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MITRE ATT&CK® Campaign

C0022: Operation Dream Job

Operation Dream Job was a cyber espionage operation likely conducted by Lazarus Group that targeted the defense, aerospace, government, and other sectors in the United States, Israel, Australia, Russia, and India. In at least one case, the cyber actors tried to monetize their network access to conduct a business email compromise (BEC) operation. In 2020, security researchers noted overlapping TTPs, to include fake job lures and code similarities, between Operation Dream Job, Operation North Star, and Operation Interception; by 2022 security researchers described Operation Dream Job as an umbrella term covering both Operation Interception and Operation North Star.[1][2][3][4]

EnterpriseC0022CampaignObject v1.2 Modified
Glexia's Take

Analyst context for executives and security teams

Analyst confidence Medium

Operation Dream Job matters because ATT&CK describes it as a cyber espionage campaign using fake job lures against defense, aerospace, government, and other sectors, with at least one reported attempt to monetize access through business email compromise. For leaders, the practical issue is not just malware: it is whether recruiting-themed social engineering, credential exposure, remote execution, persistence, data collection, and exfiltration would be noticed quickly enough to protect sensitive programs and business communications.

Executive priority

Prioritize this as a resilience and sensitive-data protection scenario for organizations with high-value intellectual property, government-facing work, or executives and staff likely to receive career-themed outreach. Leadership should ask whether SOC, identity, email/web security, endpoint, and incident response teams can prove coverage across the full chain: user interaction with a malicious link or file, Windows execution and persistence behaviors, credential attack activity, internal discovery, tool transfer, and exfiltration over web-like command-and-control traffic. It is also useful as audit evidence for security awareness, endpoint monitoring, privileged access controls, and incident response readiness.

Technical view

The campaign object has no ATT&CK-provided detection text and no campaign-level platforms or tactics, so validation should be driven by its relationships. ATT&CK links the campaign to Lazarus Group and to tools including Responder, Torisma, and DRATzarus, plus techniques covering user execution via malicious links/files, PowerShell, Windows command shell, Visual Basic, WMI, Scheduled Task, Regsvr32, Native API, file and directory discovery, domain account discovery, brute force, ingress tool transfer, obfuscation, masqueraded file types, file deletion, web protocol C2, local data collection, and exfiltration over C2. SOC teams should test whether alerts correlate these behaviors into an intrusion narrative rather than treating them as isolated low-severity events.

Likely telemetry

  • Email, web gateway, browser, and user-reporting evidence related to fake job lures, malicious links, and malicious files
  • Endpoint process creation and command-line telemetry for PowerShell, cmd.exe, WMI, scheduled tasks, regsvr32.exe, Visual Basic-related execution, and unusual native API-driven behavior where available
  • Windows event logs and EDR records for task creation, remote/local WMI activity, script execution, file creation/deletion, packed or encoded files, and masqueraded file types
  • Identity provider, directory service, VPN, and authentication logs for brute force attempts and domain account enumeration
  • Network telemetry for HTTP/S or other web protocol command-and-control patterns, tool transfer, and possible exfiltration over an existing C2 channel

Detection direction

  • Because ATT&CK provides no official detection section for this campaign, map detections to the related techniques and confirm they work in the local environment.
  • Correlate user-driven execution events from links or files with follow-on interpreter, WMI, scheduled task, regsvr32, tool transfer, discovery, and outbound web traffic rather than relying only on malware signatures.
  • Tune for living-off-the-land behavior: PowerShell, cmd, WMI, scheduled tasks, and regsvr32 are legitimate administration tools, so detection should emphasize unusual parent/child processes, command-line content, timing, user context, remote origin, and sequence of actions.
  • Validate visibility into credential-access paths, especially brute force signals and Responder-like name-resolution or rogue authentication activity, since these may be missed if identity and network telemetry are not joined.
  • Review blind spots around encrypted or packed payloads, masqueraded file types, and file deletion, which can reduce the value of static file signatures and post-incident artifact recovery.

Mitigation priorities

  • Start with reducing successful user execution: reinforce verification of unsolicited job or recruiting outreach, and ensure suspicious links/files can be reported and investigated quickly.
  • Harden email, web, and endpoint controls for malicious links, malicious files, packed or encoded content, and masqueraded file types; use prevention where feasible but retain telemetry for investigation.
  • Strengthen identity controls against brute force and account misuse, including MFA where applicable, lockout/rate-limiting policies, monitoring of domain account enumeration, and review of privileged account exposure.
  • Limit and monitor administrative execution paths such as PowerShell, WMI, scheduled tasks, cmd, Visual Basic, and regsvr32 based on business need and role.
  • Reduce credential capture opportunities from local name-resolution abuse by reviewing LLMNR/NBT-NS/MDNS exposure and related authentication flows where Responder-like behavior would be material.
Analyst notes and limits

The most decision-useful aspect of this campaign object is the combination of social engineering via fake job lures, Windows and cross-platform execution/stealth techniques, credential-focused activity, and data collection/exfiltration relationships. Treat it as a coverage validation scenario for managed detection, incident response, identity security, endpoint detection, and egress monitoring. Sector and country targeting are from the official ATT&CK description; they should inform prioritization but not be treated as proof of current exposure.

ATT&CK does not provide campaign-level platforms, tactics, labels, or official detection guidance for this object. The technical recommendations are inferred only from the supplied ATT&CK relationships and related object descriptions. Local asset inventory, telemetry quality, business process context, and incident evidence are required before assessing exposure or detection coverage.

Official MITRE ATT&CK definition

Operation Dream Job

Operation Dream Job was a cyber espionage operation likely conducted by Lazarus Group that targeted the defense, aerospace, government, and other sectors in the United States, Israel, Australia, Russia, and India. In at least one case, the cyber actors tried to monetize their network access to conduct a business email compromise (BEC) operation. In 2020, security researchers noted overlapping TTPs, to include fake job lures and code similarities, between Operation Dream Job, Operation North Star, and Operation Interception; by 2022 security researchers described Operation Dream Job as an umbrella term covering both Operation Interception and Operation North Star.[1][2][3][4]

View the same entry on attack.mitre.org (MITRE-hosted reference; in-page links above use the Glexia ATT&CK library.)

Glexia analysis

How security teams should use this page

Treat this object as behavior context, not an attribution claim. Validate the related groups, software, data sources, and mitigations against official ATT&CK relationships and your own telemetry before making control-coverage decisions.

ATT&CK relationship table

Techniques used

This mirrors the MITRE pattern of making group, software, campaign, and technique relationships scannable. Relationship notes come from mirrored ATT&CK relationship text when available.

55 rows
Domain ID Name Relationship / procedure
Enterprise T1614.001 System Language Discovery Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group deployed malware designed not to run on computers set to Korean, Japanese, or Chinese in Windows language preferences.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1608.001 Upload Malware Sub-technique

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used compromised servers to host malware.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Nov 2020

Enterprise T1218.011 Rundll32 Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group executed malware with `C:\\windows\system32\rundll32.exe "C:\ProgramData\ThumbNail\thumbnail.db"`, `CtrlPanel S-6-81-3811-75432205-060098-6872 0 0 905`.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1106 Native API

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used Windows API `ObtainUserAgentString` to obtain the victim's User-Agent and used the value to connect to their C2 server.CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1585.001 Social Media Accounts Sub-technique

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group created fake LinkedIn accounts for their targeting efforts.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1036.008 Masquerade File Type Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group disguised malicious template files as JPEG files to avoid detection.CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1070.004 File Deletion Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group removed all previously delivered files from a compromised computer.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1547.001 Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group placed LNK files into the victims' startup folder for persistence.CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1497.001 System Checks Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used tools that conducted a variety of system checks to detect sandboxes or VMware services.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1059.005 Visual Basic Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group executed a VBA written malicious macro after victims download malicious DOTM files; Lazarus Group also used Visual Basic macro code to extract a double Base64 encoded DLL implant.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1608.002 Upload Tool Sub-technique

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used multiple servers to host malicious tools.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group downloaded multistage malware and tools onto a compromised host.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1585.002 Email Accounts Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group created fake email accounts to correspond with fake LinkedIn personas; Lazarus Group also established email accounts to match those of the victim as part of their BEC attempt.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1584.001 Domains Sub-technique

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group compromised domains in Italy and other countries for their C2 infrastructure.CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Nov 2020

Enterprise T1583.004 Server Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group acquired servers to host their malicious tools.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1573.001 Symmetric Cryptography Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used an AES key to communicate with their C2 server.CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1204.001 Malicious Link Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group lured users into executing a malicious link to disclose private account information or provide initial access.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1059.001 PowerShell Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used PowerShell commands to explore the environment of compromised victims.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1591 Gather Victim Org Information

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group gathered victim organization information to identify specific targets.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1583.001 Domains Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group registered a domain name identical to that of a compromised company as part of their BEC effort.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1221 Template Injection

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used DOCX files to retrieve a malicious document template/DOTM file.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1497.003 Time Based Checks Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used tools that collected `GetTickCount` and `GetSystemTimeAsFileTime` data to detect sandbox or VMware services.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1589 Gather Victim Identity Information

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group conducted extensive reconnaissance research on potential targets.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1553.002 Code Signing Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group digitally signed their own malware to evade detection.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1005 Data from Local System

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used malicious Trojans and DLL files to exfiltrate data from an infected host.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1110 Brute Force

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group performed brute force attacks against administrator accounts.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1041 Exfiltration Over C2 Channel

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group exfiltrated data from a compromised host to actor-controlled C2 servers.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1534 Internal Spearphishing

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group conducted internal spearphishing from within a compromised organization.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1684.001 Impersonation Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group impersonated HR hiring personnel through LinkedIn messages and conducted interviews with victims in order to deceive them into downloading malware.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationThe Hacker News Lazarus Aug 2022

Enterprise T1583.006 Web Services Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used file hosting services like DropBox and OneDrive.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1566.003 Spearphishing via Service Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group sent victims spearphishing messages via LinkedIn concerning fictitious jobs.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1591.004 Identify Roles Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group targeted specific individuals within an organization with tailored job vacancy announcements.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1053.005 Scheduled Task Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group created scheduled tasks to set a periodic execution of a remote XSL script.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1204.002 Malicious File Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group lured victims into executing malicious documents that contained "dream job" descriptions from defense, aerospace, and other sectors.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1588.003 Code Signing Certificates Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used code signing certificates issued by Sectigo RSA for some of its malware and tools.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1087.002 Domain Account Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group queried compromised victim's active directory servers to obtain the list of employees including administrator accounts.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1587.002 Code Signing Certificates Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group digitally signed their malware and the dbxcli utility.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1566.001 Spearphishing Attachment Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group sent emails with malicious attachments to gain unauthorized access to targets' computers.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1505.004 IIS Components Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group targeted Windows servers running Internet Information Systems (IIS) to install C2 components.CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1083 File and Directory Discovery

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group conducted word searches within documents on a compromised host in search of security and financial matters.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1218.010 Regsvr32 Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used `regsvr32` to execute malware.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1047 Windows Management Instrumentation

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used WMIC to executed a remote XSL script.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1027.002 Software Packing Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group packed malicious .db files with Themida to evade detection.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Nov 2020

Enterprise T1588.002 Tool Sub-technique

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group obtained tools such as Wake-On-Lan, Responder, ChromePass, and dbxcli.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1071.001 Web Protocols Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group uses HTTP and HTTPS to contact actor-controlled C2 servers.CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1567.002 Exfiltration to Cloud Storage Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used a custom build of open-source command-line dbxcli to exfiltrate stolen data to Dropbox.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1622 Debugger Evasion

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used tools that used the `IsDebuggerPresent` call to detect debuggers.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

Enterprise T1027.013 Encrypted/Encoded File Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group encrypted malware such as DRATzarus with XOR and DLL files with base64.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Nov 2020

Enterprise T1220 XSL Script Processing

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used a remote XSL script to download a Base64-encoded DLL custom downloader.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1587.001 Malware Sub-technique

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group developed custom tools such as Sumarta, DBLL Dropper, Torisma, and DRATzarus for their operations.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Nov 2020

Enterprise T1059.003 Windows Command Shell Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group launched malicious DLL files, created new folders, and renamed folders with the use of the Windows command shell.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1584.004 Server Sub-technique

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group compromised servers to host their malicious tools.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020CitationMcAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

Enterprise T1593.001 Social Media Sub-technique

For Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group used LinkedIn to identify and target employees within a chosen organization.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1566.002 Spearphishing Link Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group sent malicious OneDrive links with fictitious job offer advertisements via email.CitationClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Enterprise T1560.001 Archive via Utility Sub-technique

During Operation Dream Job, Lazarus Group archived victim's data into a RAR file.CitationESET Lazarus Jun 2020

Associated objects

Groups, software, and campaigns

Group Enterprise

G0032: Lazarus Group

Lazarus Group is a North Korean state-sponsored cyber threat group attributed to the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB). [1] [2] Lazarus Group has been active since at least 2009 and is reportedly responsible for the November 2014 destructive wiper attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, identified by Novetta as part of Operation Blockbuster. Malware used by Lazarus Group correlates to other reported campaigns, including Operation Flame, Operation 1Mission, Operation Troy, DarkSeoul, and Ten Days of Rain.[3]

North Korea’s cyber operations have shown a consistent pattern of adaptation, forming and reorganizing units as national priorities shift. These units frequently share personnel, infrastructure, malware, and tradecraft, making it difficult to attribute specific operations with high confidence. Public reporting often uses “Lazarus Group” as an umbrella term for multiple North Korean cyber operators conducting espionage, destructive attacks, and financially motivated campaigns.[4][5][6]

Malware Enterprise

S0678: Torisma

Torisma is a second stage implant designed for specialized monitoring that has been used by Lazarus Group. Torisma was discovered during an investigation into the 2020 Operation North Star campaign that targeted the defense sector.[1]

Windows
Tool Enterprise

S0174: Responder

Responder is an open source tool used for LLMNR, NBT-NS and MDNS poisoning, with built-in HTTP/SMB/MSSQL/FTP/LDAP rogue authentication server supporting NTLMv1/NTLMv2/LMv2, Extended Security NTLMSSP and Basic HTTP authentication. [1]

Relationship explorer

All related ATT&CK context

Change history

Object version and sync metadata

The fields below describe the current mirrored snapshot. When Glexia retains multiple ATT&CK source imports, you can open the table to compare the same object across releases (hashes and MITRE timestamps). For MITRE’s own release notes and roadmap, see ATT&CK resources — Updates .

ATT&CK release
19.1
Object version
1.2
Created
Modified
Raw hash
61eb67786367ff03...
Imported snapshots across ATT&CK releases (1)
Release Bundle imported Object version Modified Status Raw hash
19.1 1.2 Current bundle 61eb67786367…
Raw source

Mirrored ATT&CK source object

The raw object is retained through the mirrored ATT&CK source bundle and object hash. The raw endpoint returns the exact object from the mirrored bundle when available.

Source references

External references and citations

MITRE external references are preserved separately from Glexia analysis so citations remain traceable to their original source records.

  1. [1]
    ClearSky Lazarus Aug 2020

    ClearSky Research Team. (2020, August 13). Operation 'Dream Job' Widespread North Korean Espionage Campaign. Retrieved December 20, 2021.

    Open source URL
  2. [2]
    McAfee Lazarus Jul 2020

    Cashman, M. (2020, July 29). Operation North Star Campaign. Retrieved December 20, 2021.

    Open source URL
  3. [3]
    ESET Lazarus Jun 2020

    Breitenbacher, D and Osis, K. (2020, June 17). OPERATION IN(TER)CEPTION: Targeted Attacks Against European Aerospace and Military Companies. Retrieved December 20, 2021.

    Open source URL
  4. [4]
    The Hacker News Lazarus Aug 2022

    Lakshmanan, R. (2022, August 17). North Korea Hackers Spotted Targeting Job Seekers with macOS Malware. Retrieved April 10, 2023.

    Open source URL
  5. [5]
    McAfee Lazarus Nov 2020

    Beek, C. (2020, November 5). Operation North Star: Behind The Scenes. Retrieved December 20, 2021.

    Open source URL
  6. [6]
    Operation Interception

    (Citation: ESET Lazarus Jun 2020)

  7. [7]
    Operation North Star

    (Citation: McAfee Lazarus Jul 2020)(Citation: McAfee Lazarus Nov 2020)

  8. [8]
    mitre-attack C0022
    Open source URL
Source and licensing

Source: MITRE ATT&CK®. © 2026 The MITRE Corporation. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of The MITRE Corporation. MITRE ATT&CK and ATT&CK are registered trademarks of The MITRE Corporation. Glexia is not affiliated with or endorsed by MITRE.