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.
Nexus Mutual
#NexusMutual • 2020-11
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Nexus Mutual founder Hugh Karp's wallet was drained of 370,000 NXM tokens, which were converted into wrapped NXM and sent through attacker-controlled Ethereum addresses. Later analysis included Nexus Mutual among cryptocurrency thefts traced to Lazarus Group, also described as Bluenoroff or APT38, and Big Phish contextualized the activity within DPRK-affiliated actors' financially focused cryptocurrency operations.
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Related Reports
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Affected Countries
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69
Months Since
Related Actors
First seen: 2017-04 •
Last seen: 2026-07
Related Reports
2024-03-07
UN