Kimsuky – North Korea’s Cyber Threat

Kimsuky, a North Korean state-sponsored cyber adversary, has been active since at least 2012. Known for its expert use of social engineering techniques, Kimsuky targets entities related to South Korean politics, government, and military, as well as individuals and organizations involved in Korean reunification efforts. To help organizations assess their security posture against this threat, AttackIQ has released four new attack graphs emulating Kimsuky’s reconnaissance operations.

Kimsuky’s Tactics and Techniques

Kimsuky is known for leveraging upcoming geopolitical events, such as inter-Korean summits, to lure targets into opening malicious documents received via spear-phishing emails. The group often relies on the same or similar malware families in its infection chains, demonstrating flexibility by changing infection vectors to avoid detection and improve success rates.

AttackIQ’s New Emulation Tools

AttackIQ’s Security Optimization Platform now includes four new attack graphs emulating Kimsuky’s reconnaissance operations. These graphs enable security teams to:

1. Emulate North Korea’s intelligence-centric clandestine operations.
2. Assess security posture against a threat actor specializing in social engineering and deceptive attacks.
3. Continuously validate detection and prevention effectiveness against Kimsuky’s techniques.

The Four Kimsuky Attack Graphs

1. Kimsuky – 2023-03 – Compiled HTML Help (CHM) File Leads USER-based Infection Chain: Based on a series of attacks reported by AhnLab, this graph emulates Kimsuky’s use of CHM files as a delivery vector for user-specific reconnaissance operations.
2. Kimsuky – 2023-02 – Office Document-based Campaign against Security-related Organizations: This graph emulates Kimsuky’s use of malicious Microsoft Office Word documents to distribute malware to security-related companies.
3. Kimsuky – 2022-11 – Campaign against Nuclear Power Plant-related Companies with AppleSeed: This graph emulates Kimsuky’s distribution of the AppleSeed backdoor to South Korean nuclear power plant-related companies.
4. Kimsuky – 2022-11 – Malicious Word Document Culminates in Reconnaissance Campaign: Based on two reports published by AhnLab, this graph emulates Kimsuky’s distribution of a password-protected Word document for reconnaissance purposes.

Conclusion

Kimsuky is a significant and dangerous cyber threat emanating from North Korea. AttackIQ’s four new attack graphs, based on Kimsuky’s reconnaissance operations, provide organizations with valuable tools to assess and strengthen their security posture against this persistent adversary. By continuously validating detection and prevention effectiveness, organizations can better defend themselves against Kimsuky’s advanced techniques and reduce their risk exposure.