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The computer networks of a Russian missile developer were reportedly breached for at least five months last year by hackers and espionage experts from North Korea.
According to a report by Reuters, North Korean government-linked cyber espionage experts from the ScarCruft and Lazarus teams compromised the systems of a rocket design organisation called NPO Mashinostroyeniya (NPO Mash) by creating a number of secret backdoors.
The attack reportedly began in late 2021 and continued until May last year, according to internal intel at NPO Mash.
The hackers gained access to the company’s systems, allowing them to extract data, read email traffic and access multiple networks, according to a US cyber security researcher from SentinelOne, Tom Hegel.
“These findings provide rare insight into the clandestine cyber operations that traditionally remain concealed from public scrutiny or are simply never caught by such victims,” he said.
Hegel and SentinelOne first identified the incident when an NPO Mash IT staff member leaked communications from within the company pertaining to an investigation into the North Korean attack.
Reuters said that it was unable to secure a comment from either the IT staffer or NPO Mash themselves.
The rocket organisation is a pioneer of satellite technology, hypersonic missiles and more, all of which are areas of significant interest for North Korea, which is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) able to hit the US.
While Reuters was unable to conclude if any data was stolen during the breach, North Korea announced a number of progressions in ICBM development in the following months.
Russia and North Korea are considered allies by many, despite not having any defence treaties, showing that the latter is willing to delve for secrets from those it is allegiance with.
Even if North Korea was able to gain access to the data, it is unlikely that they would be able to recreate the missiles with just what was stolen, according to Europe-based missile expert Markus Schiller.
“That’s movie stuff. Getting plans won’t help you much in building these things; there is a lot more to it than some drawings,” Schiller said.
That being said, the information is valuable, and North Korea could benefit greatly from its acquisition.
“There is much to learn from them,” Schiller said
NPO Mash’s “Zircon” hypersonic missile was announced in 2019 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, boasting that it was a “promising new product” that would be able to travel at nine times the speed of sound.
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