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Pyongyang faked popular South Korean website to steal data: spy agency

North Korea’s phishing attack involved creating a fake Naver site to steal personal information. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service warned of increasingly sophisticated hacking methods and urged vigilance.

North Korea has targeted various sectors, including cryptocurrency theft and sensitive information hacking, posing a global IT threat.

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korea created a fake version of Naver, South Korea’s largest internet portal, as part of a sophisticated phishing attack designed to harvest personal information, Seoul’s spy agency said Wednesday.

One of South Korea’s biggest tech companies, Naver’s myriad services — including Google-like maps, financial services similar to Apple Pay, and popular blogs and chat forums — are used daily by many Koreans.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Pyongyang had created a phishing site that replicated Naver’s main page, including its real-time news, trading and real estate sections.

The site, naverportal.com, was designed to hack South Koreans’ Naver IDs and passwords, giving Pyongyang access to valuable personal data, NIS added.

“As North Korea’s hacking attack methods against our people are becoming more sophisticated, we ask people to be extra vigilant,” NIS said in a statement, adding measures have been taken to block the phishing site from South Korean users.

“Please cease accessing it immediately if you spot a page that’s not a standard Naver access domain URL,” it said.

North Korea has previously attempted to steal South Korean IDs and passwords by duplicating Naver’s log-in page but creating a fake portal was a new approach, the agency said.

“The North has upgraded its attack scheme in order to better extort private information,” it said.

“We are tracking the activities of the hacking group in cooperation with foreign agencies as the server is located overseas.”

Naver warned users to continue to exercise caution.

“We urge users to check if the address is the right one and pay extra attention when accessing Naver,” the company said.

‘Clumsy’ but effective

Experts said that, on close inspection, the fake Naver site appeared “clumsy” but was probably more than good enough to fool people who were not paying attention.

“By the nature of this kind of attack, South Koreans are at a disadvantage because we are on the receiving end,” Choi Gil-il, a former national security official, told AFP.

“We have to be constantly on guard to fend off cyber phishing.”

The Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea — possibly the state-backed hacker group Kimsuky — hacked into the intranet of the Seoul National University Hospital in May and stole personal information about more than 800,000 patients and workers.

According to Seoul, Tokyo and Washington, Pyongyang stole as much as US$1.7 billion in cryptocurrency last year alone and supported its weapons programmes in part by gathering information through “malicious cyber activities”.

Seoul’s foreign ministry also announced Wednesday it had decided to strengthen its collaboration with Mandiant, an American cybersecurity firm and Google subsidiary, to better respond to North Korea’s cyber activities.

“North Korea is carrying out omnidirectional cyberattacks, such as theft of cryptocurrency and hacking of sensitive information, all over the world,” the ministry said in a statement.

That activity “not only causes property damage to innocent individuals and companies, but also poses a serious threat to the global IT ecosystem as a whole”, it said.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

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26 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

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25 July 2023

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SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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