QR Codes A Powerful New Phishing Weapon In Hands Of Pyongyang Cyberspies
The Register, Friday, January 9th, 2026
State-backed attackers are using QR codes to slip past enterprise security and help themselves to cloud logins, the FBI says
North Korean government hackers are turning QR codes into credential-stealing weapons, the FBI has warned, as Pyongyang's spies find new ways to duck enterprise security and help themselves to cloud logins.
In an advisory published this week, the agency said the Nork-linked "Kimsuky" group has been embedding malicious URLs inside QR codes delivered in carefully-crafted spear phishing emails, a technique the industry is now calling "quishing."