TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israel said Wednesday that it had foiled a cyberattack on its defense through a piracy organization known as Lazarus, which the United States says is run through North Korea’s intelligence services.
Israel’s Defense Ministry said hackers posing as potential employers had sent tasks to the defense that sought to infiltrate their networks and collect sensitive information.
The organization created fake profiles on the LinkedIn network to disguise its hackers and attempted to hack Israeli defense corporations through its websites, according to the ministry’s statement.
The attacks became known in real time and thwarted the disruption of corporate networks, added, identifying corporations or indicating when the incidents occurred.
Israel stated that the organization supported through a foreign country, but did not call it. Washington said Lazarus operates for the RGB, North Korea’s largest intelligence office.
U.S. prosecutors accused the organization of orchestrating the leak of emails from Sony Pictures in 2014 and stealing tens of millions from the Central Bank of Bangladesh in 2016.
Since the beginning of the year, Israel has reported attempts at cyberattacks against power plants and water services, with officials pointing the finger at Iran or Iran-backed groups.
A chimney last month at the Natanz nuclear site in Iran led some Iranian officials to say it was the result of cyber sabotage. Israel’s defense minister said his country was not “necessarily” every and every one of the mysterious incidents in Iran.
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