South Korea said it had
traced the massive spam e-mails sent to public organisations to an internet network in northeast China.
The officials said in Seoul that the massive spam e-mails were behind a cyber attack on South Korea’s nuclear power operator.
Kang Sin-myeong, the National Police Agency Commissioner-General, said that the Internet Protocol address used to send the spam emails was registered in the northeastern province of Liaoning that bordered North Korea.
He said the IP address, the online equivalent of a street address or phone number, exactly corresponds to one on the same network used in the cyber attack against the Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. in 2014.
Sin-myeong comments bolstered suspicion that North Korea may have sent what he described as “two-track smishing mails” by disguising them as being sent by either South Korea’s presidential office or the foreign ministry.
He said this could have been done in relation to North Korea’s recent nuclear test.
A two-track smishing mail refers to a method in which hackers hide malware in second e-mails that are sent after the intended recipients respond to the first, which are not compromised.
Sin-myeong said there seems to be little or no damage incurred by the suspected hacking attempt as the e-mails did not contain malware.
Kang told reporters that it was not yet at a stage to say clearly yet, if North Korea was behind the attempt.
He said what was noted was that the IP address corresponds to the one on the same network behind the cyber attack on the nuclear power operator.
North Korea has a track record of waging cyber attacks on South Korea and the U.S. in recent years, though it has flatly denied any involvement.
The latest hacking attempt came amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea claimed earlier this month that it successfully carried out its first hydrogen bomb test.
In response, South Korea is working with the U.S. and other regional powers to punish the communist country for its nuclear test.