North Korea is using cyberattacks to target Japanese cryptocurrency assets. Hacker groups affiliated with North Korea have stolen $721 million from Japan since 2017, according to a study by a U.K.-based compliance specialist. That is equal to 30% of the total of such losses worldwide. Pyongyang is believed to have targeted the crypto assets of other countries to obtain the foreign currency that it uses for its missile program. This could, in turn, threaten the security of Asia. Elliptic, which conducted the analysis on behalf of Nikkei, has technology that tracks and identifies money transfers on the blockchain where cryptocurrency is traded. Elliptic grouped by region businesses whose virtual currency was transferred to electronic wallets used by the Lazarus Group, a North Korean-based hacker group. This is the first case in which the financial losses inflicted by North Korean hackers have been broken down by region or country. International bodies are waking up to the threat emanating from North Korea. In the joint statement adopted by the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors on Saturday in Japan, top officials acknowledged the “growing threat from illicit activities by state actors” such as the theft of cryptocurrencies, with North Korea’s repeated missile launches in mind.
Full report : North Korean crypto thefts target Japan, Vietnam, Hong Kong.
