Marine Chain

#MarineChain • 2017-10

🇸🇬 Singapore

Marine Chain was a Hong Kong-registered blockchain maritime investment platform investigated as a DPRK-linked cryptocurrency and sanctions-evasion scheme, with reporting noting at least one DPRK individual behind the project and concerns that tokenized ship ownership could generate revenue for North Korea while obscuring vessel ownership. Additional reporting tied Marine Chain to suspected North Korea-linked cryptocurrency scams and broader elite internet use patterns supporting sanctions-circumvention and revenue activity.

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Bluenoroff

Kaspersky

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.

Lazarus Under The Hood
First seen: 2017-04 • Last seen: 2026-07

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