Russia has arrested a South Korean individual for the first time on cyber espionage allegations and moved him from Vladivostok to Moscow for additional investigation.

BianLian threat actors use JetBrains TeamCity flaws in ransomware attacks.

The development was originally reported by the Russian news outlet TASS.

“During the investigation of an espionage case, a South Korean citizen Baek Won-soon was identified and detained in Vladivostok, and put into custody under a court order,” a source who did not want to be named said.

Won-soon is accused of providing confidential “top secret” material to unknown foreign spy services.

According to the agency, Won-soon was arrested in Vladivostok early this year and transferred to Moscow late last month. He is supposed to be at the Lefortovo pretrial prison institution. His detention has been prolonged for three more months, until June 15, 2024.

The jail camp also houses American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who is awaiting trial on espionage charges. Gershkovich has disputed the claims.

The move comes as Russia and North Korea’s geopolitical connections strengthen, and state-sponsored hacking organizations linked to the latter have targeted the Kremlin to carry out strategic information collecting operations.

It also comes days after the United States detained a former Google engineer for allegedly stealing intellectual knowledge from the internet giant while working surreptitiously for two China-based firms, one of which he started last year before resigning.

source