• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Interlock ransomware group deploys new PHP-based RAT via FileFix

 | 

Global Louis Vuitton data breach impacts UK, South Korea, and Turkey

 | 

Experts uncover critical flaws in Kigen eSIM technology affecting billions

 | 

Spain awarded €12.3 million in contracts to Huawei

 | 

Patch immediately: CVE-2025-25257 PoC enables remote code execution on Fortinet FortiWeb

 | 

Wing FTP Server flaw actively exploited shortly after technical details were made public

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 53

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 532 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

McDonald’s job app exposes data of 64 Million applicants

 | 

Athlete or Hacker? Russian basketball player accused in U.S. ransomware case

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

UK NCA arrested four people over M&S, Co-op cyberattacks

 | 

PerfektBlue Bluetooth attack allows hacking infotainment systems of Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Skoda

 | 

Qantas data breach impacted 5.7 million individuals

 | 

DoNot APT is expanding scope targeting European foreign ministries

 | 

Nippon Steel Solutions suffered a data breach following a zero-day attack

 | 

Iranian group Pay2Key.I2P ramps Up ransomware attacks against Israel and US with incentives for affiliates

 | 

Hackers weaponize Shellter red teaming tool to spread infostealers

 | 

Microsoft Patch Tuesday security updates for July 2025 fixed a zero-day

 | 

Italian police arrested a Chinese national suspected of cyberespionage on a U.S. warrant

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber warfare
  • Hacking
  • Intelligence
  • Security
  • North Korea-linked threat actors target cybersecurity experts with a zero-day

North Korea-linked threat actors target cybersecurity experts with a zero-day

Pierluigi Paganini September 08, 2023

North Korea-linked threat actors associated with North Korea exploited a zero-day flaw in attacks against cybersecurity experts.

North Korea-linked threat actors were observed exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in an unnamed software to target cybersecurity researchers.

The attacks that took place in the past weeks were detected by researchers at Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG).

“Recently, TAG became aware of a new campaign likely from the same actors based on similarities with the previous campaign. TAG is aware of at least one actively exploited 0-day being used to target security researchers in the past several weeks. The vulnerability has been reported to the affected vendor and is in the process of being patched.” reads the advisory published by Google TAG.

The cyberspies used fake accounts on social media sites like X and Mastodon to get in touch with victims.

North Korea-linked threat actors

In one of the cases analyzed by TAG, the attackers carried on a months-long conversation with the target., The cyberspies used to propose a collaboration with a security researcher on topics of mutual interest.

Once the attackers establish contact with the target via a social media site, they move to an encrypted messaging app such as Signal, WhatsApp or Wire.

Once the attackers have established relationship with a targeted researcher, they sent a malicious file that contained at least one 0-day in a popular software package.

“Upon successful exploitation, the shellcode conducts a series of anti-virtual machine checks and then sends the collected information, along with a screenshot, back to an attacker-controlled command and control domain. The shellcode used in this exploit is constructed in a similar manner to shellcode observed in previous North Korean exploits.” reads the report published by Google TAG researchers security researchers Clement Lecigne and Maddie Stone. “The vulnerability has been reported to the affected vendor and is in the process of being patched. Once patched, we will release additional technical details and analysis of the exploits involved in line with our disclosure policies.”

North Korea-linked threat actors also used a custom standalone Windows tool that has the stated goal of ‘download debugging symbols from Microsoft, Google, Mozilla and Citrix symbol servers for reverse engineers.’ The source code of this tool was first published on GitHub on September 30, 2022 and it received several updates.

The tool was designed to enable the attackers to download and execute arbitrary code.

“If you have downloaded or run this tool, TAG recommends taking precautions to ensure your system is in a known clean state, likely requiring a reinstall of the operating system.” concludes the report that also include a list of actor controlled sites and accounts.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, North Korea-linked threat actors)


facebook linkedin twitter

cyber espionage Hacking hacking news information security news Intelligence malware North Korea Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 14, 2025
Interlock ransomware group deploys new PHP-based RAT via FileFix
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 14, 2025
Global Louis Vuitton data breach impacts UK, South Korea, and Turkey
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Interlock ransomware group deploys new PHP-based RAT via FileFix

    Cyber Crime / July 14, 2025

    Global Louis Vuitton data breach impacts UK, South Korea, and Turkey

    Data Breach / July 14, 2025

    Experts uncover critical flaws in Kigen eSIM technology affecting billions

    Security / July 14, 2025

    Spain awarded €12.3 million in contracts to Huawei

    Intelligence / July 14, 2025

    Patch immediately: CVE-2025-25257 PoC enables remote code execution on Fortinet FortiWeb

    Security / July 13, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT