North Korean Hackers Breached Over 1,600 Organizations Worldwide

Greek cybersecurity researcher Vangelis Stykas revealed at the Black Hat security conference that he discovered evidence that 1,640 companies across 57 countries have been compromised by North Korean hacking operations.

In recent years, North Korea has been implicated in numerous scams and hacks resulting mostly in the theft of cryptocurrency but also sometimes corporate secrets and intellectual property. These attacks have largely been carried out to fund the country in general and its weapons programs since sanctions against them are so internationally widespread and severe.

According to WIRED, Stykas claims to have gained access to North Korean systems nearly two years ago and is now raising concerns about just how much damage the country's hackers are causing.

The most popular attack vector - according to Stykas - is fake interviews where North Korean hackers pose as recruiters offering jobs to developers, then trick the developers into downloading malware under the guise of a coding test.

Stykas claims that about 700-800 organizations suffered "really damaging" intrusions including root-level access to servers and blockchain keys in the case of crypto companies. Some of the companies he was willing to name - because he claims they have handled the disclosure well and are likely now patched - include the Boston Children's Hospital, Coinbase, Italy's Supreme Judicial Council, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Al Rajhi Bank, Japanese tech firm AEON Smart Technology, Chinese phone manufacturer Oppo, and part of the Flemish government in Belgium.

WIRED stated at the time of publication that Stykas "will [offer] detail[s] at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas today," so it's possible more information will be published online in the near future, likely in the form of a video or blog post.