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151-520: The Lazarus Group has strong links to North Korea . The United States Department of Justice has claimed the group is part of the North Korean government's strategy to "undermine global cybersecurity ... and generate illicit revenue in violation of ... sanctions". North Korea benefits from conducting cyber operations because it can present an asymmetric threat with a small group of operators, especially to South Korea. The earliest known attack that

302-584: A United Nations Environmental Programme report in 2003, forest covers over 70 percent of the country, mostly on steep slopes. North Korea had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.02/10, ranking it 28th globally out of 172 countries. The longest river is the Amnok (Yalu) River which flows for 790 kilometers (491 mi). The country contains three terrestrial ecoregions: Central Korean deciduous forests , Changbai Mountains mixed forests , and Manchurian mixed forests . North Korea experiences

453-473: A cyberweapon . The exploit was then stolen by the Shadow Brokers hacker group, who first tried to auction it off, but after failing to do that simply gave it away for free. The NSA subsequently revealed the vulnerability to Microsoft who issued an update on March 14, 2017, a little under a month before the attack occurred. It wasn't enough. The update wasn't mandatory and the majority of computers with

604-523: A détente developed. A series of summits took place between Kim Jong Un of North Korea, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, and President Trump. On 10 January 2021, Kim Jong Un was formally elected as the General Secretary in 8th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea , a title previously held by Kim Jong Il. On 24 March 2022, North Korea conducted a successful ICBM test launch for

755-957: A humid continental climate within the Köppen climate classification scheme. Winters bring clear weather interspersed with snow storms as a result of northern and northwestern winds that blow from Siberia . Summer tends to be by far the hottest, most humid, and rainiest time of year because of the southern and southeastern monsoon winds that carry moist air from the Pacific Ocean . Approximately 60 percent of all precipitation occurs from June to September. Spring and autumn are transitional seasons between summer and winter. The daily average high and low temperatures for Pyongyang are −3 and −13 °C (27 and 9 °F) in January and 29 and 20 °C (84 and 68 °F) in August. North Korea functions as

906-580: A hydrogen bomb and a missile capable of reaching the United States. Throughout 2017, following Donald Trump 's ascension to the US presidency, tensions between the United States and North Korea increased, and there was heightened rhetoric between the two, with Trump threatening "fire and fury" if North Korea ever attacked U.S. territory amid North Korean threats to test missiles that would land near Guam . The tensions substantially decreased in 2018, and

1057-724: A " military first " policy which prioritizes the Korean People's Army in state affairs and the allocation of resources. It possesses nuclear weapons . Its active-duty army of 1.28 million soldiers is the fourth-largest in the world. In addition to being a member of the United Nations since 1991, North Korea is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement , G77 , and the ASEAN Regional Forum . The modern spelling of Korea first appeared in 1671 in

1208-520: A Reddit post appeared stating that Sony Pictures had been hacked via unknown means; the perpetrators identified themselves as the "Guardians of Peace". Large amounts of data were stolen and slowly leaked in the days following the attack. An interview with someone claiming to be part of the group stated that they had been siphoning Sony's data for over a year. The hackers were able to access previously unreleased films, scripts for certain films, plans for future films, information about executive salaries at

1359-428: A cult of personality closely tied to the state philosophy of Juche, which was later passed on to his successors: his son Kim Jong Il in 1994 and grandson Kim Jong Un in 2011. In 2013, Clause 2 of Article 10 of the newly edited Ten Fundamental Principles of the Workers' Party of Korea stated that the party and revolution must be carried "eternally" by the "Mount Paektu Bloodline". According to New Focus International ,

1510-550: A custom support plan. Organizations were advised to patch Windows and plug the vulnerability in order to protect themselves from the cyber attack. The head of Microsoft's Cyber Defense Operations Center, Adrienne Hall, said that "Due to the elevated risk for destructive cyber-attacks at this time, we made the decision to take this action because applying these updates provides further protection against potential attacks with characteristics similar to WannaCrypt [alternative name to WannaCry]". Researcher Marcus Hutchins discovered

1661-543: A day the code was reported to have infected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries. Organizations that had not installed Microsoft's security update from March were affected by the attack. Those still running unsupported versions of Microsoft Windows , such as Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were at particularly high risk because no security patches had been released since April 2014 for Windows XP and July 2015 for Windows Server 2003. A Kaspersky Lab study reported, however, that less than 0.1 percent of

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1812-492: A duty to protect their countries' citizens. Others have also commented that this attack shows that the practice of intelligence agencies to stockpile exploits for offensive purposes rather than disclosing them for defensive purposes may be problematic. Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith wrote, "Repeatedly, exploits in the hands of governments have leaked into the public domain and caused widespread damage. An equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be

1963-411: A group called The Shadow Brokers a month prior to the attack. While Microsoft had released patches previously to close the exploit, much of WannaCry's spread was from organizations that had not applied these, or were using older Windows systems that were past their end of life . These patches were imperative to cyber security, but many organizations did not apply them, citing a need for 24/7 operation,

2114-462: A group of North Korean hackers targeting cybersecurity researchers via a social engineering campaign, with Microsoft specifically attributing the campaign to the Lazarus Group. The hackers created multiple user profiles on Twitter , GitHub , and LinkedIn posing as legitimate software vulnerability researchers, and used those profiles to interact with posts and content made by others in

2265-561: A heart attack in 1994 ; Kim Jong Il declared a three-year period of national mourning, afterward officially announcing his position as the new leader. North Korea promised to halt its development of nuclear weapons under the Agreed Framework , negotiated with U.S. president Bill Clinton and signed in 1994. Building on Nordpolitik , South Korea began to engage with the North as part of its Sunshine Policy . Kim Jong Il instituted

2416-542: A highly centralized, one-party totalitarian dictatorship. According to its constitution , it is a self-described revolutionary and socialist state "guided in its building and activities only by great Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism". In addition to the constitution, North Korea is governed by the Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System (also known as the "Ten Principles of

2567-757: A leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and promoting the ideology of Juche . In United States policymaking, North Korea was considered among the Captive Nations . Despite its efforts to break out of the Soviet and Chinese spheres of influence, North Korea remained closely aligned with both countries throughout the Cold War. Industry was the favored sector in North Korea. Industrial production returned to pre-war levels by 1957. In 1959, relations with Japan had improved somewhat, and North Korea began allowing

2718-600: A number of its embassies. At the same time, North Korea sought to build relations with developed free market countries. North Korea joined the United Nations in 1991 together with South Korea . North Korea is also a member of the Non-Aligned Movement , G77 and the ASEAN Regional Forum . As of 2015 , North Korea had diplomatic relations with 166 countries and embassies in 47 countries. North Korea does not have diplomatic relations with Argentina , Botswana , Estonia , France , Iraq , Israel , Japan , Taiwan ,

2869-455: A policy called Songun , or "military first". Flooding in the mid-1990s exacerbated the economic crisis, severely damaging crops and infrastructure and leading to widespread famine that the government proved incapable of curtailing, resulting in the deaths of between 240,000 and 420,000 people. Which led many North Koreans to flee into China, South Korea and neighboring countries. In China, these illegal North Korea child immigrants are called

3020-556: A policy of "strategic patience", resisting making deals with North Korea. Tensions with South Korea and the United States increased in 2010 with the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan and North Korea's shelling of Yeonpyeong Island . On 17 December 2011, Kim Jong Il died from a heart attack . His youngest son Kim Jong Un was announced as his successor. In the face of international condemnation, North Korea continued to develop its nuclear arsenal, possibly including

3171-615: A report by Members of Parliament concluded that all 200 NHS hospitals or other organisations checked in the wake of the WannaCry attack still failed cybersecurity checks. NHS hospitals in Wales and Northern Ireland were unaffected by the attack. Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK in Tyne and Wear , England, halted production after the ransomware infected some of their systems. Renault also stopped production at several sites in an attempt to stop

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3322-459: A result of the war, almost every substantial building in North Korea was destroyed. Some have referred to the conflict as a civil war, with other factors involved. A heavily guarded demilitarized zone (DMZ) still divides the peninsula, and an anti-communist and anti-North Korea sentiment remains in South Korea. Since the war, the United States has maintained a strong military presence in

3473-410: A result, 65% of Korea's heavy industry was located in the north, but, due to the rugged terrain, only 37% of its agriculture. Northern Korea had little exposure to modern, Western ideas. One partial exception was the penetration of religion. Since the arrival of missionaries in the late nineteenth century, the northwest of Korea, and Pyongyang in particular, had been a stronghold of Christianity. As

3624-777: A result, Pyongyang was called the "Jerusalem of the East". A Korean guerrilla movement emerged in the mountainous interior and in Manchuria, harassing the Japanese imperial authorities. One of the most prominent guerrilla leaders was the Communist Kim Il Sung . After the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945, the Korean Peninsula was divided into two zones along the 38th parallel , with

3775-462: A sub-group within their organisation, which Kaspersky called Bluenoroff, specialised in financial cyberattacks. Kaspersky found multiple attacks worldwide and a direct link ( IP address ) between Bluenoroff and North Korea. However, Kaspersky also acknowledged that the repetition of the code could be a “false flag” meant to mislead investigators and pin the attack on North Korea, given that the worldwide WannaCry worm cyber attack copied techniques from

3926-487: A successful $ 49 million theft from an institution in Kuwait . Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic , pharmaceutical companies became major targets for the Lazarus Group. Using spear-phishing techniques, Lazarus Group members posed as health officials and contacted pharmaceutical company employees with malicious links. It is thought that multiple major pharma organizations were targeted, but the only one that has been confirmed

4077-439: A system, strategic web compromise, and accessing Linux servers. It's reported that they sometimes work together with criminal hackers. AndAriel (also spelled Andarial, and also known as: Silent Chollima, Dark Seoul, Rifle, and Wassonite) is logistically characterized by its targeting of South Korea . AndAriel's alternative name is called Silent Chollima due to the stealthy nature of the subgroup. Any organization in South Korea

4228-557: A tool known as WannaKey, which automates this process on Windows XP systems. This approach was iterated upon by a second tool known as Wanakiwi, which was tested to work on Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 as well. Within four days of the initial outbreak, new infections had slowed to a trickle due to these responses. Linguistic analysis of the ransom notes indicated the authors were likely fluent in Chinese and proficient in English, as

4379-454: A vulnerability in the Windows operating system, then encrypted the computer's data in return for a sum of Bitcoin worth roughly $ 300 to get the key. In order to encourage payment, the ransom demand doubled after three days, and if not paid in a week, the malware deletes the encrypted data files. The malware used a legitimate piece of software called Windows Crypto, made by Microsoft to scramble

4530-642: A wake-up call for companies to finally take IT security [seriously]". The effects of the attack also had political implications; in the United Kingdom , the impact on the National Health Service quickly became political, with claims that the effects were exacerbated by government underfunding of the NHS; in particular, the NHS ceased its paid Custom Support arrangement to continue receiving support for unsupported Microsoft software used within

4681-463: A wiper attack that targeted three South Korean broadcast companies, financial institutes, and an ISP. At the time, two other groups going by the personas ″NewRomanic Cyber Army Team and WhoIs Team″, took credit for that attack but researchers did not know the Lazarus Group was behind it at the time. Researchers today know the Lazarus Group as a supergroup behind the disruptive attacks. The Lazarus Group attacks culminated on November 24, 2014. On that day,

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4832-518: Is Paektu Mountain , a volcanic mountain with an elevation of 2,744 meters (9,003 ft) above sea level. Considered a sacred place by North Koreans, Mount Paektu holds significance in Korean culture and has been incorporated in the elaborate folklore and personality cult around the Kim family. For example, the song, "We Will Go To Mount Paektu" sings in praise of Kim Jong Un and describes a symbolic trek to

4983-623: Is a backdoor tool, also released by The Shadow Brokers on 14 April 2017. Starting from 21 April 2017, security researchers reported that there were tens of thousands of computers with the DoublePulsar backdoor installed. By 25 April, reports estimated that the number of infected computers could be up to several hundred thousand, with numbers increasing every day. The WannaCry code can take advantage of any existing DoublePulsar infection, or installs it itself. On 9 May 2017, private cybersecurity company RiskSense released code on GitHub with

5134-796: Is a continuation of North Korea’s interest in cryptocurrency, which we now know encompasses a broad range of activities including mining, ransomware, and outright theft...” The report also said that North Korea was using these cryptocurrency attacks to avoid international financial sanctions. North Korean hackers stole US$ 7 million from Bithumb , a South Korean exchange in February 2017. Youbit, another South Korean Bitcoin exchange company, filed for bankruptcy in December 2017 after 17% of its assets were stolen by cyberattacks following an earlier attack in April 2017. Lazarus and North Korean hackers were blamed for

5285-553: Is also called APT38 (by Mandiant ) and Stardust Chollima (by Crowdstrike ). According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Army, Bluenoroff has about 1,700 members carrying out financial cybercrime by concentrating on long-term assessment and exploiting enemy network vulnerabilities and systems for financial gain for the regime or to take control of the system. They target financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges, including over 16 organizations in at least 13 countries between 2014 and 2021: Bangladesh, Chile, India, Mexico, Pakistan,

5436-471: Is based on evidence." In a press conference the following day, Bossert said that the evidence indicates that Kim Jong-un had given the order to launch the malware attack. Bossert said that Canada, New Zealand and Japan agree with the United States' assessment of the evidence that links the attack to North Korea, while the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office says it also stands behind

5587-586: Is formed by the Yellow Sea , while its eastern border is defined by the Sea of Japan . North Korea, like its southern counterpart , claims to be the sole legitimate government of the entire peninsula and adjacent islands . Pyongyang is the capital and largest city. The Korean Peninsula was first inhabited as early as the Lower Paleolithic period. Its first kingdom was noted in Chinese records in

5738-408: Is no need to click on a bad link - the malware can spread autonomously, from a computer to a connected printer, and then beyond to adjacent computers, perhaps connected to the wifi, etc. The port 445 vulnerability allowed the malware to move freely across intranets, and infect thousands of computers rapidly. The Wannacry attack was one of the first large scale uses of a cryptoworm. The virus exploited

5889-632: Is still uncertain. A notable attack that the group is known for is the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures . The Sony attack used more sophisticated techniques and highlighted how advanced the group has become over time. The Lazarus Group were reported to have stolen US$ 12 million from the Banco del Austro in Ecuador and US$ 1 million from Vietnam's Tien Phong Bank in 2015. They have also targeted banks in Poland and Mexico. The 2016 bank heist included an attack on

6040-402: Is the cornerstone of party works and government operations. Juche , part of the larger Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism along with Songun under Kim Jong Un, is viewed by the official North Korean line as an embodiment of Kim Il Sung's wisdom, an expression of his leadership, and an idea which provides "a complete answer to any question that arises in the struggle for national liberation". Juche

6191-404: Is the ruling party of North Korea. According to Article 3 of the constitution, Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism is the official ideology of North Korea. The means of production are owned by the state through state-run enterprises and collectivized farms . Most services—such as healthcare , education , housing , and food production —are subsidized or state-funded. North Korea follows Songun ,

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6342-707: Is vulnerable to AndAriel. Targets include government, defense, and any economic symbol. According to a 2020 report by the U.S. Army, Andarial has about 1,600 members whose mission is reconnaissance, assessment of the network vulnerabilities, and mapping the enemy network for potential attack. In addition to South Korea, they also target other governments, infrastructure, and businesses. Attack vectors include: ActiveX, vulnerabilities in South Korean software, watering hole attacks , spear phishing (macro), IT management products (antivirus, PMS), and supply chain (installers and updaters). Malware used include: Aryan , Gh0st RAT , Rifdoor , Phandoor , and Andarat . In February 2021,

6493-573: The 38th parallel , with the north occupied by the Soviet Union and the south occupied by the United States . In 1948, separate governments were formed in Korea: the socialist and Soviet-aligned Democratic People's Republic of Korea in the north, and the capitalist, Western-aligned Republic of Korea in the south. North Korean invasion of South Korea in 1950 started the Korean War . In 1953,

6644-564: The Axie Infinity game. The FBI said "Through our investigations we were able to confirm the Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with [North Korea], are responsible for the theft". The FBI confirmed that the North Korean malicious cyber actor group Lazarus (also known as APT38) was responsible for the theft of $ 100 million of virtual currency from Harmony's Horizon bridge reported on June 24, 2022. A report published by blockchain security platform Immunefi, alleged that Lazarus

6795-736: The Bangladesh Bank , successfully stealing US$ 81 million and was attributed to the group. In 2017, the Lazarus group was reported to have stolen US$ 60 million from the Far Eastern International Bank of Taiwan although the actual amount stolen was unclear, and most of the funds were recovered. It is not clear who is really behind the group, but media reports have suggested the group has links to North Korea . Kaspersky Lab reported in 2017 that Lazarus tended to concentrate on spying and infiltration cyberattacks whereas

6946-615: The Council on Foreign Relations , stated that "the patching and updating systems are broken, basically, in the private sector and in government agencies". In addition, Segal said that governments' apparent inability to secure vulnerabilities "opens a lot of questions about backdoors and access to encryption that the government argues it needs from the private sector for security". Arne Schönbohm , president of Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), stated that "the current attacks show how vulnerable our digital society is. It's

7097-531: The EternalBlue exploit to gain access, and the DoublePulsar tool to install and execute a copy of itself. WannaCry versions 0, 1 and 2 were created using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 . EternalBlue is an exploit of Microsoft's implementation of their Server Message Block (SMB) protocol released by The Shadow Brokers . Much of the attention and comment around the event was occasioned by the fact that

7248-538: The Google Chrome browser, suggesting that the hackers may have used a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability affecting Chrome for the attack; however, Google stated that they were unable to confirm the exact method of compromise at the time of the report. In March 2022, the Lazarus Group was found responsible for stealing $ 620 million worth of cryptocurrencies from the Ronin Network, a bridge used by

7399-700: The Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). In 1897, King Gojong proclaimed the Korean Empire , which was annexed by the Empire of Japan in 1910. From 1910 to the end of World War II in 1945, Korea was under Japanese rule . Most Koreans were peasants engaged in subsistence farming . In the 1930s, Japan developed mines, hydro-electric dams, steel mills, and manufacturing plants in northern Korea and neighboring Manchuria . The Korean industrial working class expanded rapidly, and many Koreans went to work in Manchuria. As

7550-534: The Kim Chaek University of Technology , Kim Il-sung University and Moranbong University, which picks the brightest students from across the country and puts them through six years of special education. Lazarus is believed to have two units. BlueNorOff (also known as: APT38, Stardust Chollima, BeagleBoyz, NICKEL GLADSTONE) is a financially motivated group that is responsible for the illegal transfers of money via forging orders from SWIFT . BlueNorOff

7701-523: The Kim family is the current Supreme Leader or Suryeong of North Korea. He heads all major governing structures: he is the general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs . His grandfather Kim Il Sung, the founder and leader of North Korea until his death in 1994, is the country's " eternal President ", while his father Kim Jong Il who succeeded Kim Il Sung as

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7852-402: The Kim family . Amnesty International considers the country to have the worst human rights record in the world. Officially, North Korea is an "independent socialist state " which holds democratic elections ; however, outside observers have described the elections as unfair, uncompetitive, and pre-determined, in a manner similar to elections in the Soviet Union . The Workers' Party of Korea

8003-535: The Korean Armistice Agreement brought about a ceasefire and established a demilitarized zone (DMZ), but no formal peace treaty has ever been signed. Post-war North Korea benefited greatly from economic aid and expertise provided by other Eastern Bloc countries. However, Kim Il Sung , North Korea's first leader, promoted his personal philosophy of Juche as the state ideology . Pyongyang's international isolation sharply accelerated from

8154-789: The Kotjebi . In 1996, the government accepted UN food aid. The international environment changed once George W. Bush became U.S. President in 2001. His administration rejected South Korea's Sunshine Policy and the Agreed Framework. Bush included North Korea in his axis of evil in his 2002 State of the Union Address . The U.S. government accordingly treated North Korea as a rogue state , while North Korea redoubled its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. On 9 October 2006, North Korea announced it had conducted its first nuclear weapons test . U.S. President Barack Obama adopted

8305-528: The Microsoft Windows operating system by encrypting (locking) data and demanding ransom payments in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency . The worm is also known as WannaCrypt, Wana Decrypt0r 2.0, WanaCrypt0r 2.0, and Wanna Decryptor. It is considered a network worm because it also includes a transport mechanism to automatically spread itself. This transport code scans for vulnerable systems, then uses

8456-756: The Mydoom and Dozer malware to launch a large-scale, but quite unsophisticated, DDoS attack against US and South Korean websites. The volley of attacks struck about three dozen websites and placed the text "Memory of Independence Day" in the master boot record (MBR). Over time, attacks from this group have grown more sophisticated; their techniques and tools have become better developed and more effective. The March 2011 attack known as "Ten Days of Rain" targeted South Korean media, financial, and critical infrastructure, and consisted of more sophisticated DDoS attacks that originated from compromised computers within South Korea. The attacks continued on March 20, 2013, with DarkSeoul,

8607-530: The People's Republic of China . The UNC, led by the United States, intervened to defend the South, and rapidly advanced into North Korea. As they neared the border with China, Chinese forces intervened on behalf of North Korea, shifting the balance of the war again. Fighting ended on 27 July 1953, with an armistice that approximately restored the original boundaries between North and South Korea, but no peace treaty

8758-783: The South on 25 June 1950, and swiftly overran most of the country. The United Nations Command (UNC) was subsequently established following the UN Security Council 's recognition of North Korean aggression against South Korea. The motion passed because the Soviet Union , a close ally of North Korea and a member of the UN Security Council, was boycotting the UN over its recognition of the Republic of China rather than

8909-727: The US Department of Justice indicted three members of the Reconnaissance General Bureau , a North Korean military intelligence agency, for having participated in several Lazarus hacking campaigns: Park Jin Hyok , Jon Chang Hyok and Kim Il Park. Jin Hyok had already been indicted earlier in September 2018. The individuals are not in U.S. custody. A Canadian and two Chinese individuals have also been charged with having acted as money mules and money launderers for

9060-636: The United States , and Ukraine . Germany is unusual in maintaining a North Korean embassy. German Ambassador Friedrich Lohr says most of his time in North Korea involved facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid and agricultural assistance to a population plagued by food shortages. North Korea enjoys a close relationship with China which is often called North Korea's closest ally. Relations were strained beginning in 2006 because of China's concerns about North Korea's nuclear program. Relations improved after Xi Jinping , General Secretary of

9211-527: The Yellow Sea and Korea Bay , and to its east lies Japan across the Sea of Japan . Early European visitors to Korea remarked that the country resembled "a sea in a heavy gale" because of the many successive mountain ranges that crisscross the peninsula. Some 80 percent of North Korea is composed of mountains and uplands, separated by deep and narrow valleys. All of the Korean Peninsula's mountains with elevations of 2,000 meters (6,600 ft) or more are located in North Korea. The highest point in North Korea

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9362-551: The cryptocurrency wallet owners remain unknown. Several organizations released detailed technical write-ups of the malware, including a senior security analyst at RiskSense, Microsoft , Cisco , Malwarebytes , Symantec , and McAfee . The attack began on Friday, 12 May 2017, with evidence pointing to an initial infection in Asia at 07:44 UTC. The initial infection was likely through an exposed vulnerable SMB port, rather than email phishing as initially assumed. Within

9513-428: The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, when all Soviet aid was suddenly halted. An internal CIA study acknowledged various achievements of the North Korean government post-war: compassionate care for war orphans and children in general, a radical improvement in the status of women, free housing, free healthcare, and health statistics particularly in life expectancy and infant mortality that were comparable to even

9664-404: The prime numbers used to generate the payload's private keys from the memory, making it potentially possible to retrieve the required key if they had not yet been overwritten or cleared from resident memory. The key is kept in the memory if the WannaCry process has not been killed and the computer has not been rebooted after being infected. This behaviour was used by a French researcher to develop

9815-447: The 12th of May, 2017. The attack lasted 7 hours and 19 minutes. Europol estimates it affected nearly 200,000 computers in 150 countries, primarily affecting Russia, India, Ukraine, and Taiwan. This was one of the first attacks of a cryptoworm . Cryptoworms are a class of malware that travels between computers using networks, without requiring direct user action for infection — in this case, exploiting TCP port 445 . To be infected, there

9966-526: The 1972 July 4 South–North Joint Statement that established principles of working toward peaceful reunification. The talks ultimately failed because in 1973, South Korea declared its preference that the two Koreas should seek separate memberships in international organizations. The Soviet Union was dissolved on 26 December 1991, ending its aid and support to North Korea. In 1992, as Kim Il Sung's health began deteriorating, his son Kim Jong Il slowly began taking over various state tasks. Kim Il Sung died of

10117-547: The 1980s onwards as the Cold War came to an end. The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 then brought about a sharp decline to the North Korean economy. From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered a famine with the population continuing to suffer from malnutrition. In 2024, the DPRK formally abandoned efforts to peacefully reunify Korea . North Korea is a totalitarian dictatorship with a comprehensive cult of personality around

10268-615: The Allied Military Government . In April 1948, an uprising of the Jeju islanders was violently crushed. The South declared its statehood in May 1948 and two months later the ardent anti-communist Syngman Rhee became its ruler. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established in the North on 9 September 1948. Shtykov served as the first Soviet ambassador, while Kim Il Sung became premier. Soviet forces withdrew from

10419-518: The Chinese Communist Party and Chinese President visited North Korea in June 2019. North Korea continues to have strong ties with several Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam , Laos , Cambodia , and Indonesia . Relations with Malaysia were strained in 2017 by the assassination of Kim Jong-nam . North Korea has a close relationship with Russia and has voiced support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine . WannaCry ransomware attack Short names: The WannaCry ransomware attack

10570-400: The Internet, and laterally to computers on the same network. On the local system, the WannaCry executable file extracts and installs binary and configuration files from its resource section. It also hides the extracted directory, modifies security descriptors, creates an encryption key, deletes shadow copies, and so on. As with other modern ransomware, the payload displays a message informing

10721-404: The Lazarus group. North Korea North Korea , officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK ), is a country in East Asia . It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen rivers, and South Korea to the south at the Korean Demilitarized Zone . The country's western border

10872-450: The NSA as well. This ransomware leverages an NSA exploit known as EternalBlue that a hacker group known as Shadow Brokers made public in April 2017. Symantec reported in 2017 that it was "highly likely" that Lazarus was behind the WannaCry attack. The Lazarus Group's first major hacking incident took place on July 4, 2009, and sparked the beginning of "Operation Troy". This attack utilized

11023-484: The NSA had " privately disclosed the flaw used to attack hospitals when they found it, not when they lost it, the attack may not have happened". British cybersecurity expert Graham Cluley also sees "some culpability on the part of the U.S. intelligence services". According to him and others "they could have done something ages ago to get this problem fixed, and they didn't do it". He also said that despite obvious uses for such tools to spy on people of interest , they have

11174-472: The North in 1948, and most American forces withdrew from the South in 1949. Ambassador Shtykov suspected Rhee was planning to invade the North and was sympathetic to Kim's goal of Korean unification under socialism. The two successfully lobbied Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to support a quick war against the South, which culminated in the outbreak of the Korean War. The military of North Korea invaded

11325-643: The One-Ideology System") which establishes standards for governance and a guide for the behaviors of North Koreans. The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), a communist party led by a member of the Kim family , has an estimated 6.5 million members and is in control of North Korean politics. It has two satellite parties, the Korean Social Democratic Party and the Chondoist Chongu Party . Kim Jong Un of

11476-628: The Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam. The revenue is believed to go towards the development of missile and nuclear technology. BlueNorOff's most infamous attack was the 2016 Bangladesh Bank robbery in which they tried to use the SWIFT network to illegally transfer close to US$ 1 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York account belonging to Bangladesh Bank , the central bank of Bangladesh. After several of

11627-647: The Philippines. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York blocked the remaining thirty transactions, amounting to US$ 850 million, due to suspicions raised by a misspelled instruction. Cybersecurity experts claimed that the North Korea–based Lazarus Group was behind the attack. The WannaCry attack was a massive ransomware cyberattack that hit institutions across the globe ranging all the way from the NHS in Britain, to Boeing, and even to Universities in China on

11778-545: The SPA Standing Committee, whose Chairman ( Choe Ryong-hae since 2019) is the third-ranking official in North Korea. Deputies formally elect the chairman, the vice chairpersons and members of the Standing Committee and take part in the constitutionally appointed activities of the legislature: pass laws, establish domestic and foreign policies, appoint members of the cabinet, review and approve

11929-501: The South which is depicted by the North Korean government as an imperialist occupation force. It claims that the Korean War was caused by the United States and South Korea. In October 2024, North Korea claims that 1.4 million people have joined its military after accusing South Korea of a drone intrusion. In response, South Korea is restricting leaflet launches near the border to prevent potential conflict, while both sides engage in psychological warfare, including disturbing broadcasts at

12080-529: The State, including major policies of the State, and to carry out the directions of the president of the commission, Kim Jong Un. The SAC also directly supervises the Ministry of Defence , Ministry of State Security and the Ministry of Social Security . Legislative power is held by the unicameral Supreme People's Assembly (SPA). Its 687 members are elected every five years by universal suffrage , though

12231-732: The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) (from whom the exploit was likely stolen) had already discovered the vulnerability, but used it to create an exploit for its own offensive work , rather than report it to Microsoft. Microsoft eventually discovered the vulnerability, and on Tuesday , 14 March 2017, they issued security bulletin MS17-010, which detailed the flaw and announced that patches had been released for all Windows versions that were currently supported at that time, these being Windows Vista , Windows 7 , Windows 8.1 , Windows 10 , Windows Server 2008 , Windows Server 2008 R2 , Windows Server 2012 , and Windows Server 2016 . DoublePulsar

12382-567: The U.S. military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen." Russian President Vladimir Putin placed the responsibility of the attack on U.S. intelligence services for having created EternalBlue. On 17 May 2017, United States bipartisan lawmakers introduced the PATCH Act that aims to have exploits reviewed by an independent board to "balance the need to disclose vulnerabilities with other national security interests while increasing transparency and accountability to maintain public trust in

12533-643: The United States' assertion. North Korea, however, denied being responsible for the cyberattack. On 6 September 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced formal charges against Park Jin-hyok for involvement in the Sony Pictures hack of 2014. The DoJ contended that Park was a North Korean hacker working as part of a team of experts for the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau . The Department of Justice asserted this team also had been involved in

12684-867: The WannaCry attack, among other activities. The ransomware campaign was unprecedented in scale according to Europol , which estimates that around 200,000 computers were infected across 150 countries. According to Kaspersky Lab , the four most affected countries were Russia , Ukraine , India and Taiwan . One of the largest agencies struck by the attack was the National Health Service hospitals in England and Scotland, and up to 70,000 devices—including computers, MRI scanners , blood-storage refrigerators and theatre equipment—may have been affected. On 12 May, some NHS services had to turn away non-critical emergencies, and some ambulances were diverted. In 2016, thousands of computers in 42 separate NHS trusts in England were reported to be still running Windows XP. In 2018

12835-610: The WannaCry ransomware and the attacks on Sony Pictures. One of the tactics used by Lazarus hackers was to exploit vulnerabilities in Hancom 's Hangul , a South Korean word processing software. Another tactic was to use spear-phishing lures containing malware and which were sent to South Korean students and users of cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinlink. If the user opened the malware it stole email addresses and passwords. Coinlink denied their site or users emails and passwords had been hacked. The report concluded that “This late-2017 campaign

12986-542: The affected computers were running Windows XP, and that 98 percent of the affected computers were running Windows 7. In a controlled testing environment, the cybersecurity firm Kryptos Logic found that it was unable to infect a Windows XP system with WannaCry using just the exploits, as the payload failed to load, or caused the operating system to crash rather than actually execute and encrypt files. However, when executed manually, WannaCry could still operate on Windows XP. Experts quickly advised affected users against paying

13137-621: The armistice was interrupted by border skirmishes, celebrity abductions, and assassination attempts. The North failed in several assassination attempts on South Korean leaders, such as in 1968 , 1974, and the Rangoon bombing in 1983; tunnels were found under the DMZ and tensions flared over the axe murder incident at Panmunjom in 1976. For almost two decades after the war, the two states did not seek to negotiate with one another. In 1971, secret, high-level contacts began to be conducted culminating in

13288-465: The attacks. Nicehash , a cryptocurrency cloud mining marketplace lost over 4,500 Bitcoin in December 2017. An update about the investigations claimed that the attack is linked to the Lazarus Group. In mid-September 2019, the USA issued a public alert about a new version of malware dubbed ElectricFish. Since the beginning of 2019, North Korean agents have attempted five major cyber-thefts world-wide, including

13439-444: The border. The post-war 1950s and 1960s saw an ideological shift in North Korea, as Kim Il Sung sought to consolidate his power. Kim Il Sung was highly critical of Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and his de-Stalinization policies and critiqued Khrushchev as revisionist. During the 1956 August Faction Incident , Kim Il Sung successfully resisted efforts by the Soviet Union and China to depose him in favor of Soviet Koreans or

13590-449: The company, emails, and the personal information of around 4,000 employees. Under the name ″Operation Blockbuster″, a coalition of security companies, led by Novetta, was able to analyse malware samples found in different cyber-security incidents. Using that data, the team was able to analyse the methods used by the hackers. They linked the Lazarus Group to a number of attacks through a pattern of code re-usage. Bangladesh Bank cyber heist,

13741-513: The computers that created the ransomware were set to UTC+09:00 , which is used in Korea . A security researcher initially posted a tweet referencing code similarities between WannaCry and previous malware. The cybersecurity companies Kaspersky Lab and Symantec have both said the code has some similarities with that previously used by the Lazarus Group (believed to have carried out

13892-414: The conflict with pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese dissenters, and Korea's centuries-long struggle for independence. Juche was introduced into the constitution in 1972. Juche was initially promoted as a "creative application" of Marxism–Leninism , but in the mid-1970s, it was described by state propaganda as "the only scientific thought... and most effective revolutionary theoretical structure that leads to

14043-505: The cult of personality, particularly surrounding Kim Il Sung, has been crucial for legitimizing the family's hereditary succession. The control the North Korean government exercises over many aspects of the nation's culture is used to perpetuate the cult of personality surrounding Kim Il Sung, and Kim Jong Il. While visiting North Korea in 1979, journalist Bradley Martin wrote that nearly all music, art, and sculpture that he observed glorified "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung, whose personality cult

14194-524: The cyber attack could reach up to US$ 4 billion, with other groups estimating the losses to be in the hundreds of millions. The following is an alphabetical list of organisations confirmed to have been affected: A number of experts highlighted the NSA 's non-disclosure of the underlying vulnerability, and their loss of control over the EternalBlue attack tool that exploited it. Edward Snowden said that if

14345-419: The cyberattack on Sony Pictures in 2014 and a Bangladesh bank heist in 2016—and linked to North Korea ). This could also be either simple re-use of code by another group or an attempt to shift blame—as in a cyber false flag operation; but a leaked internal NSA memo is alleged to have also linked the creation of the worm to North Korea. Brad Smith , the president of Microsoft, said he believed North Korea

14496-460: The domain by switching to a cached version of the site, capable of dealing with much higher traffic loads than the live site. Separately, researchers from University College London and Boston University reported that their PayBreak system could defeat WannaCry and several other families of ransomware by recovering the keys used to encrypt the user's data. It was discovered that Windows encryption APIs used by WannaCry may not completely clear

14647-544: The early 7th century BCE. Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea into Silla and Balhae in the late 7th century, Korea was ruled by the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897). The succeeding Korean Empire (1897–1910) was annexed in 1910 into the Empire of Japan . In 1945, after the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II , Korea was divided into two zones along

14798-454: The elections have been described by outside observers as similar to elections in the Soviet Union . Elections in North Korea have also been described as a form of government census, due to the near 100% turnout. Although the elections are not pluralistic , North Korean state media describes the elections as "an expression of the absolute support and trust of all voters in the DPRK government". Supreme People's Assembly sessions are convened by

14949-603: The famine of the 1990s was partially caused by natural disasters out of Kim Jong Il's control. The song " No Motherland Without You ", sung by the North Korean army choir, was created especially for Kim Jong Il and is one of the most popular tunes in the country. Kim Il Sung is still officially revered as the nation's "Eternal President". Several landmarks in North Korea are named for Kim Il Sung , including Kim Il Sung University , Kim Il Sung Stadium , and Kim Il Sung Square . Defectors have been quoted as saying that North Korean schools deify both father and son. Kim Il Sung rejected

15100-500: The files. Once the encryption is completed, the filename has "Wincry" appended, which is the root of the Wannacry name. Wincry was the base of the encryption, but two additional exploits, EternalBlue and DoublePulsar , were used by the malware to make it a cryptoworm. EternalBlue automatically spreads the virus through networks, while DoublePulsar triggered it to activate on a victim's computer. In other words, EternalBlue got

15251-403: The first time since the 2017 crisis. In September 2022, North Korea passed a law that declared itself a nuclear state . On December 30, 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un provocatively declared South Korea a "colonial vassal state", marking a significant departure from the longstanding position of mutual claims over the entire Korean Peninsula by both North and South Korea. This statement

15402-584: The foreign embassies accredited to North Korea are located in Beijing rather than in Pyongyang . In the 1960s and 1970s, it pursued an independent foreign policy, established relations with many developing countries, and joined the Non-Aligned Movement . In the late 1980s and the 1990s its foreign policy was thrown into turmoil with the collapse of the Soviet Bloc . Suffering an economic crisis, it closed

15553-608: The future of communist society". Juche eventually replaced Marxism–Leninism entirely by the 1980s, and in 1992 references to the latter were omitted from the constitution. The 2009 constitution dropped references to communism and elevated the Songun military first policy while explicitly confirming the position of Kim Jong Il. However, the constitution retains references to socialism. The WPK reasserted its commitment to communism in 2021. Juche ' s concepts of self-reliance have evolved with time and circumstances, but still provide

15704-586: The groundwork for the spartan austerity, sacrifice, and discipline demanded by the party. Since the founding of the nation, North Korea's supreme leadership has stayed within the Kim family, which in North Korea is referred to as the Mount Paektu Bloodline . It is a three-generation lineage descending from the country's first leader, Kim Il Sung, who developed North Korea around the Juche ideology , and stayed in power until his death. Kim developed

15855-462: The group is responsible for is known as "Operation Troy", which took place from 2009 to 2012. This was a cyber-espionage campaign that utilized unsophisticated distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) techniques to target the South Korean government in Seoul. They were also responsible for attacks in 2011 and 2013. It is possible that they were also behind a 2007 attack targeting South Korea, but that

16006-502: The infected link to your computer, and DoublePulsar clicked it for you. Security researcher Marcus Hutchins brought the attack to an end when he received a copy of the virus from a friend at a security research company and discovered a kill switch hardcoded into the virus. The malware included a periodic check to see if a specific domain name was registered, and would only proceed with encryption if that domain name did not exist. Hutchins identified this check, then promptly registered

16157-414: The kill switch domain hardcoded in the malware. Registering a domain name for a DNS sinkhole stopped the attack spreading as a worm, because the ransomware only encrypted the computer's files if it was unable to connect to that domain, which all computers infected with WannaCry before the website's registration had been unable to do. While this did not help already infected systems, it severely slowed

16308-587: The leader was announced "Eternal General Secretary" and "Eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission" after his death in 2011. According to the constitution, there are officially three main branches of government. The first of these is the State Affairs Commission (SAC), which acts as "the supreme national guidance organ of state sovereignty". Its role is to deliberate and decide the work on defense building of

16459-450: The legitimate government of the entire Korean Peninsula and adjacent islands. Despite its official title as the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea", some observers have described North Korea's political system as a "hereditary dictatorship". It has also been described as a Stalinist dictatorship . Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism is the official ideology of North Korea and the WPK, and

16610-496: The malware and discovered a "kill switch". Later globally dispersed security researchers collaborated online to develop open-source tools that allow for decryption without payment under some circumstances. Snowden states that when " NSA -enabled ransomware eats the Internet, help comes from researchers, not spy agencies" and asks why this is the case. Adam Segal , director of the digital and cyberspace policy program at

16761-476: The most advanced nations up until the North Korean famine . Life expectancy in the North was 72 before the famine which was only marginally lower than in the South. The country once boasted a comparatively developed healthcare system; pre-famine North Korea had a network of nearly 45,000 family practitioners with some 800 hospitals and 1,000 clinics. The relative peace between the North and South following

16912-628: The mountain. Other prominent ranges are the Hamgyong Range in the extreme northeast and the Rangrim Mountains , which are located in the north-central part of North Korea. Mount Kumgang in the Taebaek Range , which extends into South Korea, is famous for its scenic beauty. The coastal plains are wide in the west and discontinuous in the east. A great majority of the population lives in the plains and lowlands. According to

17063-651: The northern half of the peninsula occupied by the Soviet Union and the southern half by the United States . Negotiations on reunification failed. Soviet general Terenty Shtykov recommended the establishment of the Soviet Civil Administration in October 1945, and supported Kim Il Sung as chairman of the Provisional People's Committee of North Korea , established in February 1946. In September 1946, South Korean citizens rose up against

17214-425: The notion that he had created a cult around himself and accused those who suggested this of " factionalism ". Following the death of Kim Il Sung, North Koreans were prostrating and weeping to a bronze statue of him in an organized event; similar scenes were broadcast by state television following the death of Kim Jong Il. Critics maintain that Kim Jong Il's personality cult was inherited from his father. Kim Jong Il

17365-810: The organization, including Windows XP. Home Secretary Amber Rudd refused to say whether patient data had been backed up , and Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth accused Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt of refusing to act on a critical note from Microsoft, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency that had been received two months previously. Others argued that hardware and software vendors often fail to account for future security flaws, selling systems that—due to their technical design and market incentives—eventually won't be able to properly receive and apply patches. The NHS denied that it

17516-437: The pro-Chinese Yan'an faction . Some scholars believe that the 1956 August incident was an example of North Korea demonstrating political independence. However, most scholars consider the final withdrawal of Chinese troops from North Korea in October 1958 to be the latest date when North Korea became effectively independent. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, North Korea sought to distinguish itself internationally by becoming

17667-652: The process". On 15 June 2017, the United States Congress was to hold a hearing on the attack. Two subpanels of the House Science Committee were to hear the testimonies from various individuals working in the government and non-governmental sector about how the U.S. can improve its protection mechanisms for its systems against similar attacks in the future. Marcus Hutchins , a cybersecurity researcher, working in loose collaboration with UK's National Cyber Security Centre , researched

17818-549: The ransom due to no reports of people getting their data back after payment and as high revenues would encourage more of such campaigns. As of 14 June 2017, after the attack had subsided, a total of 327 payments totaling US$ 130,634.77 (51.62396539 BTC) had been transferred. The day after the initial attack in May, Microsoft released out-of-band security updates for end-of-life products Windows XP , Windows Server 2003 and Windows 8 ; these patches had been created in February, but were previously only available to those who paid for

17969-481: The ransom: only $ 160,000 was collected, leading many to believe that the hackers weren't after the money. The easy kill switch and lack of revenue led many to believe that the attack was state-sponsored; the motive was not financial compensation, but just to cause chaos. After the attack security experts traced the DoublePulsar exploit back to the United States NSA where the exploit had been developed as

18120-436: The relevant domain at 3:03 pm UTC. The malware immediately stopped propagating itself and infecting new machines. This was very interesting, and is a clue as to who created the virus. Usually stopping malware takes months of back and forth fighting between the hackers and security experts, so this easy win was unexpected. Another very interesting and unusual aspect of the attack was that the files were not recoverable after paying

18271-463: The repatriation of Japanese citizens in the country. The same year, North Korea revalued the North Korean won , which held greater value than its South Korean counterpart. Until the 1960s, economic growth was higher than in South Korea, and North Korean GDP per capita was equal to that of its southern neighbor as late as 1976. However, by the 1980s, the economy had begun to stagnate; it started its long decline in 1987 and almost completely collapsed after

18422-417: The risk of formerly working applications breaking because of the changes, lack of personnel or time to install them, or other reasons. The attack began at 07:44 UTC on 12 May 2017 and was halted a few hours later at 15:03 UTC by the registration of a kill switch discovered by Marcus Hutchins . The kill switch prevented already infected computers from being encrypted or further spreading WannaCry. The attack

18573-523: The same divided country as their compatriots in the South, and foreign visitors are discouraged from using the former term. According to Korean mythology in 2333 BCE, the Gojoseon Kingdom was established by the god-king Dangun . Following the unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea under the name Unified Silla in 668 AD, Korea was subsequently ruled by the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and

18724-611: The second-ranking official after Kim Jong Un. The Premier represents the government and functions independently. His authority extends over two vice premiers, 30 ministers , two cabinet commission chairmen, the cabinet chief secretary, the president of the Central Bank , the director of the Central Bureau of Statistics and the president of the Academy of Sciences . North Korea, like its southern counterpart, claims to be

18875-431: The security research community. The hackers would then target specific security researchers by contacting them directly with an offer to collaborate on research, with the goal of getting the victim to download a file containing malware, or to visit a blog post on a website controlled by the hackers. Some victims who visited the blog post reported that their computers were compromised despite using fully patched versions of

19026-486: The spread of the initial infection and gave time for defensive measures to be deployed worldwide, particularly in North America and Asia, which had not been attacked to the same extent as elsewhere. On 14 May, a first variant of WannaCry appeared with a new and second kill-switch registered by Matt Suiche on the same day. This was followed by a second variant with the third and last kill-switch on 15 May, which

19177-571: The spread of the ransomware. Spain's Telefónica , FedEx and Deutsche Bahn were hit, along with many other countries and companies worldwide. The attack's impact is said to be relatively low compared to other potential attacks of the same type and could have been much worse had Hutchins not discovered that a kill switch had been built in by its creators or if it had been specifically targeted on highly critical infrastructure , like nuclear power plants , dams or railway systems. According to cyber-risk-modeling firm Cyence, economic losses from

19328-519: The state economic plan, among others. The SPA itself cannot initiate any legislation independently of party or state organs. It is unknown whether it has ever criticized or amended bills placed before it, and the elections are based around a single list of WPK-approved candidates who stand without opposition. Executive power is vested in the Cabinet of North Korea , which has been headed by Premier Kim Tok Hun since 14 August 2020, who's officially

19479-528: The stated purpose of allowing legal white hat penetration testers to test the CVE-2017-0144 exploit on unpatched systems. When executed, the WannaCry malware first checks the kill switch domain name (iuqerfsodp9ifjaposdfjhgosurijfaewrwergwea.com); if it is not found, then the ransomware encrypts the computer's data, then attempts to exploit the SMB vulnerability to spread out to random computers on

19630-918: The transactions went through (US$ 20 million traced to Sri Lanka and US$ 81 million to the Philippines ), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York blocked the remaining transactions, due to suspicions raised by a misspelling. Malware associated with BlueNorOff include: " DarkComet , Mimikatz , Nestegg , Macktruck , WannaCry , Whiteout , Quickcafe , Rawhide , Smoothride , TightVNC , Sorrybrute , Keylime , Snapshot , Mapmaker , net.exe , sysmon , Bootwreck , Cleantoad , Closeshave , Dyepack , Hermes , Twopence , Electricfish , Powerratankba , and Powerspritz " Tactics commonly used by BlueNorOff include: phishing, backdoors, Drive-by compromise, Watering hole attack , exploitation of insecure out-of-date versions of Apache Struts 2 to execute code on

19781-584: The travel writings of the Dutch East India Company 's Hendrick Hamel . After the division of the country into North and South Korea, the two sides used different terms to refer to Korea: Chosun or Joseon ( 조선 ) in North Korea, and Hanguk ( 한국 ) in South Korea. In 1948, North Korea adopted Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( Korean : 조선민주주의인민공화국 , Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk ; listen ) as its official name. In

19932-446: The user that their files have been encrypted, and demands a payment of around US$ 300 in bitcoin within three days, or US$ 600 within seven days (equivalent to about $ 370 and $ 750 in 2023), warning that "you have not so enough time. [ sic ]" Three hardcoded bitcoin addresses, or wallets, are used to receive the payments of victims. As with all such wallets, their transactions and balances are publicly accessible even though

20083-467: The versions of the notes in those languages were probably human-written while the rest seemed to be machine-translated . According to an analysis by the FBI's Cyber Behavioral Analysis Center, the computer that created the ransomware language files had Hangul language fonts installed, as evidenced by the presence of the "\fcharset129" Rich Text Format tag. Metadata in the language files also indicated that

20234-513: The vulnerability had not resolved the issue by the time May 12 rolled around, leading to the astonishing effectiveness of the attack. The US Department of Justice and British authorities later attributed the WannaCry attack on the North Korean hacking gang, the Lazarus group. In 2018, Recorded Future issued a report linking the Lazarus Group to attacks on cryptocurrency Bitcoin and Monero users mostly in South Korea. These attacks were reported to be technically similar to previous attacks using

20385-482: The wider world, because its government controls the northern part of the Korean Peninsula , it is commonly called North Korea to distinguish it from South Korea, which is officially called the Republic of Korea in English. Both governments consider themselves to be the legitimate government of the whole of Korea . For this reason, the people do not consider themselves as 'North Koreans' but as Koreans in

20536-499: Was a theft that took place in February 2016. Thirty-five fraudulent instructions were issued by security hackers via the SWIFT network to illegally transfer close to US$ 1 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York account belonging to Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh. Five of the thirty-five fraudulent instructions were successful in transferring US$ 101 million, with US$ 20 million traced to Sri Lanka and US$ 81 million to

20687-513: Was a worldwide cyberattack in May 2017 by the WannaCry ransomware cryptoworm , which targeted computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system by encrypting data and demanding ransom payments in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency . It was propagated using EternalBlue , an exploit developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) for Windows systems. EternalBlue was stolen and leaked by

20838-458: Was behind the attack, although North Korea has denied any involvement with the attack. A new variant of WannaCry forced Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to temporarily shut down several of its chip-fabrication factories in August 2018. The worm spread onto 10,000 machines in TSMC's most advanced facilities. WannaCry is a ransomware cryptoworm , which targets computers running

20989-416: Was estimated to have affected more than 300,000 computers across 150 countries, with total damages ranging from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars . At the time, security experts believed from preliminary evaluation of the worm that the attack originated from North Korea or agencies working for the country. In December 2017, the United States and United Kingdom formally asserted that North Korea

21140-562: Was followed by a call on January 15, 2024, for a constitutional amendment to redefine the boundary with South Korea as the 'Southern National Borderline,' further intensifying the rhetoric against South Korea. Kim Jong-un also stated that in the event of a war, North Korea would seek to annex the entirety of South Korea. North Korea occupies the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula , lying between latitudes 37° and 43°N , and longitudes 124° and 131°E . It covers an area of 120,540 square kilometers (46,541 sq mi). To its west are

21291-399: Was often the center of attention throughout ordinary life. His birthday is one of the most important public holidays in the country . On his 60th birthday (based on his official date of birth), mass celebrations occurred throughout the country. Kim Jong Il's personality cult, although significant, was not as extensive as his father's. One point of view is that Kim Jong Il's cult of personality

21442-674: Was perpetrated by the Lazarus Group. On 14 April 2022, the US Treasury 's OFAC placed Lazarus on the SDN List under North Korea Sanctions Regulations section 510.214. According to Indian media reports, a local cryptocurrency exchange named WazirX was hacked by the group and $ 234.9 million worth of crypto assets have been stolen. North Korean hackers are sent vocationally to Shenyang , China for special training. They are trained to deploy malware of all types onto computers, computer networks, and servers. Education domestically includes

21593-470: Was pronounced in December 1955 in a speech called On Eliminating Dogmatism and Formalism and Establishing Juche in Ideological Work in order to emphasize a Korea-centered revolution. Its core tenets are economic self-sufficiency , military self-reliance and an independent foreign policy. The roots of Juche were made up of a complex mixture of factors, including the popularity of Kim Il Sung,

21744-408: Was registered by Check Point threat intelligence analysts. A few days later, a new version of WannaCry was detected that lacked the kill switch altogether. On 19 May, it was reported that hackers were trying to use a Mirai botnet variant to effect a distributed denial-of-service attack on WannaCry's kill-switch domain with the intention of knocking it offline. On 22 May, Hutchins protected

21895-487: Was responsible for over $ 300 million in losses across crypto hacking incidents in 2023. The amount represents 17.6% of the year's total losses. In June 2023 over $ 100 million in cryptocurrency was stolen from users of the Atomic Wallet service, and this was later confirmed by the FBI. In September 2023 the FBI confirmed that a $ 41 million theft of cryptocurrency from Stake.com, an online casino and betting platform,

22046-614: Was signed. Approximately 3 million people died in the Korean War, with a higher proportional civilian death toll than World War II or the Vietnam War . In both per capita and absolute terms, North Korea was the country most devastated by the war, which resulted in the death of an estimated 12–15% of the North Korean population ( c. 10 million), "a figure close to or surpassing the proportion of Soviet citizens killed in World War II ," according to Charles K. Armstrong . As

22197-525: Was solely out of respect for Kim Il Sung or out of fear of punishment for failure to pay homage, while North Korean government sources consider it genuine hero worship. As a result of its isolation, North Korea is sometimes known as the " hermit kingdom ", a term that originally referred to the isolationism in the latter part of the Joseon Dynasty . Initially, North Korea had diplomatic ties only with other communist countries, and even today, most of

22348-631: Was still using XP, claiming only 4.7% of devices within the organization ran Windows XP. The cost of the attack to the NHS was estimated as £92 million in disruption to services and IT upgrades. After the attack, NHS Digital refused to finance the estimated £1 billion to meet the Cyber Essentials Plus standard, an information security certification organized by the UK NCSC, saying this would not constitute "value for money", and that it had invested over £60 million and planned "to spend

22499-614: Was the Anglo-Swedish-owned AstraZeneca . According to a report by Reuters, a wide range of employees were targeted, including many involved in COVID-19 vaccine research. It is unknown what the Lazarus Group's goal was in these attacks, but the likely possibilities include: AstraZeneca has not commented on the incident and experts do not believe any sensitive data has been compromised as of yet. In January 2021, Google and Microsoft both publicly reported on

22650-668: Was the originator of the WannaCry attack, and the UK's National Cyber Security Centre reached the same conclusion. On 18 December 2017, the United States Government formally announced that it publicly considers North Korea to be the main culprit behind the WannaCry attack. Then- President Trump 's Homeland Security Advisor , Tom Bossert , wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal about this charge, saying "We do not make this allegation lightly. It

22801-551: Was then being extended to his son, "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il. Claims that the family has been deified are contested by B. R. Myers: "Divine powers have never been attributed to either of the two Kims. In fact, the propaganda apparatus in Pyongyang has generally been careful not to make claims that run directly counter to citizens' experience or common sense." He further explains that the state propaganda painted Kim Jong Il as someone whose expertise lay in military matters and that

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