The United Nations (UN) is investigating at least 35 cyberattacks in 17 countries that are believed to be the work of hackers working for the North Korean government, an extended version of a recent UN report shows. A summary of the report released last week mentioned that Pyongyang has used “widespread and increasingly sophisticated” cyberattacks to steal around $2 billion from financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges. The funds were invested in the country’s weapons of mass destruction programs.
South Korea was the target of 10 of the 35 attacks, while India was targeted three times and both Bangladesh and Chile were hit twice. The North Korean cyber campaigns roughly fall into three categories:
- Attacks on the SWIFT system used for money transfers between banks
- Cryptocurrency theft of exchanges and users
- Cryptocurrency mining
Read more: UN Probing 35 North Korean Cyberattacks in 17 Countries
