Security News > 2022 > September > North Korean Hackers Weaponizing Open-Source Software in Latest Cyber Attacks

A "Highly operational, destructive, and sophisticated nation-state activity group" with ties to North Korea has been weaponizing open source software in their social engineering campaigns aimed at companies around the world since June 2022.

Attacks targeted employees in organizations across multiple industries, including media, defense and aerospace, and IT services in the U.S., the U.K., India, and Russia.

The tech giant said it observed Zinc leveraging a "Wide range of open-source software including PuTTY, KiTTY, TightVNC, Sumatra PDF Reader, and muPDF/Subliminal Recording software installer for these attacks."

According to CrowdStrike, Zinc "Has been active since 2009 in operations aimed at collecting political, military, and economic intelligence on North Korea's foreign adversaries and conducting currency generation campaigns."

"Zinc attacks appear to be motivated by traditional cyberespionage, theft of personal and corporate data, financial gain, and corporate network destruction," the company said.

"Zinc attacks bear many hallmarks of state-sponsored activities, such as heightened operational security, sophisticated malware that evolves over time, and politically motivated targeting."

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2022/09/north-korean-hackers-weaponizing-open.html