Following the UK and international allies exposing a global cyber espionage campaign, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ – has issued a new advisory.
The global cyber espionage campaign was carried out by attackers sponsored by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to further the regime’s military and nuclear ambitions.
As such, the NCSC – alongside partners in the United States and the Republic of Korea – has revealed how a cyber threat group known as Andariel has been compromising organisations around the world to steal sensitive and classified technical information and intellectual property data.
The NCSC assessed that Andariel is a part of DPRK’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) 3rd Bureau and that the group’s malicious cyber activities pose an ongoing threat to critical infrastructure organisations globally.
The cyber actors have primarily targeted defence, aerospace, nuclear and engineering entities, and organisations in the medical and energy sectors to a lesser extent, in order to obtain information such as contract specification, design drawings and project details.
As part of its operations, Andariel has also launched ransomware attacks against US healthcare organisations in order to extort payments and fund further espionage activity.
This advisory shares technical details and mitigation advice to help defend against the actors who have been seen exploiting known vulnerabilities to access victims’ systems before deploying malware and other tools to maintain persistence, evade detection and exfiltrate data.
“The global cyber espionage operation that we have exposed shows the lengths that DPRK state-sponsored actors are willing to go to pursue their military and nuclear programmes,” Paul Chichester, NCSC Director of Operations, said. “It should remind critical infrastructure operators of the importance of protecting the sensitive information and intellectual property they hold on their systems to prevent theft and misuse.
“The NCSC, alongside our US and Korean partners, strongly encourage network defenders to follow the guidance set out in this advisory to ensure they have strong protections in place to prevent this malicious activity.”
The advisory outlines how Andariel has evolved its operations from conducting destructive attacks targeting US and South Korea organisations to conducting specialised cyber espionage and ransomware attacks.
It warns that in some cases the actors have even been observed launching ransomware attacks and espionage operations on the same day and leveraging both activities against the same victim.
The advisory has been co-sealed by the NCSC, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the US Cyber National Mission Force (CNMF), the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the US Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), the US National Security Agency (NSA), the Republic of Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), and the Republic of Korea’s National Police Agency (NPA).
It can be read on the FBI website here.
To read more NCSC news, click here.
