Security News > 2024 > March > North Korea hacks two South Korean chip firms to steal engineering data
The National Intelligence Service in South Korea warns that North Korean hackers target domestic semiconductor manufacturers in cyber espionage attacks.
In the cases observed by the NIS, the North Korean adversaries used "Living off the land" tactics, which entails abusing legitimate software tools for malicious purposes to evade detection by security products.
The two victims aren't named in the report, but it is worth noting that South Korea is home to two leading chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, who develop and produce a wide range of processor, system-on-chips, and DRAM, and NAND flash products.
The two firms play critical roles in the global semiconductor supply chain, providing chips for a wide array of notable firms across various industries globally, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Sony, Dell, and many automotive and consumer electronic makers.
"In relation to this hacking trend, the National Intelligence Service believes that North Korea may have started to prepare for its own semiconductor production due to difficulties in obtaining semiconductors because of sanctions, which affect the development of weapons such as satellites and missiles." - NIS. The intel org says it notified the domestic victims of the cyberattacks and provided recommendations on detecting and stopping them.
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