{
  "id": 196357,
  "title": "A Security Pro Hacked North Korean Hackers. He Found They’d Breached Hundreds of Networks Worldwide",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/05/a-security-pro-hacked-north-korean-hackers-he-found-theyd-breached",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-08-05T23:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Wired",
    "slug": "wired",
    "url": "https://www.wired.com/story/a-security-pro-hacked-north-korean-hackers-he-found-theyd-breached-hundreds-of-networks-worldwide/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Greece-based cybersecurity expert Vangelis Stykas has uncovered evidence that North Korean hacking operations have compromised the systems of 1,640 companies in 57 countries. At the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Stykas will reveal that approximately 700 to 800 of these organizations experienced \"really damaging\" intrusions. This includes access to company data, root access to servers, and even AWS credentials. The researcher, who works at Kumio, gained access to multiple command-and-control servers controlled by the hackers, as well as their Slack and Discord communications. He estimates he has accessed around 5 terabytes of data.\n\nStykas has disclosed the incidents to the affected companies, which include Boston Children's Hospital, AEON Smart Technology, Oppo, cryptocurrency firms Coinbase and Uniswap Labs, Italy's Supreme Judicial Council, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian bank Al Rajhi Bank, and Digitaal Vlaanderen, a Flemish government entity. Multiple companies declined to comment on the incidents. Japan's Computer Emergency Response Team confirmed the researcher's findings and assisted AEON Smart Technology in remediation. Boston Children's Hospital stated the breach involved a former independent contractor's personal device and found no unauthorized access to their systems. Coinbase confirmed no sensitive information was compromised, as the contractor was in the U.S. and not affiliated with North Korea.",
  "summary": "For nearly two years, researcher Vangelis Stykas has maintained access to North Korean hackers’ servers. His work shows they pulled off intrusions in a shocking number of systems across the globe.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}