Severity
High
Analysis Summary
The Konni APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) group has been a cyber espionage group since at least 2014. It is believed to be based in North Korea and is known for targeting government agencies and organizations in South Korea and the United States.
The North Korean hacker group distributes Konni RAT via phishing messages or emails. The infection chain begins when the victim accesses a weaponized file. Adversaries employ Konni RAT to gather information from victims, capture screenshots, steal files, and build a remote interactive shell. KONNI has been linked to various alleged North Korean attacks targeting political groups in Russia, East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. KONNI shares a significant code overlap with the NOKKI malware family. Konni's APT Group continues to attack malicious documents written in Russian. This threat actor group conducts attacks on Russian-North Korean trade and economic investment documents.
This APT group was detected targeting the Russian diplomatic sector in January 2022, employing a spear phishing theme for New Year's Eve festivities as bait. When the malicious email attachment is opened and processed, a series of events occur, allowing the actor to install an implant from the Konni RAT family as the final payload.
Impact
- Information Theft and Espionage
Indicators of Compromise
MD5
04ef29637c2853fe4fb7697964d3ca89
63678a326286014bcc69f901e33cadd1
SHA-256
f3ad2613c91bcdba2dec12572be1a7c3051576f77fab8c0f69a9db769d6aec2e
faba007fac1b9ba1f054aa54953fc65fd4603c20f617c7f620de65cb4d4a50c5
SHA1
63724097ac76ae002721444a0f279facb334a9a7
19290ff8b50cb06f869f1a7132a4958218dc67f6
URL
- https://orientedworld.com/wp-content/plugins/health-check/pages/gorgon1/d.php?na=battmp
Remediation
- Block all threat indicators at your respective controls.
- Search for indicators of compromise (IOCs) in your environment utilizing your respective security controls.
- Do not download documents attached in emails from unknown sources and strictly refrain from enabling macros when the source isn’t reliable.
- Enable antivirus and anti-malware software and update signature definitions on time. Using multi-layered protection is necessary to secure vulnerable assets.
- Along with network and system hardening, code hardening should be implemented within the organization so that their websites and software are secure. Use testing tools to detect any vulnerabilities in the deployed codes.