Lazarus Hackers Weaponize AI In Sneaky Coding Challenge Attacks On Devs

North Korea-linked Lazarus actors are running a large campaign that targets software developers—especially Web3/crypto engineers—by posing as recruiters and sending seemingly normal take-home coding tests that contain backdoors or payloads. The campaign uses NodeJS- and Python-based toolkits (BeaverTail, OtterCookie, InvisibleFerret) to steal credentials, browser data, and crypto wallets, and leverages AI to create fake company fronts, malware, and scam infrastructure; researchers estimate thousands of developer systems have been infected.