A US cybersecurity company has announced that North Korean hackers have turned one of the world’s most widely used software libraries into a malware distribution system. In a report last week, researchers socketThe supply chain security firm said it discovered: Over 300 malicious code packages uploaded to npm registrya central repository used by millions of developers to share and install JavaScript software.
Packages, small pieces of reusable code used in everything from websites to cryptographic applications, are designed to appear harmless. However, if you download Malware is installed that can steal passwords, browser data, and cryptocurrency wallet keys. Socket describes the campaign as “contagious interview” was part of a sophisticated operation carried out by. North Korean state-sponsored hackers They pose as technology recruiters and target developers working in blockchain, Web3, and related industries.
Why it’s important: npm is essentially the backbone of the modern web. Compromising this allows an attacker to slip malicious code into countless downstream apps. Security experts have long warned that these “software supply chain” attacks are among the most dangerous in cyberspace because they spread invisibly through legitimate updates and dependencies.
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Socket researchers tracked the campaign through clusters of similar package names, including misspelled versions of popular libraries such as: express, Dotenfuand Today is— and through code patterns linked to previously identified North Korean malware families. beaver tail and invisible ferret. The attacker used an encrypted “loader” script to decrypt and execute the hidden payload directly in memory, leaving little trace on disk.
The company said roughly 50,000 downloads Many of the malicious packages have been exposed before being removed, but some remain online. hackers also used Fake LinkedIn Recruiter Accounttactics consistent with previous North Korean cyber espionage efforts documented and previously reported by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). decryption. Investigators believe the ultimate target was a machine holding access credentials and a digital wallet.
Socket’s findings are consistent with reports from other security groups and government agencies linking North Korea to crypto thefts totaling billions of dollars, although independent verification of all details, including the exact number of packages compromised, is still pending. Still, the technical evidence and patterns described are consistent with previous incidents attributed to North Korea.
GitHub, the owner of Npm, said it is removing malicious packages when they are discovered and improving account verification requirements. But researchers say the pattern is like a game of whack-a-mole: removing one set of malicious packages is quickly replaced by hundreds more.
For developers and crypto startups, this episode highlights how vulnerable the software supply chain has become. Security researchers recommend that teams Treat every “npm install” command as a potential code executionscan dependencies before merging them into your project and use automatic inspection tools to detect tampered packages. Openness, the strength of the open source ecosystem, remains its greatest weakness if an adversary decides to weaponize it.
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