Recently, a Russian hacking group launched cyberattacks on South Korea's critical infrastructure. According to official news agencies, such a move serves as a response to Seoul's proposal to send military experts to Ukraine to trace North Korean troops who are allegedly assisting Russia's war efforts in the country.
Those accusations by the hacking group Z Pentest, blamed for incursions into facilities at South Korean facilities, had created security breaches in the country.
Russian Hackers Breach South Korean Grain Warehouse Controls
Z Pentest publicly boasted of accessing equipment at a warehouse in Naju, South Jeolla province, where it allegedly stored Ukrainian grain supplies. According to Reuters, the group put up a video on social media about how they allegedly tampered with the electronic controls of grain elevators and spewed lots of grain onto the ground.
Furthermore, they boasted that their equipment's performance remains at a high level of efficiency through wastage resources. This video proclaimed their intentions to ground South Korea's infrastructure as a revenge measure due to Seoul's supportive stand for Ukraine.
"Our specialist just turned everything off. Let them dry up," the alleged hackers said on Wednesday, Nov. 6.
South Korean Agricultural Systems Under Fire
Apart from the warehouse break-in, Z Pentest boasted of having hacked into the South Korean cultivation and irrigation system, which they asserted totally crippled. The group boasts of their actions by saying they had shut down the whole system and left it to dry, trying to cause potential agricultural damage.
This escalation marks a shift from mere cyber intrusions into South Korea's physical infrastructure to the involvement of agricultural resources in the country in the collision course of international political conflicts.
Hacking Group Defends Attacks Over South Korea's Policy on Ukraine
In another report by South China Morning Post, Pentest said the attacks were a direct response to South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun's proposal to send military officials to Ukraine to monitor North Korean troops assisting Russia.
According to both South Korean and Ukrainian officials, over 10,000 North Korean soldiers are serving in Russia currently. The first encounters by Ukrainian forces with North Korean troops were also confirmed in Russia's Kursk region, further escalating international tensions.
North Korean troops may also increase over the coming weeks, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.
South Korea Confronts Home Debates Over Whether to Support Ukraine Militarily
Reacting to this, South Korea is now rethinking its time-honored policy of no involvement in current wars. So far, South Korea has not taken its hands off from sending direct weapons to Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the inclusion of the North Korean military "opens up a new page in the history of the planet" and inserts a new page of uncertainty into the book of time.
The defense ministry website of South Korea was service-disrupted on Tuesday, Nov. 5, with officials suspecting an attack. As of Wednesday, the website had been reinstated, and the ministry started an investigation to track the hackers.
For its part, South Korea's cybersecurity watchdog called on local institutions and businesses to step up data protection measures amid spiking tensions and growing cyber attack risks.
Russian and North Korean Cyber Actors Unite
Cybersecurity fears have risen since earlier this year when Microsoft announced that state-backed hackers from Russia and North Korea have begun using advanced AI tools to improve their surveillance capabilities.
According to Microsoft, it had already taken measures to limit the capability of such groups to get hold of similar technologies, as cyber threats linked to global conflicts continue to become more sophisticated.
South Korea will keep a watchful eye out for attacks on its critical infrastructure from hackers. It will be more alert since the enemies can attack in land, air, water, and of course, in the digital space.
