Wednesday, September 11, 2013

North Korea Targeting South Korean Think Tanks


North Korea seems to think that South Korean think tanks hold lots of useful information.

TechWorld reports that Kaspersky Lab has uncovered what looks like an attempt by North Korean hackers to target South Korean think tanks and others.

Here is more:
Kaspersky Lab has uncovered what looks like a surprisingly clunking attempt by North Korean hackers to steal data from  think-tanks in hated neighbour South Korea using a poorly-concealed Trojan.
The Russian firm’s analysis makes clear that attribution for ‘Kimsuky’ can’t be planted on the door of North Korea with absolute certainty but it’s hard to see why anyone else would be so interested in its target list.
These include among 11 South Korean organisations, the Sejong Institute, the Korea Institute For Defense Analyses (KIDA), the Ministry of Unification Government department, and Hyundai Merchant Marine, all attacked most likely using some form of spear phishing.
South Korea has 35 think tanks, according to the latest statistics from the University of Pennsylvania.  North Korea has two think tanks.  [Here is a collection of think tank reports about North Korea; Interesting fact: Japan has a pro-North Korea think tank called Center for Korean-American Peace, or CFKAP.]

Hack attacks against think tanks are nothing new.  Here is a recent post from Think Tank Watch on a hack attack against an unnamed think tank.