Security News > 2023 > May > North Korean Kimsuky Hackers Strike Again with Advanced Reconnaissance Malware

The North Korean advanced persistent threat group known as Kimsuky has been observed using a piece of custom malware called RandomQuery as part of a reconnaissance and information exfiltration operation.

"Lately, Kimsuky has been consistently distributing custom malware as part of reconnaissance campaigns to enable subsequent attacks," SentinelOne researchers Aleksandar Milenkoski and Tom Hegel said in a report published today.

The ongoing targeted campaign, per the cybersecurity firm, is primarily geared towards information services as well as organizations supporting human rights activists and North Korean defectors.

RandomQuery, alongside FlowerPower and AppleSeed, are among the most frequently distributed tools in Kimsuky's arsenal, with the former functioning as an information stealer and a conduit for distributing remote access trojans like TutRAT and xRAT. The attacks begin with phishing emails that purport to be from Daily NK, a prominent Seoul-based online publication that covers North Korean affairs, to entice potential targets into opening a Microsoft Compiled HTML Help file.

It's worth noting at this stage that CHM files have also been adopted as a lure by a different North Korean nation-state actor referred to as ScarCruft.

"These incidents underscore the ever-changing landscape of North Korean threat groups, whose remit not only encompasses political espionage but also sabotage and financial threats."

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https://thehackernews.com/2023/05/north-korean-kimsuky-hackers-strike.html