According to South Korea’s spy agency, North Korea hackers have breached the systems of South Korean chip equipment manufacturers. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) reports that Pyongyang aims to develop semiconductors for its weapons programs.
This incident follows a warning from President Yoon Suk Yeol a month ago, cautioning about potential North Korean provocations, such as cyber attacks, to disrupt upcoming elections. Last year, North Korea managed to hack into the emails of an aide to President Yoon.
The NIS stated in a release, “We believe that North Korea might possibly be preparing to produce its own semiconductors due to difficulties in acquiring them because of sanctions.”
The NIS asserts that North Korea infiltrated the servers of two chip equipment companies in December and February, absconding with product designs and facility photographs. The agency also issued a warning to other companies in the chip manufacturing industry to bolster their defenses against cyber attacks.
However, the spy agency did not disclose the names of the affected firms or suggest that North Korea was able to obtain anything of significant value.
South Korean companies
The NIS mentioned that South Korean companies have been a prime target of North Korean hackers since late last year. They believe that the hackers utilized a technique known as “living off the land,” which reduces the use of malicious codes and relies on existing, legitimate tools installed within servers, making detection challenging with security software.
Regarding the breach of an aide’s email account last month, President Yoon’s office stated that it was due to a violation of security regulations and denied any hacking of its official system.
While Pyongyang consistently denies involvement in cyber crimes, Seoul accuses North Korean hackers of stealing substantial sums of money, often in cryptocurrency, to fund the regime and its nuclear weapons program. Estimates suggest that North Korea has stolen as much as $3 billion (£2.36 billion) since 2016.
The country is also believed to conduct hacks to pilfer state secrets, including details of advanced weapons technology. Despite facing severe international sanctions, North Korea’s methods for executing cyber attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated.