North Korea stole plans for a U.S. fighter jet by hacking into more than 100 South Korean firms and government agencies over a two-year period, the South said on Monday.
The intrusion resulted in the theft of 42,000 documents from 140,000 computers held by 160 entities, the South Korean cyber police agency told media. The hacking began in 2014 but wasn’t detected until February, and resulted in the theft of blueprints for F-15 fighter jets and unmanned spy planes.
However, the South Korean government insisted the blueprints did not include classified information, and that they would have a “negligible impact on national security.” Police added that the hacking could have escalated into a more significant cyberattack if it had remained undetected, saying North Korea appeared “to have been preparing for a long time to try to launch a countrywide cyberattack.”
The attack was linked to an IP address in Pyongyang that was used in a 2013 attack against South Korean banks and television stations. The North Korean government has denied any involvement.
South Korea has maintained an elevated cyber alert status since missile tests in North Korea this year, including a January nuclear test and a February rocket launch. The country has increasingly sought to use cyberattacks to intimidate its adversaries, memorably hacking Sony Studios in 2014.
The U.S. already authorized new sanctions against North Korea once this year as a consequence of the nuclear test, in addition to approving future sanctions against any country that plays a role in helping to advance the North’s cybersecurity capabilities.
