Kim Jong-un's North Korea Is Leveraging AI For Tech Theft, Nuclear Funding: Report

In a recent development, North Korean hackers are reportedly leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate their cyber operations. This move is aimed at acquiring advanced technologies and funding for the country’s illicit nuclear weapons program.

What Happened: The hackers, known for targeting employees of global defense, cybersecurity, and cryptocurrency companies, have now turned to AI to enhance their operations, reported the Financial Times on Monday.

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and its investor, Microsoft, have confirmed that North Korean hackers, along with those from China, Russia, and Iran, are using AI services to support their malicious cyber activities.

South Korea has also detected North Korean hackers using generative AI to target security officials. This has raised concerns about the potential misuse of AI by North Korea.

Last year, out of the 1.62 million hacking attempts made against South Korean companies and public bodies, over 80% were traced back to North Korea, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.

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Despite North Korean hackers’ previous limitations due to their poor grasp of colloquial English or Korean, their adoption of generative AI poses a significant new challenge.

Erin Plante, Vice President of Investigations at Chainalysis, a crypto-focused cybersecurity company, noted that North Korean hacking groups have been using generative AI to create credible-looking recruiter profiles on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn.

"The attacks are getting very sophisticated — we are not talking about a badly worded email that says ‘click on this link. These are detailed profiles on LinkedIn and other social media platforms, which they use to build relationships over weeks and months.” Plante explained.

Shreyas Reddy, an analyst with Seoul-based information service NK Pro, pointed out that LinkedIn is a particularly useful hunting ground for fake North Korean recruiters. Still, they also use other platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Discord to target potential phishing victims.

"There are safeguards in these services to prevent their use for malicious purposes, but people have been able to find their way around them," said Reddy.

He added that AI services like ChatGPT could also help North Koreans develop more sophisticated forms of malicious software to infiltrate their victims’ computer networks.

Why It Matters: The use of AI by North Korean hackers is a cause for concern, given the country’s recent military activities. Just weeks ago, North Korea conducted its fourth series of cruise missile launches, intensifying war preparations following a visit by Kim Jong Un to a naval shipyard.

Furthermore, the use of cyberattacks to generate funds for its nuclear program has also drawn the attention of the United Nations, which is currently investigating a series of cyberattacks that allegedly earned North Korea $3 billion. This money has reportedly been used to further develop the country’s nuclear weapons program.

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