AppleJeus is a North Korean state-sponsored threat group attributed to the Reconnaissance General Bureau. Associated with the broader Lazarus Group umbrella of actors, AppleJeus has been active since at least 2018 and is closely aligned in resources with TEMP.hermit, another DPRK-affiliated group under the same umbrella.[1] The group’s primary mission is to generate and launder revenue to provide financial support to the government. AppleJeus primarily targets the cryptocurrency industry and is most notably responsible for the 3CX Supply Chain Attack.[2] The group traditionally deploys malicious cryptocurrency software in combination with Phishing. From these compromised environments, it selectively deploys additional backdoors to enable extended operations against high-value financial targets.[3][4]
2
TechniquesBottom 8%
2
TacticsBottom 10%
0
Tools & malwarevia campaign only
1
Campaignunranked
Enterprise ATT&CK only. Any Mobile or ICS rows on the same ATT&CK page are not carried.
During the 3CX Supply Chain Attack,AppleJeus encrypts its dynamic library files (.dll) using RC4, and when loaded only decrypts specific portions of the file using the key 3jB(2bsG#@c7.8
Stealthvia an attributed campaign only1 detection rules
During the 3CX Supply Chain Attack,AppleJeus's VEILEDSIGNAL uses process injection to inject the C2 communication module code in the first found process instance of Chrome, Firefox, or Edge web browsers. It also monitors the established named pipe and re-injects the C2 communication module if necessary.9
Privilege Escalation · Stealthvia an attributed campaign only69 detection rules
During the 3CX Supply Chain Attack,AppleJeus's COLDCAT C2 leverages cookie headers to contain data over HTTPS. Cookies also contain hardcoded variables __tutma or __tutmc in the payload's HTTPS request.1213
Command and Controlvia an attributed campaign only60 detection rules
Standing G1049
Reach is how much of ATT&CK this group touches. Coverage is how well defended each thing it does is, as a median per technique rather than a total — a total would just restate the reach. Each figure is ranked against all 176 ATT&CK groups only where that population actually spreads. Where most of the population shares one value, a percentile would rank the tie instead of the entity, so the raw value is shown and no rank is claimed.
Reach
Techniques2Bottom 8%
8th percentile · 92% of 176 ATT&CK groups have more Enterprise techniques.
Tactics2Bottom 10%
10th percentile · 90% of 176 ATT&CK groups have more tactics spanned.
Tools & malware0Bottom 9%
9th percentile · 91% of 176 ATT&CK groups have more tools and malware.
Campaign189% tie · 4 values
89% of the population shares a single value across only 4 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
Coverage
Rules / technique15.5med44th pct
44th percentile · 56% of 176 ATT&CK groups have more detection rules per technique.
Tests / technique0medBottom 16%
16th percentile · 84% of 176 ATT&CK groups have more atomic tests per technique.
Data comps / technique4.5med65% tie · 12 values
65% of the population shares a single value across only 12 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
Mitigations / technique4med43% tie · 11 values
43% of the population shares a single value across only 11 distinct values, so a percentile here would rank the tie, not the entity.
5 of 8 axes carry an honest rank on this page. Coverage medians are taken across this group’s 2 Enterprise techniques.
Range
Technique Campaign use over its cumulative rule count.
The following analytic identifies suspicious file-sharing activity on Google Drive, where internal users share documents with more than 50 external recipients. (...)
The following analytic detects suspicious calendar invites sent via GSuite, potentially indicating compromised accounts or malicious internal activity. (...)
Detects attempts to create a DLL file to a known desktop application dependencies folder such as Slack, Teams or OneDrive and by an unusual process. (...)
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