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Bureau 121
Bureau 121 () is a North Korean cyberwarfare agency, and the main unit of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) of North Korea's military. It conducts offensive cyber operations, including espionage and cyber-enabled finance crime. According to American authorities, the RGB manages clandestine operations and has six bureaus. Cyber operations are thought to be a cost-effective way for North Korea to maintain an asymmetric military option, as well as a means to gather intelligence; its primary intelligence targets are South Korea, Japan, and the United States. History Bureau 121 was created in 1998. Targets and methods The activities of the agency came to public attention in December 2014 when Sony Pictures canceled the opening of its movie '' The Interview'' after its computers had been hacked. Bureau 121 has been blamed for the cyber breach, but North Korea has rejected this accusation. Much of the agency's activity has been directed at South Korea. Prior to the atta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyberwarfare
Cyberwarfare is the use of cyberattack, cyber attacks against an enemy State (polity), state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, Internet manipulation, manipulation or economic warfare. There is significant debate among experts regarding the definition of cyberwarfare, and even if such a thing exists. One view is that the term is a misnomer since no cyber attacks to date could be described as a war. An alternative view is that it is a suitable label for cyber attacks which cause physical damage to people and objects in the real world. Many countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, China, Israel, Iran, and North Korea, have active cyber capabilities for offensive and defensive operations. As states explore the use of cyber operations and combine capabilities, the likelihood of physical confrontation and violence playing out as a result of, or p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nytimes
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publisher is A. G. Sulzberger. The ''Times'' is headquartered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lazarus Group
The Lazarus Group (also known as Guardians of Peace or Whois Team ) is a hacker group made up of an unknown number of individuals, alleged to be run by the government of North Korea. While not much is known about the group, researchers have attributed many cyberattacks to them since 2010. Originally a criminal group, the group has now been designated as an advanced persistent threat due to intended nature, threat, and wide array of methods used when conducting an operation. Names given by cybersecurity organizations include Hidden Cobra (used by the United States Department of Homeland Security to refer to malicious cyber activity by the North Korean government in general) and ZINC or Diamond Sleet (by Microsoft). According to North Korean defector Kim Kuk-song, the unit is internally known in North Korea as 414 Liaison Office. 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 governme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PLA Unit 61398
PLA Unit 61398 (also known as APT1, Comment Crew, Comment Panda, GIF89a, or Byzantine Candor; , Pinyin: 61398 ''bùduì'') is the military unit cover designator (MUCD) of a People's Liberation Army advanced persistent threat unit that has been alleged to be a source of Chinese computer hacking attacks. The unit is stationed in Pudong, Shanghai, and has been cited by US intelligence agencies since 2002. History A report by the computer security firm Mandiant stated that PLA Unit 61398 is believed to operate under the 2nd Bureau of the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department (GSD) Third Department (总参三部二局) and that there is evidence that it contains, or is itself, an entity Mandiant calls APT1, part of the advanced persistent threat that has attacked a broad range of corporations and government entities around the world since at least 2006. APT1 is described as comprising four large networks in Shanghai, two of which serve the Pudong New Area. It is on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tailored Access Operations
The Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO), structured as S32, is a cyber-warfare intelligence-gathering unit of the National Security Agency (NSA). It has been active since at least 1998, possibly 1997, but was not named or structured as TAO until "the last days of 2000," according to General Michael Hayden. TAO identifies, monitors, infiltrates, and gathers intelligence on computer systems being used by entities foreign to the United States. History TAO is reportedly "the largest and arguably the most important component of the NSA's huge Signals Intelligence Directorate (SID), consisting of more than 1,000 military and civilian computer hackers, intelligence analysts, targeting specialists, computer hardware and software designers, and electrical engineers. The office is currently known as Office of Computer Network Operations (OCNO). ". Snowden leak A document leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden describing the unit's work says TAO has software templates a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WannaCry Ransomware Attack
The WannaCry ransomware attack 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 form of Bitcoin cryptocurrency. It was propagated using EternalBlue, an exploit developed by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) for Microsoft Windows systems. EternalBlue was stolen and leaked by a group called The Shadow Brokers (TSB) 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 patches, 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, the risk of formerly working applications breaking because of the changes, lack of personnel or time to install them, or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2015–2016 SWIFT Banking Hack
In 2015 and 2016, a series of cyberattacks using the SWIFT banking network were reported, resulting in the successful theft of millions of dollars. The attacks were perpetrated by a hacker group known as APT 38 whose tactics, techniques and procedure overlap with the infamous Lazarus Group who are believed to be behind the Sony attacks. Experts agree that APT 38 was formed following the March 2013 sanctions and the first known operations connected to this group occurred in February 2014. The attacks raised concerns about state-sponsored cybercrime, particularly given the unprecedented nature of such an attack if attributed to a state actor. The attacks exploited vulnerabilities in the systems of member banks, allowing the attackers to gain control of the banks' legitimate SWIFT credentials. The thieves then used those credentials to send SWIFT funds transfer requests to other banks, which, trusting the messages to be legitimate, then sent the funds to accounts controlled by the at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bangladesh Bank Robbery
The Bangladesh Bank robbery, also known colloquially as the Bangladesh Bank cyber heist, 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$81 million traced to the Philippines and US$20 million to Sri Lanka. 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. As of 2018, only around US$18 million of the US$81 million transferred to the Philippines has been recovered, and all the money transferred to Sri Lanka has since been recovered. Most of the money transferred to the Philippines went to four personal accounts, held by singl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sony Pictures Hack
On November 24, 2014, the hacker group " Guardians of Peace" leaked confidential data from the film studio Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). The data included employee emails, personal and family information, executive salaries, copies of then-unreleased films, future film plans, screenplays, and other information. The perpetrators then employed a variant of the Shamoon wiper malware to erase Sony's computer infrastructure. During the hack, the group demanded that Sony withdraw its then-upcoming film '' The Interview'', a political satire action comedy film produced and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film stars Rogen and James Franco as journalists who set up an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un only to then be recruited by the CIA to assassinate him. The hacker group threatened terrorist attacks at cinemas screening the film, resulting in many major U.S. theater chains opting not to screen ''The Interview''. In response to these threats, Sony ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyongyang
Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 population census, it has a population of 3,255,288. Pyongyang is a Special cities of North Korea, directly administered city () with a status equal to that of the Provinces of North Korea, North Korean provinces. Pyongyang is one of the oldest cities in Korea. It was the capital of two ancient Korean kingdoms, Gojoseon and Goguryeo, and served as the secondary capital of Goryeo. Following the establishment of North Korea in 1948, Pyongyang became its ''de facto'' capital. The city was again devastated during the Korean War, but was quickly rebuilt after the war with Soviet Union, Soviet assistance. Pyongyang is the political, industrial and transport center of North Korea. It is estimated that 99% of those living in Pyongy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hacker (computer Security)
A security hacker or security researcher is someone who explores methods for breaching or bypassing defenses and exploiting weaknesses in a computer system or network. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, such as profit, protest, sabotage, information gathering, challenge, recreation, or evaluation of a system weaknesses to assist in formulating defenses against potential hackers. Longstanding controversy surrounds the meaning of the term "hacker". In this controversy, computer programmers reclaim the term ''hacker'', arguing that it refers simply to someone with an advanced understanding of computers and computer networks, and that ''cracker'' is the more appropriate term for those who break into computers, whether computer criminals ( black hats) or computer security experts ( white hats). A 2014 article noted that "the black-hat meaning still prevails among the general public". The subculture that has evolved around hackers is often referred to as the "co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unit 180
Unit 180 () is a North Korean cyberwarfare cell, a component of the Reconnaissance General Bureau. Kim Heung-kwang, a former computer science professor in North Korea, stated that Unit 180 is likely involved in illicit operations to obtain cash for the regime, such as the Bangladesh Bank robbery and the WannaCry ransomware attack The WannaCry ransomware attack 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 form .... References Information operations units and formations Reconnaissance General Bureau Cyberwarfare {{NorthKorea-mil-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
