Detail

According to the source, there were many cyber attacks last year. The victims were two South Korean companies that produce semiconductor equipment. The aim was to steal information for his own chip production program.. This was reported by an intelligence agency in Seoul on Monday.

It is worth noting that in North Korea, where the Internet is extremely rare, hackers are completely supported by the state and work under its orders. Therefore, there is no doubt as to who is behind this cybercrime.

The South Korean government advised affected companies to take precautions after the attacks were discovered in February and December. They then also stole drawings of products and production facilities.

In the statement made by the National Intelligence Agency, it was stated that the hackers used a special LotL technique that is based on installed software and is very difficult to detect.

Pyongyang appears to have started focusing its cyber attacks on the chip manufacturing sector since the second half of last year. The agency added that North Korean officials are preparing to produce their own semiconductors due to difficulties in supplying microcircuits due to sanctions. Long under sanctions, China will no longer be able to produce advanced processors and help the North Korean dictatorship produce cutting-edge weapons. Pyongyang aims to develop new satellites and missiles.

North Korea in cyberspace

North Korea has long been accused of sponsoring massive cyberattacks on banks around the world, stealing defense secrets, extortion through ransomware and stealing digital currency. Analysts say it is particularly targeting its democratic neighbor to the south, with whom it is technically at war. American companies are also regularly victimized.

North Korea’s most famous hacker group Lazarus. He created the famous WannaCry malware that terrorized the world for years. This group is responsible for stealing $308 million in cryptocurrencies in 2023 alone. Two years ago this amount was almost $400 million.