Category Archives: south korea

A Geothermal Plant Likely Caused South Korea’s Second-Worst Earthquake

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A government-commissioned survey found that fluid injection at a geothermal plant in Pohang was a probable cause for the destructive quake. Continue reading A Geothermal Plant Likely Caused South Korea’s Second-Worst Earthquake→

Researchers Link ‘Sharpshooter’ Cyber Attacks to North Korean Hackers

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Security researchers have finally, with “high confidence,” linked a previously discovered global cyber espionage campaign targeting critical infrastructure around the world to a North Korean APT hacking group.

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North Korea could accelerate commercial espionage to meet Kim’s economic deadline

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Perhaps more than any other nation-state, North Korea-linked hackers have shown no limits in what they will target – from a Hollywood entertainment company to a Bangladeshi bank. Divining a method to the madness is key to warning potential victims. And analysts say that foreign corporations and defectors have been high on the list of Pyongyang’s potential targets lately. On New Year’s Day, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un delivered his annual address, telling North Koreans, and the world, what would preoccupy his reclusive regime’s time in the coming months. The message was clear: with its nuclear weapons program well underway, Pyongyang would continue to try to develop its anemic economy. “The might of the independent socialist economy should be further strengthened,” he said. By 2020, according to its national economic development plan, North Korea wants to make advances in key sectors like coal, agriculture, and machinery, and time is running out. North Korea’s cyber […]

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Hackers steal data on 1,000 North Korean defectors, jeopardizing their safety

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Hackers have stolen personal information about roughly 1,000 North Korean defectors living in South Korea, according to South Korean media outlets, putting those individuals and their families still in the North at risk. The South Korean Ministry of Unification said Friday that the names, addresses and dates of birth of 997 people had been stolen through an infected computer at a resettlement agency called the Hana Foundation, according to Yonhap News and other outlets. The ministry did not identify the hackers, however North Korea is known for launching almost constant cyberattacks on the South. A nonprofit extension of the Ministry of Unification, the Hana Foundation runs about two dozen centers that assist people who manage to flee North Korea to integrate into South Korean society. The organization says that some 31,000 defectors, which the country regards as refugees, are living in the South. Pyonyang is known to target defectors, with state media agencies once referring to people who flee North […]

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Hacking campaign on nuclear, defense sectors shares Lazarus Group tools, report says

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Hackers behind a new campaign of cyberattacks that have targeted international critical infrastructure facilities are using malicious code linked to North Korea, according to research published Wednesday. Researchers from McAfee said “Operation Sharpshooter” has numerous technical links to the Lazarus Group, the group of suspected North Korean government hackers blamed for the 2014 breach at Sony Pictures and other well-publicized attacks. Operation Sharpshooter used a hacking tool called “Rising Sun” to target 87 organizations, mostly in the U.S., between October and November of this year, McAfee said. The cybersecurity vendor did not flatly tie this campaign to the North Korean government. “Attributing an attack to any threat group is often riddled with challenges, including potential ‘false flag’ operations by other threat actors,” the research states. “Technical evidence alone is not sufficient to attribute this activity with high confidence. However, based on our analysis, this operation shares multiple striking similarities with […]

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