Posted on 07/08/2013 8:16:24 PM PDT by TexGrill
SEOUL: The hackers who knocked out tens of thousands of South Korean computers simultaneously this year are out to do far more than erase hard drives, cybersecurity firms say: They also are trying to steal South Korean and US military secrets with a malicious set of codes they’ve been sending through the Internet for years. The identities of the hackers, and the value of any information they have acquired, are not known to US and South Korean researchers who have studied line after line of computer code. But they do not dispute South Korean claims that North Korea is responsible, and other experts say the links to military spying add fuel to Seoul’s allegations. Researchers at Santa Clara, California-based McAfee Labs said the malware was designed to find and upload information referring to US forces in South Korea, joint exercises or even the word “secret.” McAfee said versions of the malware have infected many websites in an ongoing attack that it calls Operation Troy because the code is peppered with references to the ancient city. McAfee said that in 2009, malware was implanted into a social media website used by military personnel in South Korea. “This goes deeper than anyone had understood to date, and it’s not just attacks: It’s military espionage,” said Ryan Sherstobitoff, a senior threat researcher at McAfee who gave The Associated Press a report that the company is releasing later this week. He analyzed code samples shared by US government partners and private customers.
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