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US Government Says North Korea Has Just Launched a New Cyberattack

Malware dubbed Typeframe discovered by DHS

Jun 18, 2018 06:56 GMT  ·  By
The US govt says North Korean launched several attacks this year
   The US govt says North Korean launched several attacks this year

The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has issued a warning about a new form of malware used by North Korea to compromise computers as part of the Hidden Cobra campaign.

Dubbed Typeframe, this malware can do pretty much the same things as other cyber-infections discovered earlier this year and allegedly used by the North Korean government, including downloading and installing other payloads, changing firewall rules, and waiting for instructions from a control center.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it has discovered 11 malware samples consisting of 32-bit and 64-bit Windows executable files and a Microsoft Word document containing macros that are being used to deploy the malware on target computers.

Hidden Cobra attacks

The US-CERT has issued several alerts lately regarding Hidden Cobra, a malicious cyber-activity campaign launched by North Korea and including several forms of malware allegedly used to take control of systems and help compromise high-profile targets.

On May 29, a warning revealed that North Korea has been using two different families of malware called Joanap and Brambul since at least 2009 to track activity on the infected computers. Citing third-party reports, the US-CERT said North Korea used Hidden Cobra attacks against targets worldwide and in the United States, including the media, aerospace, financial, and other infrastructure sectors.

Countries like Argentina, Belgium, China, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Sweden have been targeted, the US-CERT explained.

“Malware often infects servers and systems without the knowledge of system users and owners. If the malware can establish persistence, it could move laterally through a victim’s network and any connected networks to infect nodes beyond those identified in this alert,” the warning read.

North Korea has also been blamed for the infamous WannaCry attack that infected thousands of computers worldwide and which forced Microsoft to ship emergency security updates, even for unsupported operating systems like Windows XP.