Police seek FBI help in cyberattack probe

Korean police are working with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to trace the hackers behind recent cyberattacks targeting Korea's financial institutions, sources said Tuesday.

According to the sources, Korean authorities, including the Korean National Police Agency, have recently launched the process for cooperation with the FBI.

The move aims to obtain critical investigation data, such as account details and access logs of major U.S.-based global cybersecurity and AI companies.

U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike earlier suggested that a 26-year-old Chinese man from China's Guangdong Province might be behind the attacks, but the person has denied involvement.

Local authorities are reportedly considering the possibility of other or different individuals being responsible for the recent cyberattacks, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Police are analyzing data used by CrowdStrike to estimate the hackers' identities, as well as documents suggesting ties to a Chinese distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attack group.

When asked to confirm ongoing cooperation with the FBI, a police official here said, “We cannot confirm specific progress, including whether cooperation is taking place.”

Yonhap