---
title: "Hackers Steal Names Of Nearly 1,000 North Korean Defectors"
description: "The names and addresses of nearly 1,000 North Koreans who defected and resettled in South Korea were stolen during a recent security breach."
date: "2018-12-28"
modified: "2018-12-28"
authors:
  - name: "Paul Szoldra"
    job_title: "Editor"
    link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/paul-szoldra/"
url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/hackers-steal-names-of-nearly-1-000-north-korean-defectors/"
categories:
  - "News"
---

# Hackers Steal Names Of Nearly 1,000 North Korean Defectors

![Pedestrians walk under a large video screen showing images of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a news update in Tokyo on Oct. 4, 2022.](<https://taskandpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/02/Kim.jpg>)
*Pedestrians walk under a large video screen showing images of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a news update in Tokyo on Oct. 4, 2022. Richard A. Brooks / AFP via Getty Images*

The names and addresses of nearly 1,000 North Koreans who defected and resettled in South Korea were stolen during a recent security breach, [according](<https://nypost.com/2018/12/28/south-korea-says-hackers-stole-names-of-north-korea-defectors/>) to the Associated Press.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said the names, home addresses, and birthdays of 997 defectors were stolen sometime in November. The source of the breach hasn't been determined, but the most obvious suspect would be North Korea.

There are roughly 32,000 defectors in South Korea, many of them unknown to North Korea. As the BBC [notes](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46698646>), some analysts are concerned the leak could endanger family members still stuck in the Hermit Kingdom.

North Korea is often dismissed as a backwards totalitarian regime with little technology — [sometimes illustrated by a lack of electricity as seen from space](<https://www.nasa.gov/content/korean-peninsula-seen-from-space-station>)— but it has invested heavily in cyber, which in some ways, allows a nation-state with few resources to inflict real-world damage.

North Korea has been pursuing cyber warfare strategies since at least the 1980's, targeting banks, universities, and other organizations, mainly in South Korea. Perhaps its biggest hack yet was [the breach of Sony Pictures](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/12/18/the-sony-pictures-hack-explained/>), which saw the leak of unreleased films and embarrassing emails of studio executives in 2014.

"This is an area of growth," Army Gen. Vincent Brooks [told](<https://www.c-span.org/video/?408108-1/nomination-brooks>) Senate leaders in 2016. "While I would not characterize them as the best in the world, they are among the best in the world and the best organized."

## Author
Paul Szoldra was the Editor in Chief of Task & Purpose from October 2018 until August 2022. Since joining T&P, he has led a talented team of writers, editors, and creators who produce military journalism reaching millions of readers each month. He also founded and edits [Duffel Blog](<https://www.duffelblog.com/>), a popular satirical newsletter for the military. Before becoming a journalist in 2013, he served as a Marine infantryman in Afghanistan, Korea, and other areas of the Pacific. His eyes still go up every time a helicopter from Camp Pendleton flies over his office in Southern California.

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