Bluenoroff is Kaspersky's name for a financially motivated unit within the broader Lazarus formation. Kaspersky introduced the designation publicly in 2017 while documenting bank intrusions connected to the 2016 Bangladesh Central Bank theft and other attacks on financial institutions and SWIFT-connected systems. The group used watering holes, backdoors, compromised infrastructure, and malware tailored to banking environments, with activity spanning multiple countries. By 2022, Kaspersky described a shift from banks and SWIFT servers toward cryptocurrency businesses as the group's principal source of illicit income. Operators created convincing cryptocurrency software companies and applications, delivered backdoored updates, and used malicious documents and social engineering to abuse trust. The reporting portrays Bluenoroff as able to draw on the larger formation's malware, exploits, and infrastructure while maintaining a distinct financial objective.
Costa Rican Financial Institution
#CostaRicanFI • 2018-01
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
A private Costa Rican financial institution was targeted in January 2018 in an attempted USD 19 million theft. Carnegie's financial-sector timeline and UN Panel reporting linked the case to DPRK-affiliated actors, placing it within the wider North Korean campaign against banks and financial institutions for sanctions-evasion revenue.
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Affected Countries
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103
Months Since
Related Actors
First seen: 2017-04 •
Last seen: 2026-07
Related Reports
2021-03-23
Carnegie Endowment
2019-08-31
UN