Threat Actor

Kimsuky

Also known as: Kimsuky, Black Banshee, Velvet Chollima, Emerald Sleet, THALLIUM, APT43, TA427, Springtail, Earth Kumiho, PatheticSlug

[Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0094) is a Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)-based cyber espionage group that has been active since at least 2012. The group initially targeted South Korean government agencies, think tanks, and subject-matter experts in various fields. Its operations expanded to include the United Nations and organizations in the government, education, business services, and manufacturing sectors across the United States, Japan, Russia, and Europe. [Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0094) has focused collection on foreign policy and national security issues tied to the Korean Peninsula, nuclear policy, and sanctions. [Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0094) operations have overlapped with those of other North Korean state-sponsored cyber espionage actors as a result of ad hoc collaborations or other limited resource sharing.(Citation: EST Kimsuky April 2019)(Citation: Cybereason Kimsuky November 2020)(Citation: Malwarebytes Kimsuky June 2021)(Citation: CISA AA20-301A Kimsuky)(Citation: Mandiant APT43 March 2024)(Citation: Proofpoint TA427 April 2024) [Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0094) was assessed to be responsible for the 2014 Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. compromise; other notable campaigns include Operation STOLEN PENCIL (2018), Operation Kabar Cobra (2019), and Operation Smoke Screen (2019).(Citation: Netscout Stolen Pencil Dec 2018)(Citation: EST Kimsuky SmokeScreen April 2019)(Citation: AhnLab Kimsuky Kabar Cobra Feb 2019) In 2023, [Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0094) was observed using commercial large language models (LLMs) to assist with vulnerability research, scripting, social engineering and reconnaissance.(Citation: MSFT-AI) DPRK threat actor cluster boundaries overlap in open source reporting, with some security researchers consolidating all attributed North Korean state-sponsored cyber activity under [Lazarus Group](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0032), rather than tracking operationally distinct subgroups.

50
Techniques
20
Software

Properties

stix_id
intrusion-set--0ec2f388-bf0f-4b5c-97b1-fc736d26c25f
signal_observed_at
2026-09-11T17:54:59+00:00
type
intrusion-set

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques (50)

Acquire Infrastructure

Adversaries may buy, lease, rent, or obtain infrastructure that can be used during targeting. A wide variety of infrastructure exists for hosting and

Additional Local or Domain Groups

An adversary may add additional local or domain groups to an adversary-controlled account to maintain persistent access to a system or domain. On Win

Adversary-in-the-Middle

Adversaries may attempt to position themselves between two or more networked devices using an adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) technique to support foll

Archive via Custom Method

An adversary may compress or encrypt data that is collected prior to exfiltration using a custom method. Adversaries may choose to use custom archival

Archive via Utility

Adversaries may use utilities to compress and/or encrypt collected data prior to exfiltration. Many utilities include functionalities to compress, enc

Automated Exfiltration

Adversaries may exfiltrate data, such as sensitive documents, through the use of automated processing after being gathered during Collection.(Citation

Bidirectional Communication

Adversaries may use an existing, legitimate external Web service as a means for sending commands to and receiving output from a compromised system ove

Binary Padding

Adversaries may use binary padding to add junk data and change the on-disk representation of malware. This can be done without affecting the functiona

Browser Extensions

Adversaries may abuse internet browser extensions to establish persistent access to victim systems. Browser extensions or plugins are small programs t

Browser Information Discovery

Adversaries may enumerate information about browsers to learn more about compromised environments. Data saved by browsers (such as bookmarks, accounts

Browser Session Hijacking

Adversaries may take advantage of security vulnerabilities and inherent functionality in browser software to change content, modify user-behaviors, an

Change Default File Association

Adversaries may establish persistence by executing malicious content triggered by a file type association. When a file is opened, the default program

Clipboard Data

Adversaries may collect data stored in the clipboard from users copying information within or between applications. For example, on Windows adversar

Code Signing

Adversaries may create, acquire, or steal code signing materials to sign their malware or tools. Code signing provides a level of authenticity on a bi

Code Signing Certificates

Adversaries may buy and/or steal code signing certificates that can be used during targeting. Code signing is the process of digitally signing executa

Command Obfuscation

Adversaries may obfuscate content during command execution to impede detection. Command-line obfuscation is a method of making strings and patterns wi

Component Object Model

Adversaries may use the Windows Component Object Model (COM) for local code execution. COM is an inter-process communication (IPC) component of the na

Compression

Adversaries may use compression to obfuscate their payloads or files. Compressed file formats such as ZIP, gzip, 7z, and RAR can compress and archive

Credentials In Files

Adversaries may search local file systems and remote file shares for files containing insecurely stored credentials. These can be files created by use

Credentials from Web Browsers

Adversaries may acquire credentials from web browsers by reading files specific to the target browser.(Citation: Talos Olympic Destroyer 2018) Web bro

Data from Local System

Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to

Dead Drop Resolver

Adversaries may use an existing, legitimate external Web service to host information that points to additional command and control (C2) infrastructure

Delay Execution

Adversaries may employ various time-based methods to evade detection and analysis. These techniques often exploit system clocks, delays, or timing mec

Deobfuscate/Decode Files or Information

Adversaries may use [Obfuscated Files or Information](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1027) to hide artifacts of an intrusion from analysis. They

Develop Capabilities

Adversaries may build capabilities that can be used during targeting. Rather than purchasing, freely downloading, or stealing capabilities, adversarie

Disable or Modify System Firewall

Adversaries may disable or modify host-based or network firewalls to impair defensive mechanisms and enable further action. Once an adversary has gath

Disable or Modify System Firewall

Adversaries may disable or modify system firewalls in order to bypass controls limiting network usage. Changes could be disabling the entire mechanism

Disable or Modify Tools

Adversaries may disable, degrade, or tamper with security tools or applications (e.g., endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, intrusion detectio

Disable or Modify Tools

Adversaries may modify and/or disable security tools to avoid possible detection of their malware/tools and activities. This may take many forms, such

Domains

Adversaries may hijack domains and/or subdomains that can be used during targeting. Domain registration hijacking is the act of changing the registrat

Software & Tools (20)

Amadey [malware]

[Amadey](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1025) is a Trojan bot that has been used since at least October 2018.(Citation: Korean FSI TA505 2020)(Cit

AppleSeed [malware]

[AppleSeed](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0622) is a backdoor that has been used by [Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0094) to target So

BabyShark [malware]

[BabyShark](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0414) is a Microsoft Visual Basic (VB) script-based malware family that is believed to be associated wi

Brave Prince [malware]

[Brave Prince](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0252) is a Korean-language implant that was first observed in the wild in December 2017. It contains

CSPY Downloader [tool]

[CSPY Downloader](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0527) is a tool designed to evade analysis and download additional payloads used by [Kimsuky](htt

GoBear [malware]

[GoBear](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1197) is a Go-based backdoor that abuses legitimate, stolen certificates for defense evasion purposes. [Go

Gold Dragon [malware]

[Gold Dragon](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0249) is a Korean-language, data gathering implant that was first observed in the wild in South Korea

Gomir [malware]

Gomir is a Linux backdoor variant of the Go-based malware [GoBear](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1197), uniquely assoicated with [Kimsuky](https:

HTTPTroy [malware]

[HTTPTroy](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S9007) is a highly obfuscated backdoor that facilitates collection, command and control, defense evasion

KGH_SPY [malware]

[KGH_SPY](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0526) is a modular suite of tools used by [Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0094) for reconnaiss

MimiKatz [malware]

[Mimikatz](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0002) is a credential dumper capable of obtaining plaintext Windows account logins and passwords, along

Mimikatz [tool]

[Mimikatz](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0002) is a credential dumper capable of obtaining plaintext Windows account logins and passwords, along

NOKKI [malware]

[NOKKI](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0353) is a modular remote access tool. The earliest observed attack using [NOKKI](https://attack.mitre.org/

PsExec [tool]

[PsExec](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0029) is a free Microsoft tool that can be used to execute a program on another computer. It is used by IT

QuasarRAT [malware]

[QuasarRAT](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0262) is an open-source, remote access tool that has been publicly available on GitHub since at least 2

TRANSLATEXT [malware]

[TRANSLATEXT](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1201) is malware that is believed to be used by [Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/groups/G0094).(Cit

Troll Stealer [malware]

[Troll Stealer](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S1196) is an information stealer written in Go associated with [Kimsuky](https://attack.mitre.org/gr

certutil [tool]

[certutil](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0160) is a command-line utility that can be used to obtain certificate authority information and configu

gh0st RAT [malware]

[gh0st RAT](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0032) is a remote access tool (RAT). The source code is public and it has been used by multiple groups.

schtasks [tool]

[schtasks](https://attack.mitre.org/software/S0111) is used to schedule execution of programs or scripts on a Windows system to run at a specific date

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