Peter Kálnai

Peter Kálnai

Senior Malware Researcher


Education: Algebra on Matfyz at Charles University in Prague

Highlights of your career: Presenting ESET on the Virus Bulletin 2016 conference

Position and history at ESET: Malware Researcher since January 2016

What malware do you hate the most? The one with hardly any invention, but very destructive impact on a victim – like crypto-ransomware.

Favorite activities: Foosball/table football. Stand-up comedians. Movies.

What is your golden rule for cyberspace? User comfort is the blue pill while security is the red one. Always choose the latter.

When did you get your first computer and what kind was it? It was in 1998. The computer was a Windows 95 PC running on an Intel Pentium processor, with 32 MB RAM and 1.7 GB hard disk.

Favorite computer game/activity: Indie games like Limbo or Machinarium now, blockbusters like NHL 98 or Settlers II then.


11 articles by Peter Kálnai

ESET research

Lazarus luring employees with trojanized coding challenges: The case of a Spanish aerospace company

Lazarus luring employees with trojanized coding challenges: The case of a Spanish aerospace company

ESET research

Lazarus luring employees with trojanized coding challenges: The case of a Spanish aerospace company

While analyzing a Lazarus attack luring employees of an aerospace company, ESET researchers discovered a publicly undocumented backdoor

Peter Kálnai29 Sep 202320 min. read


ESET research

Linux malware strengthens links between Lazarus and the 3CX supply-chain attack

Linux malware strengthens links between Lazarus and the 3CX supply-chain attack

ESET research

Linux malware strengthens links between Lazarus and the 3CX supply-chain attack

Similarities with newly discovered Linux malware used in Operation DreamJob corroborate the theory that the infamous North Korea-aligned group is behind the 3CX supply-chain attack

Peter Kálnai and Marc-Etienne M.Léveillé20 Apr 202312 min. read


ESET research

Amazon-themed campaigns of Lazarus in the Netherlands and Belgium

Amazon-themed campaigns of Lazarus in the Netherlands and Belgium

ESET research

Amazon-themed campaigns of Lazarus in the Netherlands and Belgium

ESET researchers have discovered Lazarus attacks against targets in the Netherlands and Belgium that use spearphishing emails connected to fake job offers

Peter Kálnai30 Sep 202218 min. read


ESET research

Lazarus supply-chain attack in South Korea

Lazarus supply-chain attack in South Korea

ESET research

Lazarus supply-chain attack in South Korea

ESET researchers uncover a novel Lazarus supply-chain attack leveraging WIZVERA VeraPort software

Anton Cherepanov and Peter Kálnai16 Nov 202015 min. read


ESET research

Mikroceen: Spying backdoor leveraged in high-profile networks in Central Asia

Mikroceen: Spying backdoor leveraged in high-profile networks in Central Asia

ESET research

Mikroceen: Spying backdoor leveraged in high-profile networks in Central Asia

ESET researchers dissect a backdoor deployed in attacks against multiple government agencies and major organizations operating in two critical infrastructure sectors in Asia

Peter Kálnai14 May 20208 min. read


ESET research

Lazarus KillDisks Central American casino

Lazarus KillDisks Central American casino

ESET research

Lazarus KillDisks Central American casino

The Lazarus Group gained notoriety especially after cyber-sabotage against Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014. Fast forward to late 2017 and the group continues to deploy its malicious tools, including disk-wiping malware known as KillDisk, to attack a number of targets.

Peter Kálnai and Anton Cherepanov03 Apr 20187 min. read


ESET research

Dangerous malware stealing bitcoin hosted on Download.com for years

Dangerous malware stealing bitcoin hosted on Download.com for years

ESET research

Dangerous malware stealing bitcoin hosted on Download.com for years

ESET researchers dicovered that Trojanized applications used to steal bitcoin were hosted inadvertently by the popular website download.cnet.com.

Michal Poslušný and Peter Kálnai14 Mar 20185 min. read


ESET research

Money-making machine: Monero-mining malware

Money-making machine: Monero-mining malware

ESET research

Money-making machine: Monero-mining malware

While far behind Bitcoin in market capitalization, Monero has several features that make it a very attractive cryptocurrency to be mined by malware.

Peter Kálnai and Michal Poslušný28 Sep 20176 min. read


ESET research

Demystifying targeted malware used against Polish banks

Demystifying targeted malware used against Polish banks

ESET research

Demystifying targeted malware used against Polish banks

The purpose of this blog is to deliver technical details of an as-yet minimally documented malware that has made headlines in Poland.

Peter Kálnai16 Feb 20178 min. read