North Korean hackers stealing military secrets, say U.S. and allies
Source: NBC News/Reuters
July 26, 2024, 6:01 AM EDT
North Korean hackers have conducted a global cyber espionage campaign in efforts to steal classified military secrets to support Pyongyangs banned nuclear weapons programme, the United States, Britain and South Korea said in a joint advisory on Thursday.
The hackers, dubbed Anadriel or APT45 by cybersecurity researchers, are believed to be part of North Koreas intelligence agency known as the Reconnaissance General Bureau, an entity sanctioned by the U.S. in 2015.
The cyber unit has targeted or breached computer systems at a broad variety of defence or engineering firms, including manufacturers of tanks, submarines, naval vessels, fighter aircraft, and missile and radar systems, the advisory said. Victims in the U.S. have also included the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Randolph Air Force Base in Texas and Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, FBI and U.S. Justice Department officials said on Thursday.
In the February 2022 targeting of NASA, the hackers used a malware script to gain unauthorized access to its computer system for three months, U.S. prosecutors allege. Over 17 gigabytes of unclassified data were extracted. The authoring agencies believe the group and the cyber techniques remain an ongoing threat to various industry sectors worldwide, including but not limited to entities in their respective countries, as well as in Japan and India, the advisory said.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-hackers-stealing-military-secrets-us-allies-rcna163769
mdbl
(5,330 posts)Sounds like it's time to disconnect some of these countries from the internet.
BComplex
(8,937 posts)But then, someone might figure out how to do that to us, as well.
Bayard
(23,864 posts)Didn't they get enough from him already?
republianmushroom
(16,970 posts)reACTIONary
(5,949 posts).... and you will note that the article states that the 17 gigabytes was "unclassified".
Classified electronic information is stored on "air gapped" systems. Meaning that the systems are NOT connected to the internet. They are also locked in controlled access rooms and buildings.
republianmushroom
(16,970 posts)reACTIONary
(5,949 posts).... is useful in composing click bait headlines. The exfiltrated data mentioned in the article was not classified. There are other forms of information that is not "secret" secrete, but that is not to be shared.
Controlled Unclassified Information - Not secret, but exempt from the freedom of information act.
Export Controlled Information - Cannot be shared with non-US Persons. Mostly foreign nationals, but some foreign nationals are US Persons if they have a green card, for instance.
ITAR - International Traffic in Arms Regulations - I think this is subsumed under export control now.
None of this is "secret" secret, but any of it could have been lost in the NASA breach. And we don't want to let NK in om any of it.