One or more hacking groups linked to North Korea has breached the personal emails of more than 100 people in the South, including the accounts of senior defense officials, according to local reports.
Officials with South Korea‘s police and the Defense Ministry, which are now conducting a joint investigation, have acknowledged the cyberattack but have so far not publicized the precise number of victims.
The latest breach, first reported on Monday by South Korea’s TV Chosun, compromised the private emails of national security staff and senior military officials, including generals in the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Lazarus group, and possibly other North Korea-affiliated entities, were likely behind the cyberattack, which the news channel called the largest “organized hack” of individual communications to date.
North Korea has been accused of major hacks in the past, as part of long-term efforts to infiltrate and undermine the South’s intelligence and security apparatuses.
South Korean authorities say the attacks are carried out by proxy groups funded by Pyongyang. Kim Jong Un‘s regime is thought to benefit from not only the potential acquisition of sensitive data, but also successful ransomware attacks that help fund the country’s poverty-stricken economy.
Inter-Korean relations remain at a low point amid Kim’s repeated missile tests and as South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol leans into his country’s decadeslong treaty alliance with the United States.
