North Korean Hackers Used Novel Social Engineering Ploy to Target Security Researchers Google announced on Tuesday that its cyber threat experts have identified an “ongoing” hacking campaign that leveraged social media to target cybersecurity researchers at a range of organizations, and the attackers are believed to be linked to the North Korean regime. In a statement, Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said the hackers behind the campaign used a range of ploys, including a novel social engineering method, to target individuals working on vulnerability research and development at a number of unspecified organizations. “In order to build credibility and connect with security researchers, the actors established a research blog and multiple Twitter profiles to interact with potential targets,” said Adam Weidemann of TAG in the statement.