The hackers that took down Sony Pictures are still on the attack, researchers say

After Sony Pictures Entertainment was hacked shortly before Thanksgiving of 2014, the attackers – who dubbed themselves the "Guardians of Peace" – went quiet. Or so it seemed. But now researchers say they've linked the attackers – whom the US government has said were directed by North Korea — to a chameleon-like group active since at least 2009 and still on the digital warpath, attacking systems in South Korea and elsewhere in Asia.

A new report from cybersecurity firm Novetta dubs the attackers the "Lazarus Group" – a reference to a biblical figure that comes back from the dead – because it seems to rise up with new identities for different campaigns. Novetta, along with researchers from other companies including AlienVault and Kaspersky Lab, say they've pieced together evidence that suggests the Lazarus Group was behind the Sony attack along with a string of other attacks, including a 2013 campaign against South Korean television stations and financial institutions -- which the South Korean government blamed on North Korea -- and attempts to lure victims via spearphishing with documents purporting to be media coverage of the South Korean parliamentary election in 2015.