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The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

bbc.com

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Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#11

Post by Clewza313 »

dagw wrote: post #10
sudeepj wrote: post #5

> That North Korea would be the prime suspect in a case of cyber-crime might to some be a surprise. Really? This is actually well-known (atleast amongst security agencies) [1][2] [1] https://www.ft.com/content/cbb28ab8-8ce9-11e9-a24d-b42f641ec... [2] https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/cybe...

It's well known among people who pay attention to these sorts of things, but a lot of otherwise well educated people seem to think that all of North Korea is a primitive backwater stuck in the 50s lacking any kind of technical sophistication.

The vast majority of the country (basically everything outside Pyongyang) is just that. But even in North Korea, the future is unevenly distributed.

Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#12

Post by dagw »

Clewza313 wrote: post #11
dagw wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's well known among people who pay attention to these sorts of things, but a lot of otherwise well educated people seem to think that all of North Korea is a primitive backwater stuck in the 50s lacking any kind of technical sophistication.

The vast majority of the country (basically everything outside Pyongyang) is just that. But even in North Korea, the future is unevenly distributed.

The vast majority of the country (basically everything outside Pyongyang) is just that.

Oh absolutely, which I guess is why so many people find it so surprising that they at the same time have pretty decent cyber offensive capabilities.

Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#13

Post by boomboomsubban »

bellyfullofbac wrote: post #9

Hmm, this reads more like cheap entertainment rather than rigorous reporting. Was the Sony hack really done by the North Koreans [1]? "Journalists" just repeating what the FBI say make me doubt their seriousness. [1] https://talglobal.com/knowledge-center/hack-at-sony-pictures...

The article uses the phrase 'It was "well-known in the intel community"' from an FBI agent to prove a North Korean connection. They aren't doubting the FBI at all in this story, it's less cheap entertainment more blatant propaganda.

Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#15

Post by tester756 »

what's so elite about them?

>In January 2015, an innocuous-looking email had been sent to several Bangladesh Bank employees. It came from a job seeker calling himself Rasel Ahlam. His polite enquiry included an invitation to download his CV and cover letter from a website. In reality, Rasel did not exist - he was simply a cover name being used by the Lazarus Group, according to FBI investigators. At least one person inside the bank fell for the trick, downloaded the documents, and got infected with the viruses hidden inside.

>Once inside the bank's systems, Lazarus Group began stealthily hopping from computer to computer, working their way towards the digital vaults and the billions of dollars they contained.

I'd say when you want elite level hackers, then try those: https://ctftime.org/ like

More Smoked Leet Chicken, Dragon Sector or Plaid Parliament of Pwning

Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#16

Post by raverbashing »

baybal2 wrote: post #8
bigbluedots wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[citation needed]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11319750

Here is proof that being technically capable is not so useful if you don't have corporate/governmental/legal knowledge and "street smarts"

People (especially the technically inclined) have a rose-coloured view of how things should work. And yes if the company is up to date on security practices your vulnerability reports will be welcome.

If not, well... (Not saying it should be like this, I'm saying drawing attention to yourself needlessly is not the wisest thing, especially if you don't have a plan B)

Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#17

Post by sometimesshit »

dagw wrote: post #10
sudeepj wrote: post #5

> That North Korea would be the prime suspect in a case of cyber-crime might to some be a surprise. Really? This is actually well-known (atleast amongst security agencies) [1][2] [1] https://www.ft.com/content/cbb28ab8-8ce9-11e9-a24d-b42f641ec... [2] https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/cybe...

It's well known among people who pay attention to these sorts of things, but a lot of otherwise well educated people seem to think that all of North Korea is a primitive backwater stuck in the 50s lacking any kind of technical sophistication.

They have some Math people and I wonder why the regime didn't use state of art AI in their attacks.

They surly has the potential but I don't see they are fully using it.

Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#18

Post by zerr »

Tangential question: in order to become educated/expert in some field (e.g. IT) one needs the freedom of doing research, free access to information, Internet, thus exposure to "western"/civilized values, human rights, etc... So how NK "produces" such experts behind the iron curtain?

Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#19

Post by cinntaile »

zerr wrote: post #18

Tangential question: in order to become educated/expert in some field (e.g. IT) one needs the freedom of doing research, free access to information, Internet, thus exposure to "western"/civilized values, human rights, etc... So how NK "produces" such experts behind the iron curtain?

The hackers have a lot more access to information than regular citizens because they need it to do their job, but it would be interesting to know how that affects the defection rate.

Re: The Lazarus heist: How North Korea almost pulled off a billion-dollar hack

#20

Post by wombatmobile »

zerr wrote: post #18

Tangential question: in order to become educated/expert in some field (e.g. IT) one needs the freedom of doing research, free access to information, Internet, thus exposure to "western"/civilized values, human rights, etc... So how NK "produces" such experts behind the iron curtain?

> So in order to train its cyber-warriors, the regime sends the most talented computer programmers abroad, mostly to China. There they learn how the rest of the world uses computers and the internet: to shop, to gamble, to network and to be entertained. It's there, experts say, that they are transformed from mathematical geniuses into hackers.
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