North Korea's hacking groups have broken into at least two South Korean manufacturers of chipmaking equipment, as the country looks to evade sanctions and turn out its own semiconductors for weapons programmes, South Korea's spy agency said on Monday.
The news comes after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol warned North Korea could stage provocations, such as cyber attacks or spreading fake news, to interfere in April's parliamentary elections.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said the South Korean firms had been a key target of North Korean hackers since late last year, and called for tougher security.
North Korea penetrated the servers of two companies in December and February, stealing product design drawings and photographs of their facilities, the NIS said.
"We believe that North Korea might possibly be preparing to produce its own semiconductors in the face of difficulties in procuring them due to sanctions," it said in a statement.
Also driving the North's efforts could be higher demand from its satellite, missile and other weapons programmes, it added.
Pyongyang has always denied involvement in cybercrimes, although North Korea has been blamed for cyberattacks netting millions of dollars.
The hackers employed a technique called "living off the land," which minimises malicious codes and uses existing, legitimate tools installed within the servers, making it difficult to detect with security software, the NIS said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
WazirX Attributes Wallet Compromise to Liminal, Says Own Signers' Machines Unaffected France Announces Major Operation To Fight Cyber-Spying Ahead Of Paris Olympics US Sanctions China-Based Network For Supporting North Korea Centre Fact-Checks Mamata Banerjee's Mic-Off Claim, She Hits Back At Olympics Opening Ceremony, Drag Parody Of 'The Last Supper' Draws Flak Children Of Indian-Americans Face Deportation As Time Runs Out Fake Billing Scam Worth Thousands Of Crores Unearthed: Punjab Minister 'What Kind Of Democracy?' Court Raps Cops For Seeking Action On Professor 11-Year-Old Chinese Boy Writes 600 Lines Of Code To Build Rocket Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.