US Issues Warning to Businesses About North Korean Hackers

The U.S. government is warning of an advanced North Korean hacking group that has targeted the U.S., South Korea and Japan with cyber-intrusions to collect intelligence on issues including nuclear policy and sanctions.

The hacking group, known as Kimsuky, “focuses its intelligence collection activities on foreign policy and national security issues related to the Korean peninsula,” according to an advisory issued on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is known as CISA, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Cyber Command.

The group “is most likely tasked by the North Korean regime with a global intelligence-gathering mission,” according to the advisory, which dates the start of these operations to about 2012. It has targeted think tanks, the South Korean government and “individuals identified as experts in various fields,” according to the advisory.

The advisory, which includes technical information about Kimsuky, was published to help businesses better protect their networks from North Korean threats, according to CISA.