North Korean hacking group builds AI tools for cyberattacks, report says

SEOUL, South Korea — A North Korean hacking group built large language model ​tools and collected software that could help automate cyberattacks, analyse stolen material and produce more convincing phishing campaigns, ‌a South Korean cybersecurity firm said on Monday.

The cybersecurity firm, Genians, said it ⁠found evidence that the North ​Korean-linked group Kimsuky had set ⁠up tools for running and managing AI models locally, ‌including Ollama, GPT4All and ‌Msty, alongside document search technology known as retrieval augmented ⁠generation (RAG).

According to the company, the ⁠tools could allow operators to process documents without sending sensitive information to outside AI services.

Genians also found AI agent development frameworks, speech-to-text software and Cursor, an AI-assisted coding tool, on infrastructure it linked to the campaign.

The findings suggest ‌Kimsuky is moving beyond using generative ​AI to create phishing lures and is building capacity to integrate existing AI models into malware development, data analysis and attack automation, Genians said in a report.

Genians also said it found finance and cryptocurrency-themed decoy documents that appeared to have been generated with AI. The materials were designed ​to resemble legitimate investment reports and other workplace documents, it said.

The ‌company's findings could ‌not ⁠be independently verified.

North Korea has for years used state-linked cyber units for espionage, financial theft and revenue generation, according to U.S. and South Korean authorities, as well as cybersecurity experts.

The U.S. ‌Treasury in 2023 sanctioned ​Kimsuky as a North Korean ‌government-controlled cyber-espionage group, saying ⁠it gathered ​intelligence in support of Pyongyang's strategic objectives.

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