Swift Hackers Linked to ‘North Korean’ Lazarus Group

The recent Swift attacks on banks across the globe have links to the infamous Lazarus Group pegged for the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack, according to Symantec.

The security giant explained in a blog post that it identified three pieces of malware used in a newly discovered set of attacks on South-east Asian banks: Backdoor.Fimlis, Backdoor.Fimlis.B, and Backdoor.Contopee.

On closer inspection it discovered code sharing between early variants of Backdoor.Contopee and Trojan.Banswift – which was used in the $81 million heist at the Bangladesh Bank.

“Symantec believes distinctive code shared between families and the fact that Backdoor.Contopee was being used in limited targeted attacks against financial institutions in the region, means these tools can be attributed to the same group,” it explained.

This means that at least one more bank, in the Philippines, is likely to have been attacked by the Swift hackers that have already been pegged for raids on the Bangladesh Bank, Vietnam’s Tien Phong bank and Ecuador’s Banco del Austro.

However, Backdoor.Contopee also provides a link to the Lazarus gang, which has been observed using the same malware. This raises the prospect that the hackers who attacked Bangladesh Bank and others are North Korean state-sponsored operatives.

Lazarus is linked to a string of attacks since 2009 aimed at US and South Korean organizations.

“The group was linked to Backdoor.Destover, a highly destructive trojan that was the subject of an FBI warning after it was used in an attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment. The FBI concluded that the North Korean government was responsible for this attack,” explained Symantec.

“The discovery of more attacks provides further evidence that the group involved is conducting a wide campaign against financial targets in the region.”

Global bank transfer messaging organization Swift responded this week by launching a five-point plan for its members designed to fortify their defenses against future attacks.

One of its main tenets is better information sharing within the industry, which Swift says it will help co-ordinate.

Given the level of sophistication in the attacks against Bangladesh Bank and others, it has been suggested in the past that those who carried them out could be insiders.

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