The FBI is warning that that the North Korean threat group Kimsuky is targeting organizations with spearphishing campaigns using malicious QR codes, a tactic known as “Quishing.”
The Quishing campaigns appear to be primarily directed at organizations in the U.S. and elsewhere that are involved in foreign policy linked to North Korea, or as the FBI advisory put it, “NGOs, think tanks, academia, and other foreign policy experts with a nexus to North Korea.”
Since last year, Kimsuky threat actors have targeted “think tanks, academic institutions, and both U.S. and foreign government entities with embedded malicious Quick Response (QR) codes in spearphishing campaigns,” the FBI said.
FBI Details Kimsuky QR Spearphishing Incidents
The FBI cited four incidents in May and June 2025 where Kimsuky actors used malicious QR codes in targeted spearphishing campaigns.
In one May 2025 incident, Kimsuky threat actors impersonated “a foreign advisor” in an email “requesting insight from a think tank leader regarding recent developments on the Korean Peninsula.” The email contained a malicious QR code for the recipient to scan to access a questionnaire.
Later that month, Kimsuky actors spoofed an embassy employee in an email seeking input “from a senior fellow at a think tank regarding North Korean human rights issues.” That email contained a QR code that claimed to offer access to a secure drive.
Also that month, the North Korean threat actors impersonated a think tank employee in an email with a QR code “that, when scanned, would take the targeted individual to Kimsuky infrastructure designed to conduct malicious activity.”
In June 2025, Kimsuky threat actors “sent a strategic advisory firm a spearphishing email inviting recipients to a non-existent conference.” The email included a QR code that took recipients to a registration landing page that included a registration button. That button “took visitors to a fake Google account login page, where users could input their login credentials for harvesting.”
It’s not the first time the FBI and other agencies have warned of Kimsuky and other North Korean threat actors targeting organizations involved in foreign policy; a similar warning was issued in 2023 of a spearphishing campaign that targeted think tanks, academic institutions and news organizations.
FBI Defines Quishing Tactics and Procedures
The FBI said Quishing attacks use QR codes “to force victims to pivot from their corporate endpoint to a mobile device, bypassing traditional email security controls.”
QR images are typically sent as email attachments or embedded graphics to evade URL inspection and sandboxing, the agency said. Victims are typically re-routed by the attacks to collect “device and identity attributes such as user-agent, OS, IP address, locale, and screen size in order to selectively present mobile-optimized credential harvesting pages impersonating Microsoft 365, Okta, or VPN portals.”
Quishing attacks “frequently end with session token theft and replay, enabling attackers to bypass multi-factor authentication and hijack cloud identities without triggering typical ‘MFA failed’ alerts,” the FBI said. The compromised mailbox can then be used for additional spearphishing attacks.
Protecting Against QR and Quishing Attacks
The FBI recommends “a multi-layered security strategy to address the unique risks posed by QR code-based spearphishing.” The agency’s recommendations include:
- Employees should be educated on the risks of scanning unsolicited QR codes regardless of where they came from, and organizations should implement training programs to help users recognize social engineering tactics involving QR codes, “including urgent calls to action and impersonation of trusted entities.”
- Organizations should also have clear processes for reporting suspicious QR codes and other phishing attempts.
- QR code sources should first be verified by contacting the sender directly, “especially before entering login credentials or downloading files.”
- Organizations should deploy mobile device management (MDM) or endpoint security solutions that can analyze QR-linked URLs before permitting access to web resources.
- Phishing-resistant MFA should be required for all remote access and sensitive systems, and a strong password policy should be implemented.
- All credential entry and network activity following QR code scans should be logged and monitored for possible compromises.
- Access privileges should be reviewed according to zero trust principles, and regular audits should be conducted for unused or excessive account permissions.
The FBI encouraged organizations to establish a liaison relationship with the FBI Field Office in their region and to report malicious activity at fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices.
