APT37

Overview

APT37 is a North Korean state-sponsored cyber espionage group that has been active since at least 2012. The group has targeted victims primarily in South Korea, but also in Japan, Vietnam, Russia, Nepal, China, India, Romania, Kuwait, and other parts of the Middle East. APT37 has also been linked to the following campaigns between 2016-2018: Operation Daybreak, Operation Erebus, Golden Time, Evil New Year, Are you Happy?, FreeMilk, North Korean Human Rights, and Evil New Year 2018. North Korean group definitions are known to have significant overlap, and some security researchers report all North Korean state-sponsored cyber activity under the name Lazarus Group instead of tracking clusters or subgroups.

Naming & attribution

APT37 is tracked under 7 names across the industry. It uses 29 documented ATT&CK techniques — more than 64% of the 174 groups tracked here. Activity attributed since at least 2012.

Distinctive techniques

Techniques this group uses that are rare across the other 173 tracked groups — these carry more signal than the near-universal ones.

• T1036.001 Invalid Code Signature — used by 2 of 174 groups
• T1123 Audio Capture — used by 2 of 174 groups

Closest groups by technique overlap

Computed from shared ATT&CK techniques. Overlap is not attribution — distinct actors converge on the same tradecraft — but a high share is a useful pivot.

• Windshift — 12 shared techniques (33% overlap)
• Patchwork — 15 shared techniques (27% overlap)
• APT38 North Korea — 17 shared techniques (25% overlap)
• BRONZE BUTLER China — 14 shared techniques (25% overlap)
• Cobalt Group — 12 shared techniques (24% overlap)
• Higaisa South Korea — 11 shared techniques (24% overlap)

Targets

Government · Private sector

Regions

Japan · South Korea · Vietnam

Capabilities

• Destructive / data-wiping operations — ATT&CK T1561.002
• Exploitation of public-facing / client applications — ATT&CK T1203
• Custom malware/implant development — ATT&CK: 13 attributed custom malware families

TTPs — 29 techniques across 10 tactics

Tools & malware (13)

BLUELIGHT · CORALDECK · KARAE · SLOWDRIFT · ROKRAT · SHUTTERSPEED · POORAIM · HAPPYWORK · Final1stspy · Cobalt Strike · NavRAT · DOGCALL · WINERACK

Reporting (3)

• Adversary Profile - Ricochet Chollima — CrowdStrike
• North Korean APT InkySquid Infects Victims Using Browser Exploits — Cash, D., Grunzweig, J., Meltzer, M., Adair, S., Lancaster, T
• ScarCruft continues to evolve, introduces Bluetooth harvester — GReAT