NK continues hacking, even personal computers

North Korea is continuing to engage in hacking, including “smishing” which even targets personal computers.

On April 7, a businessman in South Gyeongsang Province was startled by a text message on his cell phone.

On the site https://goo.gl/H3plC, it said North Korea has bombed Yeonpyeoing Island, killing 62 civilians and that he could access visuals on the site. The message came from 112.

Thinking that something is amiss, the 65-year-old Park called the police and discovered that the message was intended to obtain his resident certificate number and other personal information needed to make payments through servers.

Owing to his vigilance, Park did not suffer from financial losses but it was the latest evidence of North Korean hackers in action.

Numerous similar cases have been reported to the National Police Agency and investigations are underway to determine the sources of the smishing (a term combining SMS and phishing).