North Korean cybercriminals have exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Windows to carry out sweeping espionage and data theft campaigns, according to an American-Japanese cybersecurity firm.

Trend Micro’s Trend Zero Day Initiative disclosed in a report on Tuesday that 11 state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups from North Korea, Iran and Russia have been leveraging the zero-day vulnerability across a variety of campaigns dating back to 2017.

“The threat posed by APTs originating from nation-states, as well as from sophisticated cybercriminals, poses a significant risk to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data maintained by governments, critical infrastructure and