Russian Missile maker faces breach in the hands of North Korean hackers

A well known group of North Korean hackers have secretly breached computer networks at a major Russian missile developer for at least a period of five months last year according to all technical evidences collected and further reviewed by Reuters and analysis by security researchers.

It has been discovered that the cyber-espionage teams linked to the North Korean government, which security researchers call ScarCruft and Lazarus, secretly installed stealthy digital backdoors into systems at NPO Mashinostroyeniya, a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, a small town on the outskirts of Moscow. In the months following the digital break-in ,Pyongyang had announced multiple developments in its banned ballistic missile programme but it was not deemed clear if this was related to the breach. Experts have commented that the incident shows how the isolated country will even target its allies, such as Russia, in a bid to acquire critical technologies. News of the hack had surfaced shortly after a trip to Pyongyang last month by Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu for the 70th anniversary of the Korean War; the first visit by a Russian defence minister to North Korea since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. The targeted company which is commonly known as NPO Mash, has acted as a pioneer developer of hypersonic missiles, satellite technologies and newer generation ballistic armaments, according to missile experts – three areas of keen interest to North Korea since it embarked on its mission to create an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capable of striking the mainland United States.

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After consulting the data, it was found that the intrusion roughly began in late 2021 and continued until May 2022 when, according to internal communications at the company reviewed by Reuters, IT engineers had already detected the hackers’ activity. NPO Mash thus grew to prominence during the Cold War as a premier satellite maker for Russia’s space programme and as a provider of cruise missiles