North Korean hackers have wasted little time weaponizing the country’s COVID-19 outbreak to spread viruses of their own making, security researchers say. 

Researchers at South Korea-based cybersecurity firm AhnLabs announced on Wednesday they had detected new, malware-laced press releases suspected to originate from Kimsuky, one of North Korea’s most notorious hacking syndicates.

The malware itself appears to be similar or identical to other, previous attacks flagged by AhnLabs in recent weeks — this time, however, the hackers have quickly co-opted their country’s unfolding omicron outbreak as a lure to spread their own viruses.

The press release, delivered through spear-phishing emails,