US Releases Malware Linked To N. Korean Hacking Group

US Cyber Command, a division of the National Security Agency, has released a set of new set of samples of malware that they say are linked to North Korean hackers from the Lazarus Group. The military unit tweeted on Wednesday 14th August saying it had uploaded to VirusTotal, a widely used database for malware and security research.

It’s not the first time the unit has uploaded malware to the server, it has its own Twitter account that tells followers which malware it has uploaded. 

On one hand the disclosure helps security teams fight threats from nation states, but it also gives a rare glimpse inside the nation state-backed hacking groups on which Cyber Command is focused. The uploaded malware sample is named Electric Fish by the US government.

Electric Fish is a tunneling tool designed to exfiltrate data from one system to another over the internet once a backdoor has been placed.

Electric Fish is linked to the APT38 hacking group.
FireEye says APT38 has distinctly different motivations from other North Korean-backed hacking groups like Lazarus, which was blamed for the Sony hack in 2016 and the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017. APT38 is focused on financial crimes, such as stealing millions of dollars from banks across the world, the cyber-security firm said but, they are probably connected. 

Lazarus is an umbrella name that typically describes hacking activity which advances Pyongyang’s interests. The group is especially known for its financial motivations, such as abusing the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) monetary transfer system and for hacking banks, according to Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at CrowdStrike.

Electric Fish was first discovered in May, according to Homeland Security’s cybersecurity division CISA, but APT38 has been active for several years.

A recently leaked United Nations report said the North Korean regime has stolen more than $2 billion through dozens of cyber-attacks to fund its various weapons programs. APT38 has amassed more than $100 million in stolen funds since its inception.

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