Financial Sector Hacking Attempts: Numerous 'North Korean IPs' Detected

A massive number of access attempts from North Korean Internet Protocol (IP) ranges have been detected in recent, consecutive hacking attempts targeting the financial sector.

This is the first time that access attempts via North Korean IPs have been officially confirmed since a hacking incident in the financial sector became known earlier this month.

On October 21, financial authorities sent an official notice to financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges, urging them to exercise caution regarding access from North Korean IPs within the financial sector.

The notice stated that a large volume of so-called "scan-style access" targeting the financial sector had been detected from IP ranges assigned to North Korea.

Scan-style access refers to external attempts to connect to a system in order to identify security vulnerabilities or open communication paths.

By the time the authorities issued the notice, the number of detected access attempts had reached a staggering 4.4 million.

Financial authorities requested that institutions check the access history of the relevant IPs and strengthen security measures, such as immediately reporting any detected anomalies.

However, no cases have been confirmed yet where access through these IPs led to actual hacking damage.

Furthermore, the use of North Korean IPs does not necessarily mean the acts can be conclusively attributed to North Korean hackers.

This is because IP addresses can be disguised by routing through other countries or by manipulation.

Meanwhile, police launched an investigation today (October 28) into the hacking incidents at Bithumb, Daishin Securities, and Mirae Asset Global Investments.

Police plan to intensively examine the methods used in the crimes and any connections to previous incidents.

(Reported by Choi Jae-yeong | Video by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.