Rewterz Threat Alert – North Korea Linked Konni APT Group – Active IOCs

Severity

High

Analysis Summary

The Konni APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) group is a cyber espionage group that has been active 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 with 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 a 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

• d2ed41719424bb024535afa1b2d17f3a

SHA-256

• e631222de34a094f0dff24d76843923f83cdd436453a35d5cae4536b4a565ea8

SHA-1

• 4700b2d58a8ce52e272eb3652fee799cc7c7a0ac

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 in a timely manner. 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.