SEOUL: North Korean hackers are targeting US-South Korea joint military exercise starting Monday and the futile breach in security resulted in no classified information being obtained, South Korean police said on Sunday.
South Korean and US militaries will conduct exercises from Monday. The 11-day Ulchi Freedom Guardian summer exercises is conducted to improve their ability as well as capabilities to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
North Korea has strongly objected to such exercises saying the two are making preparations for an invasion which the two countries deny.
The hackers are suspected of having links with a North Korean group that researchers call Kimsuky, and they carried out their activities via emails to South Korean contractors working at the South Korea-US combined exercise war simulation centre, the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said in a statement.
Police on Sunday in a statement confirmed that no military-related information was not stolen. North Korea denied any role in cyberattacks.
South Korean police and the US military in their investigations found the IP address used in the attempt was one identified in a 2014 hacking attack against South Korea’s nuclear reactor operator.
At that time in 2014, South Korea accused North Korea of being behind that cyberattack.
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