N. Korea Could Expand Cyber Espionage Activities

North Korea's nation state 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. Analysts say that foreign corporations and defectors have been high on the list of Pyongyang’s potential targets. 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 operatives have long known how to turn a profit, with one regime-linked group alone reportedly responsible for millions of dollars in bank heists.  Now, in the face of stifling international sanctions, the Hermit Kingdom’s hackers could be more important to the regime than ever.

CrowdStrike says hacking operations could be crucial to helping Kim meet his 2020 goal, and that his speech is a public hint of what’s to come.

“We think that there is going to be a lot more commercial targeting by North Korea,” Adam Meyers, CrowdStrike’s vice president of intelligence, told CyberScoop. “We’ve seen lures and we’ve seen an increased pace of activity out of North Korea.”

In other words, North Korea could take a page out of a playbook long associated with Chinese hackers: steal data from foreign companies to boost the domestic economy. There already have been quiet signs that this is happening.
Last year, Egyptian company Orascom Telecom Media and Technology, which runs a joint-venture mobile phone business with the North Korean government, was hacked. 

The venture competes with a state-run service known as Byol, providing an incentive for Pyongyang’s computer operatives to go after the company’s proprietary data. CrowdStrike believes the culprit is part of a suspected North Korean group it calls Ricochet Chollima, which traditionally has focused on espionage in South Korea.

In another example of economically-motivated activity, North Korea-linked hackers have in recent months tried to breach a Western manufacturing company’s network, CrowdStrike said. Analysts at cybersecurity company Symantec also expect suspected North Korean hackers to continue to conduct economic espionage.

“Over the years we’ve realised that one shouldn’t put anything outside of the purview of Lazarus,” said Symantec technical director Vikram Thakur, using an industry term for a broad set of hackers the US officials have tied to Pyongyang. North Korea has denied it engages in the extensive and destructive malicious cyber activity for which the US government has blamed Pyongyang.

However, stealing proprietary data is one thing; turning that data into a competitive company is quite another. And unlike China, the second largest economy in the world, North Korea’s frail economy makes that difficult.

“Their ability to turn stolen intellectual property around into a usable product is very limited,” said Priscilla Moriuchi, director of strategic threat development at cyber-intelligence company Recorded Future. “So my sense is that the goal in targeting companies would be to monetise information that they’ve gained, unless it’s a few specific sectors.”

Whether or not they are contributing to national economic development goals, the hunt for money drives much of what North Korean cyber personnel do, according to Moriuchi. Each computer operative is responsible for bringing in a certain amount of money each year, she said, resulting in plenty of “day-to-day, low-level cybercrime.”

Researchers say the North Korean government has plenty of assets abroad to enhance its criminal activity. The regime has been dubbed “the Soprano state” because of a longstanding overseas network of criminal activities for raising cash, from narcotics to counterfeiting, said Tom Creedon, senior managing director for East Asia Pacific at LookingGlass Cyber Solutions. Over the last decade or so, the North Koreans have likely tapped that network, sometimes using front companies, to support malicious cyber activity as another means of generating revenue, he said.

While financially-motivated hacking continues, evidence suggests that malware-based surveillance of North Korean defectors does too.

Days before Kim delivered his New Year’s address, South Korean officials revealed that hackers had broken into a database of information on defectors, stealing names, addresses, and dates of birth on nearly 1,000 people. There is no public forensic evidence pointing to who committed the hack; South Korean authorities haven’t named a suspect.

But there is evidence North Korea has used its cyber capabilities to spy on some of the estimated 31,000 defectors living in South Korea. South Korean officials and the Ministry of Unification overseeing the breached agency “conducted a thorough inspection to prevent the spread of similar hacking cases” after that intrusion, a ministry official told CyberScoop.
Such measures can’t prevent hackers from training their sights on those who work on North Korean defector issues, and there is some evidence that is happening.

Simon Choi, a South Korea-based cybersecurity analyst, said he recently discovered a phishing lure from someone posing as a Ministry of Unification official. The perpetrator, he said, used a vulnerability in Daum Mail, a Korean-language email service.
Choi told CyberScoop he has seen evidence of hackers targeting South Korean reporters who cover defectors as a possible means of gathering information about the refugees.

Choi blamed an “NK hacker” for the lure, though CyberScoop could not independently confirm that the activity emanated from North Korea. CrowdStrike recently warned customers about a similarly named file that used Daum Mail as command and control, Meyers said.

The company has tied that activity to another suspected North Korean hacking group it tracks as Velvet Chollima.

As the ways in which Pyongyang can use cyber operations to support its domestic and foreign policy goals grow, so, too, do the potential targets. “They’ve been extremely adaptable and innovative,” said Moriuchi, of Recorded Future.

CyberSecoop:

You Might Also Read:

North Korea Is Using The Internet Like The Mafia:

 

« Britain Aims To Lead In CyberSecurity
President Putin Wants A National AI Strategy »

Infosecurity Europe
CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

The PC Support Group

The PC Support Group

A partnership with The PC Support Group delivers improved productivity, reduced costs and protects your business through exceptional IT, telecoms and cybersecurity services.

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC (formerly Reciprocity) is a leader in the GRC SaaS landscape, offering robust and intuitive products designed to make compliance straightforward and efficient.

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

Alvacomm

Alvacomm

Alvacomm offers holistic VIP cybersecurity services, providing comprehensive protection against cyber threats. Our solutions include risk assessment, threat detection, incident response.

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

Daon

Daon

Daon offers a universal biometric authentication platform for mobile devices.

Cybersecurity Philippines CERT (CSP-CERT)

Cybersecurity Philippines CERT (CSP-CERT)

Cybersecurity Philippines CERT is the national Computer Emergency Response Team for the Philippines.

herdProtect

herdProtect

herdProtect is a second line of defense malware scanning platform powered by 68 anti-malware engines in the cloud.

RazorSecure

RazorSecure

RazorSecure offers products and services to enhance railway cyber security, by protecting and monitoring networks and key systems.

ubirch

ubirch

The ubirch platform is designed to ensure that IoT data is trustworthy and secure.

NetSecurity

NetSecurity

NetSecurity is a Brazilian company specializing in Information Security. We provide Managed Security Services (MSS), network security solutions and other specialist services.

SearchInform

SearchInform

SearchInform is a leading risk management product developer, protecting business and government institutions against data theft, harmful human behavior, compliance breaches and incomplete audit.

Earlybird Venture Capital

Earlybird Venture Capital

Earlybird is a venture capital investor focused on European technology innovators.

Entara

Entara

Entara (formerly YJT Solutions) is an eXtended Service Provider (XSP) focused on providing cutting edge technology and cyber security solutions to companies in regulated industries.

eCloudvalley Digital Technology

eCloudvalley Digital Technology

eCloudvalley Digital Technology is a born-in-the-cloud partner focused entirely on AWS services across APAC region.

Menaya

Menaya

Menaya provide Ethical Hackers for leading companies while also providing cyber security solutions to help major infrastructures protect against cyber crime.

ConductorOne

ConductorOne

ConductorOne is building the identity security platform for the modern workforce.

Opkalla

Opkalla

We started Opkalla because we believe IT professionals deserve better. We help our clients navigate the confusion in the marketplace and choose the solution that is right for your business.

Syteca

Syteca

Syteca is specifically designed to secure organizations against threats caused by insiders. It provides full visibility and control over internal risks.

Sphinx

Sphinx

Sphinx provide advanced security consulting services and cyber solutions to federal and private industry.

VCI Global

VCI Global

VCI Global is a diversified holding company. Through its subsidiaries, it focuses on consulting, fintech, AI, robotics, and cybersecurity.