Reports that North Korean hackers launched repeated attacks on South Korea’s election commission have sparked fears they are following the lead of other state-backed threat actors by interfering in elections, in what would be new terrain for DPRK cybercrime.

But experts told NK Pro that the newly revealed campaign appears to be less an attempt to undermine democratic institutions than a routine effort to probe for vulnerabilities and gather sensitive information.

Earlier this month, the National Election Commission (NEC) denied claims that it ignored eight cyberattack alerts from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) between