A North Korean threat actor is launching social engineering attacks against job seekers in the tech industry, according to researchers at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42.
The hackers are impersonating job recruiters and attempting to trick job seekers into installing malware as part of the phony interview process.
“In this campaign, the attackers targeted job-seeking individuals on LinkedIn, luring them to download and execute malware that masquerades as a legitimate video call application,” the researchers write. “This campaign is a continuation of activity we initially reported in November 2023.”
The threat actors set up convincing online personas impersonating technical recruiters and reach out to software developers with enticing employment offers. The hackers convince the job seeker to install a malicious version of a legitimate video-conferencing application in order to conduct an online interview.
Unit 42 notes that North Korean state-sponsored threat actors often conduct both cyber espionage and financial theft during their operations. In this case, the malware was designed to steal cryptocurrency, as well as potentially giving the hackers access to sensitive corporate information.
“North Korean threat actors are known to conduct financial crimes for funds to support the DPRK regime,” the researchers write. “This campaign may be financially motivated, since the BeaverTail malware has the capability of stealing 13 different cryptocurrency wallets....Another important risk that this campaign poses is potential infiltration of the companies who employ the targeted job seekers.
A successful infection on a company-owned endpoint could result in collection and exfiltration of sensitive information. It is essential for individuals and organizations to be aware of such advanced social engineering campaigns.”
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Unit 42 has the story.
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