In-Depth Analysis of APT-K-UN3: Targeting China's Illegal Gambling and Cyber Fraud Industries

Recently, the 404 Laboratory of Knownsec released a detailed report on the APT hacker organization APT-K-UN3. This organization mainly targets those engaged in illegal gambling and cyber fraud and other gray and black industries within China to carry out attacks. This article will conduct in-depth discussions on the technical means, attack strategies of this APT organization, and its activities in China's gray and black industry field, and analyze its potential harms and impacts.

Overview of APT-K-UN3

APT-K-UN3 is an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) organization specifically targeting the gray and black industry fields in China, such as illegal gambling and cyber fraud. This organization uses various means to induce targets to download trojan horse programs, thereby achieving intrusion into target systems. It is worth noting that unlike other APT organizations, APT-K-UN3 shows an obvious tendency of "fraudsters preying on each other," that is, its main attack targets are groups or individuals who are already engaged in illegal activities.

Technical Characteristics of APT-K-UN3

Targeted naming of trojan horse programs: The names of trojan horse programs released by APT-K-UN3 are highly targeted with Chinese characteristics, which can accurately attract the attention of target groups and thus increase the success rate of trojan horse programs.

High degree of camouflage: To avoid detection by security software, APT-K-UN3 uses a well-known domestic intelligent customer service system as a cover. This technical means makes its malicious software more difficult to be identified during the dissemination process.

Operational traces in Chinese environment: From the installation packages used by APT-K-UN3 to the induced texts it releases, there are a large number of Chinese elements. It is speculated that the people behind it are very likely to be Chinese nationals.

The activity mode of APT-K-UN3 shows its profound understanding of the gray and black industry. By disguising as a legitimate software or service provider, APT-K-UN3 can effectively penetrate into the interior of the target system and then obtain sensitive information or control target assets. However, although its targets are illegal actors, this does not mean that the behavior of APT-K-UN3 conforms to legal or moral standards. In fact, the data obtained by APT-K-UN3 may be used for other illegal purposes, further exacerbating cyber security risks.