UN Panel Says North Korea Involved In Crypto Exchange Hacking
As far as a U.N. Security Council is concerned, North Korea is responsible for the massive crypto exchange hacking that amassed around $670 million. It is worth noting that the amount covers both fiat and cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Hacking From NK
According to the official report, which was prepared a panel of experts, the country managed to do so by performing hacking attacks. The report was reportedly presented to the Security Council of the country, particularly its very own sanctions committee. This was done just way ahead of its annual report.
As per the documents obtained, the hackers managed to be successful in attacking financial institutions located abroad. The attacks were believed to have happened between 2015 and 2018. Interestingly, the hackers were successful in covering their tracks, a process they did by simply using blockchain to their advantage.
The report further suggests that the crypto attacks were believed to be performed by specialized corps within the military division of North Korea. The experts further propose the possibility that these corps, in particular, is the one responsible for hacking Interpark. The latter is none other than the e-commerce site based in South Korea. It became a victim of a $2.7 million ransom in exchange for the data stolen by the exploiters.
Funding Hacking Groups
Experts came to a conclusion that digital currencies supported the country in its attempt to circumvent economic sanctions. Keep in mind that these sanctions tend to be harder to trace, let alone laundered a couple of times. Apart from doing so, it was successful in obtaining foreign currency. The authors of the report suggested that member nations of the U.N. must starting sharing information on possible attacks coming from the communist country with other governments. Only if they do so can they become triumphant in preventing future attacks.
The report also claimed that blockchain technology has been previously utilized by a Hong Kong-based firm called Marine Chain. Basically, through it, the startup managed to circumvent sanctions against the aforementioned country.
The firm, which is known for trading ships across the globe through blockchain, was alleged of supplying digital currencies to the North Korean government. Apparently, it was shut down in September last year.
As reported before, a 2018 study revealed that the infamous hacker organization “Lazarus” was funded by the country in its efforts to steal $571 million from crypto exchange since early 2017. Even more so, most of the exchanges analyzed for breaches and/or attacks were attributed to the group.