth ZachXBT submitted “definitive proof” that the attackers ...

  • Google Docs used by infostealer ACRStealer as part of attack

    February 20, 2025

    An infostealer known as ACRStealer is using legitimate platforms like Google Docs and Steam as part of an attack, according to researchers. ACRStealer is often distributed via the tried and tested method of download as cracks and keygens, which are used in software piracy. The infostealer has been around since mid-2024 (as a beta test), but ...

  • #StopRansomware: Ghost (Cring) Ransomware

    February 19, 2025

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) are releasing this joint advisory to disseminate known Ghost (Cring)— (“Ghost”)—ransomware IOCs and TTPs identified through FBI investigation as recently as January 2025. Beginning early 2021, Ghost actors began attacking victims whose internet facing ...

  • Juniper Networks Releases Out-of-Cycle Security Bulletin for Critical Vulnerability

    February 19, 2025

    Juniper Networks has released an out-of-cycle security update addressing one critical API authentication bypass using an alternate path or channel vulnerability, which has a CVSSv4 score of 9.3. Exploitation of the vulnerability could allow a network-based attacker to bypass authentication and take administrative control of the device. Read more… Source: NHS Digital Sign up for our Newsletter Related:

  • Macs targeted by infostealers in new era of cyberthreats

    February 19, 2025

    The latest, major threats to Mac computers can steal passwords and credit card details with delicate precision, targeting victims across the internet based on their device, location, and operating system. These are the dangers of “infostealers,” which have long plagued Windows devices but, in the past two years, have become a serious threat for Mac owners. ...

  • Finastra Notifies Customers of Data Breach

    February 19, 2025

    British financial technology firm Finastra has notified customers impacted by a data breach that occurred over three months ago. Between October 31 and November 8, 2024, an unauthorized third party accessed the company’s secure file transfer platform (SFTP), used to share files with customers. Although the breach was detected on November 7, and the company acknowledged ...