Cyber espionage; Network intrusion

On 1/16/13, the National Police Agency said Pyongyang was behind a 2012 cyber attack on the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, saying the hacking method and Internet protocol (IP) addresses used for the attack were either similar or identical to those used by the North in previous attacks. A picture of a white cat grinning and covering its mouth was posted on the Web site of the JoongAng Ilbo. Beneath the picture were the words, "Hacked by IsOne," with complicated codes written in green. The main server of the firm's cyber system was also attacked and substantial data were destroyed from the production system of the newspaper, the NPA added. Police determined Pyongyang was the perpetrator after analyzing access records of the hacked system, malicious codes, the IP addresses of two local servers and 17 servers spread throughout 10 different countries.