AppleJeus — APT Profile
AppleJeus is a North Korean state-sponsored threat group attributed to the Reconnaissance General Bureau. Associated with the broader Lazarus Group umbrella of actors, AppleJeus has been active since at least 2018 and is closely aligned in resources with TEMP.hermit, another DPRK-affiliated group under the same umbrella. The group’s primary mission is to generate and launder revenue to provide financial support to the government. AppleJeus primarily targets the cryptocurrency industry and is most notably responsible for the 3CX Supply Chain Attack. The group traditionally deploys malicious cryptocurrency software in combination with Phishing. From these compromised environments, it selectively deploys additional backdoors to enable extended operations against high-value financial targets.Also tracked as
Gleaming Pisces, Citrine Sleet, UNC1720, UNC4736, APT38, Hidden Cobra
Tools & malware
- Ants2Whale Trojanized cryptocurrency trading application
- Celas Trade Pro Trojanized cryptocurrency trading application
- CoinGoTrade Trojanized cryptocurrency trading application
- Dorusio Trojanized cryptocurrency trading application
- FALLCHILL Remote access trojan
- JMT Trading Trojanized cryptocurrency trading application
- Kupay Wallet Trojanized cryptocurrency trading application
- Union Crypto Trojanized cryptocurrency trading application
Vendor research
- Operation AppleJeus: Lazarus hits cryptocurrency exchange with fake installer and macOS malware Kaspersky (Securelist)
- AppleJeus, Software S0584 MITRE ATT&CK
- Lazarus group uses fake cryptocurrency apps to plant AppleJeus malware Malwarebytes
- Threat Assessment: North Korean Threat Groups Unit42
- 3CX Software Supply Chain Compromise Initiated by a Prior Software Supply Chain Compromise; Suspected North Korean Actor Responsible Mandiant
- Tempted to Classifying APT Actors: Practical Challenges of Attribution in the Case of Lazarus’s Subgroup JPCert
- Exposing DPRK's Cyber Syndicate and Hidden IT Workforce dtex
- Assessed Cyber Structure and Alignments of North Korea in 2023 Mandiant