- Category
- State · Attributed to a state or working for one.
- Origin
- North Korea(high confidence)
- Sponsor
- State-sponsored, Bureau/Unit 211
- Agency named
- Lazarus, RGB, Reconnaissance General Bureau
- Motivation
- Espionage; Financial crime; Information theft and espionage; Sabotage; Sabotage and destruction
- Seen
- 2007–2026
- Status
- Active
- ATT&CK
- G0032 · 94 techniques
- Sources
- 12 sources carry it
- Identifier
- GINC-APT-0029 · lazarus-group
What it is
Lazarus Group is a North Korean state-sponsored cyber threat group attributed to the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB). Lazarus Group has been active since at least 2009 and is reportedly responsible for the November 2014 destructive wiper attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, identified by Novetta as part of Operation Blockbuster. Malware used by Lazarus Group correlates to other reported campaigns, including Operation Flame, Operation 1Mission, Operation Troy, DarkSeoul, and Ten Days of Rain.
North Korea’s cyber operations have shown a consistent pattern of adaptation, forming and reorganizing units as national priorities shift. These units frequently share personnel, infrastructure, malware, and tradecraft, making it difficult to attribute specific operations with high confidence. Public reporting often uses “Lazarus Group” as an umbrella term for multiple North Korean cyber operators conducting espionage, destructive attacks, and financially motivated campaigns.
Names
The names each vendor, agency and source gives it. Naming differs by who tracks the actor, so one group carries many.
- CrowdStrike
- Genie Spider, Labyrinth Chollima, Lazarus Group, Hidden Cobra, Labyrinth Chollima, STARDUST CHOLLIMA
- IBM X-Force
- ITG03
- Mandiant
- UNC1069, UNC2970, APT 38, APT38, UNC4034, UNC4736, UNC4899, UNC577
- Microsoft
- Citrine Sleet, Diamond Sleet, Jade Sleet, Sapphire Sleet, DEV-0139, DEV-1222, Moonstone Sleet, Storm-0139, Storm-0954, Storm-1222
- MITRE ATT&CK
- G0032
- NSHC
- SectorA01
- Proofpoint
- TA404
- Qihoo 360
- APT-C-26
- Secureworks
- CTG-2460, NICKEL ACADEMY, NICKEL GLADSTONE
- Talos and others
- Group 77
- Thales
- ATK117, ATK3
- Operations
- Operation Sharpshooter, Operation AppleJeus, Operation DarkSeoul, Operation GhostSecret, Operation Troy, Operation “99”, Operation “AppleJeus sequel”, Operation “AppleJeus”, Operation “Blockbuster”: Breach of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Operation “CryptoCore”, Operation “Dream Job”, Operation “Dream Magic”, Operation “Flame”, Operation “GhostSecret”, Operation “In(ter)caption”, Operation “LolZarus”, Operation “Marstech Mayhem”, Operation “No Pineapple!”, Operation “North Star”, Operation “Phantom Circuit”, Operation “Sharpshooter”, Operation “SyncHole”, Operation “Ten Days of Rain” / ”DarkSeoul”, Operation “Troy”
- Other names
- Covellite, TraderTraitor, Alluring Pisces, Andariel, Appleworm, ATK 3, BeagleBoyz, Black Artemis, BlueNoroff, Bureau 121, CageyChameleon, COPERNICIUM, CryptoCore, Dark Seoul, Gleaming Pisces, Gods Apostles, Gods Disciples, Guardians of Peace, Hastati Group, HIDDEN COBRA, Lazarus, Lazarus - APT-C-26, MASAN, MIDNIGHT NEPTUNE, NewRomanic Cyber Army Team, Pukchong, Slow Pisces, Subgroup: Bluenoroff, Unit 121, Whois Hacking Team, ZINC
Attribution
Each attribution is a claim: who makes it, and to whom. Western and Eastern sources are kept apart, as they often disagree.
Western sources
- ETDA / ThaiCERTNorth Korea
- MISP Galaxy (CFR tagging)North Korea
- MicrosoftNorth Korea
- ThreatActor.info (Malpedia et al.)North Korea · high
Targets
- Countries
- Australia, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Sony Pictures Entertainment, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam
- Sectors
- Aerospace, Cryptocurrency, Defense, Energy, Engineering, Entertainment, Financial, Government, Healthcare, Media, Private sector, Shipping and Logistics, Technology
Tools
The tools and malware families the sources tie to it.
- AppleJeus
- Archelaus Beta
- AuditCred
- BADCALL
- BLINDINGCAN
- Backdoor.Oldrea
- Bankshot
- Cryptoistic
- Dacls
- Dtrack
- ECCENTRICBANDWAGON
- FALLCHILL
- GeminiDuke
- HARDRAIN
- HOPLIGHT
- HotCroissant
- KEYMARBLE
- MagicRAT
- Nuclear RAT
- Proxysvc
- RATANKBA
- RawDisk
- Remote Utilities
- RemoteCMD
- RemotePC
- Responder
- SharpBot
- SharpEye
- TAINTEDSCRIBE
- TYPEFRAME
- ThreatNeedle
- Trojan.Karagany
- Trojan.Mebromi
- Volgmer
- WannaCry
- Whois Wiper
- Wiper
- Xploit
- netsh
- route
Sources
- MITRE ATT&CK attack.mitre.org
- ETDA Threat Group Card apt.etda.or.th
- Malpedia malpedia.caad.fkie.fraunhofer.de