NKorea suspected of ‘spear phishing’ SKorean officials

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

North Korea appears to have lured dozens of Seoul officials into providing access to their email accounts, according to the findings of South Korean investigators Monday.

A “spear phishing” scam reportedly targeted 56 email accounts, leading victims to reset their passwords via bogus websites.

Local news agency Yonhap claimed that ministry officials, journalists and North Korea analysts were targeted between January and June.

South Korea’s Supreme Prosecutors' Office noted that the attack echoed the North’s cyber offensive on the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company in 2014 -- but there is no suggestion as yet that any classified documents were accessed.

Pyongyang is feared by Seoul to pose a major threat with an army of more than 1,000 hackers, who have already succeeded in penetrating major bank and media institutions in recent years.

Just last week, South Korean police accused the heavily sanctioned North Korea of being behind an attack on an online shopping website, Interpark -- which said the perpetrators tried to blackmail the company by demanding virtual currency worth millions of dollars after a massive customer data breach.

Now the South’s official advice to government employees is to consider going offline when carrying out “important tasks” -- though ultra-connected Seoul and reclusive Pyongyang are at opposite ends of the Internet speed spectrum.

South Korean intelligence agents are said to have supported efforts to shut down nearly 30 fake websites used in the “spear phishing” scam.