North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
1–10 of 302 posts
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#2This is doubly concerning: Not only for researchers, but also for the public.
I always imagined the North Koreans to be at a technical level where they would be the ones consuming published exploits more so than imagining their own. This article means that they are advanced enough to focus on suppressing knowledge rather than consuming what is publicly available.
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#3Lifetimes ago as an intelligence officer I spent years tracking DPRK activities and developments.
People shouldn’t underestimate their technical capacities or ability to recruit smart hard working people.
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#4bold move, trying this on sec professionals. Might actually be a good thing if it forces them to take their own advice.
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#5This is doubly concerning: Not only for researchers, but also for the public. I always imagined the North Koreans to be at a technical level where they would be the ones consuming published exploits more so than imagining their own. This article means that they are advanced enough to focus on suppressing knowledge rather than consuming what is publicly available.
In the world of (cyber)espionage I can't ever tell what's true and what's exaggeration, but I'm under the impression North Korean hackers have been deemed a serious threat for many years now. In other words, this is not news...
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#6This is doubly concerning: Not only for researchers, but also for the public. I always imagined the North Koreans to be at a technical level where they would be the ones consuming published exploits more so than imagining their own. This article means that they are advanced enough to focus on suppressing knowledge rather than consuming what is publicly available.
DPRK’s top 1% live what amounts to an upper middle class life, and tend to educate their children abroad.
My understanding is that they even have access to an unfiltered Internet supplied by China. The threat of extermination of their families if they step out of line politically seems to keep those people in check.
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#7help me think like a blackhat. what is the end game for this? attempting to see what knowledge researchers have to be able to detect, circumvent, etc what the "bad guys" are up to? attempting to dox, smear the research(er)?
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#8Lifetimes ago as an intelligence officer I spent years tracking DPRK activities and developments. People shouldn’t underestimate their technical capacities or ability to recruit smart hard working people.
> People shouldn’t underestimate their technical capacities or ability to recruit smart hard working people.
People hear about third-world living conditions and deprivation and say "aww, cute" as though it's sticks and rocks they're launching into the sea of Japan. They have money...it's all poured into the military.
I don't understand why the media downplays them so heavily.
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#9help me think like a blackhat. what is the end game for this? attempting to see what knowledge researchers have to be able to detect, circumvent, etc what the "bad guys" are up to? attempting to dox, smear the research(er)?
I’m pretty sure that ransomware and other tactics that largely end with a significant crypto transfer is their end game. Evidently, they are really good at it - $1.7 billion in 2022.
So anything to slow down the researchers are my guess. Keep the drain open, so to say. Just my two cents.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/cryptocurrency-hackers-stol...
Re: North Korean campaign targeting security researchers
#10help me think like a blackhat. what is the end game for this? attempting to see what knowledge researchers have to be able to detect, circumvent, etc what the "bad guys" are up to? attempting to dox, smear the research(er)?
The speculation I've seen is that they're intending to steal someone's research, weaponize it, and using it against their adversaries.