March 28, 2023
Analysis

Understanding Why NK NEWS Was Attacked Last Week

NK NEWS speaks to server administrator Tomasz Chmielewski to find out why and how website was hacked last week

With tensions high on the peninsula, NK NEWS was attacked repeatedly last week in a coordinated effort that saw the website go down for several hours for four consecutive days. The same time the attacks occurred, high profile hacking group Anonymous made public its hacking successes against several North Korean state news websites and a number of officially controlled North Korea social media accounts.

Although NK NEWS has no affiliation to the DPRK Government, the website routinely receives correspondence from people who believe the project is sponsored by Pyongyang. It's therefore possible that hackers at Anonymous targeted NK NEWS in the belief that the site was simply another North Korean asset, worthy of attack. This theory is backed up by further hacking attempts received late on April 15, the same day as a new wave of Anonymous coordinated hacks were made against North Korean websites.