CYBERWAR/NATIONAL SECURITY: “Between February and May, South Korean cybersecurity experts noticed intrusions at government-affiliated websites following a new pattern: They used a technique that doesn’t require tainted email links or forceful server assaults.
The culprit, the experts concluded: North Korea.
Pyongyang has caught blame for headline-grabbing cyberattacks dating back to 2014’s Sony Pictures Entertainment hack and continuing with last year’s daring cyberheist at Bangladesh’s central bank and this month’s WannaCry global ransomware attack. But cybersecurity experts in South Korea—where government agencies and groups are the target of some 1.4 million daily hacking attempts suspected to originate from North Korea—have a much longer familiarity with its work.
North Korea’s capabilities, they say, are improving quickly.
The country’s cyber-attacking operation, South Korean officials believe, comprises six groups and 1,300 hackers, with a dozen supporting organizations of 5,000 more hackers.”
-Timothy W. Martin, “Suspected North Korean Hackers Try Tricky New Tactic,” The Wall Street Journal online, May 30, 2017 07:00am