North Korea Linked to Bank Hacks

A series of digital attacks on global banks appears to have been perpetrated by North Korea, security researchers claim. The actions may be the first known case of a nation using such means for financial gain, and included breaches of the SWIFT international financial-transfer network. Researchers at Symantec—a digital-security firm—say that in three of the attacks, the culprits used the same rare piece of code that has only been seen twice before: the Sony Pictures hack and the hack on media and banking companies in South Korea. Both of those were believed to be perpetrated by North Korea. Symantec researcher Eric Chien said: “If you believe North Korea was behind those attacks, then the bank attacks were also the work of North Korea.”