APT38
APT38 is a North Korea-aligned threat actor associated with the DPRK and widely linked to financially motivated cyber operations, especially theft from cryptocurrency and financial targets. The provided content ties APT38 closely to BlueNoroff/Bluenoroff and notes OFAC listed APT38 and APT 38 as aliases of Bluenoroff; the content also references related aliases and tracking names including BeagleBoyz, BlueNoroff, CageyChameleon, CryptoCore, DangerousPassword, LeeryTurtle, Masan, Nickel Tapestry, Sapphire Sleet, TA444, and UNC1069. Multiple items in the content describe UNC1069/CryptoCore as a DPRK-linked cryptocurrency-theft cluster active since at least 2018 that may be the successor to what was previously tracked as APT38. The actor is described as targeting cryptocurrency organizations, cryptocurrency exchanges, financial institutions, and related users and officials, with objectives including confidential information theft and monetary gain via SWIFT and cryptocurrency theft. The content also states that U.S. authorities attributed the theft of approximately $615 million from Axie Infinity to Lazarus Group and APT38, and that DOJ reporting tracked Lazarus Group and APT38 as part of a North Korean conspiracy involving bank heists, cryptocurrency theft, malicious cryptocurrency applications, FASTCash activity, and other financially motivated operations. Directly attributed tradecraft in the content includes use of the NACHOCHEESE command-line tunneler for shell access, use of batch scripts, collection of data from compromised hosts, modification of file timestamps to mimic nearby files, use of Sysmon for process and service reconnaissance, use of open-source tools such as Mimikatz, collection of browser bookmark information to profile victims and identify internal resources, and use of CLOSESHAVE to securely delete files and remove malware, tools, and other non-native artifacts during cleanup. The content also notes Elastic assessed PHANTOMPULSE tradecraft, targeting, and infrastructure as aligned with DPRK-linked crypto-targeting clusters including Lazarus, BlueNoroff, UNC5342, and APT38, but that reporting aligns rather than directly attributes PHANTOMPULSE to APT38.
Know when an actor pivots toward your sector
Mallory correlates actor tradecraft and target patterns against your stack, your sector, and your geography. See overlap before they land.
Targeting
Who, where, and (when attributed) which flag flies behind the operation. Pulled from open-source reporting and Mallory's analyst review.
Who they target
Sectors the actor has been observed targeting.
- Financial Services
Where they're from
Attributed origin per open-source reporting.
- KP
Tradecraft
56 distinct techniques observed across reporting, grouped by tactic. Hover any cell for the evidence excerpt; click through for MITRE's full description.
Associated malware families
76 malware families attributed to this actor across reporting.
71 additional families tracked in Mallory.
Associated vulnerabilities
2 CVEs this actor has used in observed campaigns. 2 of them exploited in the wild.
This detection identifies instances where Windows Explorer.exe spawns PowerShell or cmd.exe processes, particularly focusing on executions initiated by LNK files. This behavior is associated with the ZDI-CAN-25373 Windows shortcut zero-day vulnerability, where specially crafted LNK files are used to trigger malicious code execution through cmd.exe or powershell.exe. This technique has been actively exploited by multiple APT groups in targeted attacks through both HTTP and SMB delivery methods.
CERT-EU disclosed on April 2-3, 2026 that the European Commission's Europa web hosting platform on AWS was breached through the Trivy supply chain compromise (CVE-2026-33634). ... Entry vector: Supply chain via compromised Trivy (CVE-2026-33634) ... The CISA KEV remediation deadline for CVE-2026-33634 is now 5 days away (April 8, 2026).
Observables
443 indicators attributed to this actor: domains, IPs, hashes, and other artifacts pulled from reporting. View more in app.
Recent activity
20 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Referenced as a DPRK-linked group whose known patterns match the PHANTOMPULSE campaign, especially cryptocurrency wallet targeting.
Targeting macOS in a multi-stage intrusion campaign.
Referenced as a North Korean threat cluster with tradecraft similar to the observed campaign, especially around cryptocurrency and developer targeting.
Referenced as a named activity cluster or threat actor discussed in the ESET APT Activity Report Q4 2025–Q1 2026.
The version that knows your environment.
Match sector + geo + tech-stack targeting against your real footprint.
Every observed MITRE ATT&CK technique, grouped by tactic.
Families this actor is known to deploy, with IOCs and behavior.
CVEs this actor has used in known campaigns.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Domains, IPs, and hashes tied to this actor, refreshed continuously.