14 DAY TRIAL // South Korean police has said today that North Korea was behind cyber-attacks that started as early as July 2014 and breached two of the country's telecom giants.
Authorities in Seoul say the attackers managed to breach the networks of these two companies and then expanded their access to over 160 businesses that used their servers.
A police representative has declined to name the two hacked telecom giants, but The Korea Herald has claimed it was the SK Group and the Hanjin Group.
Attackers focused their efforts on stealing defense files
The Hanjin Group provides IT management services for Korea's top airline company, Korean Air, which also manufactures parts for the country's military jets.
South Korean authorities have admitted the attackers managed to steal files that included details about a medium altitude unmanned surveillance vehicle (drone) and blueprints detailing the wing design of a US F-15 jet fighter.
Authorities have added that the attackers infected over 160,000 computers in over 160 companies and stole 42,608 files, among which over 40,000 are said to be defense-related documents.
This may be related to OnionDog
According to the National Police Agency (NPA), the initial infections go back to July 2014, but authorities detected the intrusion in March 2016.
This timeline matches the findings of a Qihoo 360 report that detailed the actions of a cyber-espionage group named OnionDog. The group speaks Korean, targeted the country's transportation system, started operating in October 2013, amped up operations in the summer of 2014, was ousted in March 2016, and is believed to be linked to North Korea.
NPA said on Monday that they managed to tie some of the IPs used in these recent attacks to the ones used by North Korean groups in the past, and more specifically, to attacks from 2013 that targeted South Korea's banks and broadcasters.
Earlier in May, South Korea again accused North Korea of hacking, this time, a military navy ship builder.