{"id":1656,"date":"2024-03-05T04:05:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-05T04:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/n-korea-hacked-s-korea-chip-firms-seoul-says\/"},"modified":"2024-03-05T04:05:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T04:05:24","slug":"n-korea-hacked-s-korea-chip-firms-seoul-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/260web.com\/news\/n-korea-hacked-s-korea-chip-firms-seoul-says\/","title":{"rendered":"N Korea hacked S Korea chip firms, Seoul says"},"content":{"rendered":"

N Korea hacked S Korea chip firms, Seoul says<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/picture><\/span>Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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By Mariko Oi<\/div>\n
Business reporter<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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North Korean hackers have broken into South Korean chip equipment makers, according to South Korea’s spy agency.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pyongyang is trying to make semiconductors for its weapons programmes, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It comes a month after President Yoon Suk Yeol warned North Korea may stage provocations such as cyber attacks to interfere with upcoming elections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last year, North Korea hacked into the emails of an aide to President Yoon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We believe that North Korea might possibly be preparing to produce its own semiconductors in the face of difficulties in procuring them due to sanctions,” the NIS said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It added that Pyongyang’s efforts could be driven by the need to chips for its weapons programmes, including satellites and missiles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The NIS believes North Korea penetrated the servers of two chip equipment companies in December and February, stealing product designs and photographs of their facilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It also warned other companies in the chip making industry to take precautions against cyber attacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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However, the spy agency did not name the firms effected and or suggest that North Korea was able to obtain anything of value.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The NIS said South Korea’s companies had been a key target of North Korean hackers since late last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It believes hackers employed a technique called “living off the land,” which minimises malicious codes and uses existing, legitimate tools installed within servers, making it difficult to detect with security software.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Last month, President Yoon’s office said that the breach of an aide’s email account was caused by a violation of security regulations and that its official system had not been hacked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pyongyang has always denied involvement in cyber-crimes but Seoul has blamed North Korean hackers for stealing large sums of money, often in cryptocurrency, to fund the regime and its nuclear weapons programme.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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North Korea is estimated to have stolen as much as $3bn (\u00a32.36bn) since 2016.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It is also thought to carry out hacks with the purpose of stealing state secrets, including details of advanced weapons technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The country, which is subject to extreme international sanctions, is becoming increasingly more sophisticated in the way it carries out cyber attacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Related Topics<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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