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.
HSBC Malta
#HSBCMalta • 2018-10
🇲🇹 Malta
Group-IB described an attempted attack on HSBC's Maltese office that was detected and stopped, then linked the activity to the same Lazarus SWIFT-focused cluster behind later thefts from Mexican banks, Banco de Chile, AkBank, and Bank of Valletta. The reporting frames the HSBC Malta case as part of a North Korea-linked campaign against financial institutions that relied on SWIFT access and carefully prepared cash-out operations rather than opportunistic banking malware.
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First seen: 2017-04 •
Last seen: 2026-07