UN expert report – North Korea’s hackers loot record sum for nuclear weapons program – News

  • According to the UN, North Korea stole more money from cybercrime in the past year than ever before.
  • Several estimates are at least $630 million or even $1 billion.
  • This shows “that 2022 was a record year for theft of virtual assets in North Korea,” according to a previously confidential UN expert report.

In the past six years, the state-employed hackers are said to have captured a total of around 1.2 billion dollars online. The money, which was often invested anonymously in cryptocurrency, will then be used by the highly sanctioned country to finance its nuclear and missile program, which ruler Kim Jong-un has recently pushed ahead with, according to the UN report.

Nuclear program increases pressure on world community


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According to the UN report, North Korea fired at least 73 ballistic missiles in 2022 in violation of UN Security Council resolutions – 42 of them in the last four months of the year. Among them was the test of a new type of solid fuel rocket.

With the missile tests and his nuclear program, Kim Jong-un wants to increase the pressure on the world community to lift the sanctions against his country. At the same time, diplomatic relations with the United States have been broken since Kim’s failed second summit with former US President Donald Trump in February 2019.

In May, the United States failed in the UN Security Council with a resolution for stricter international sanctions against Pyongyang. Russia and China vetoed the vote in New York.

In the meantime, the UN experts again see “a significant acceleration” in Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. Stockpiles of fissile material were rising, reflecting new North Korean nuclear policies and a string of missile launches.

Earlier this year, Kim announced an exponential increase in his country’s nuclear arsenal, further escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula. The UN reported last year that North Korea was preparing for its first nuclear test since 2017.

Sophisticated ransomware attacks and hacks

North Korea’s cyber attacks are blamed, among others, on the state hacker group Lazarus and its subgroups. Increasingly sophisticated ransomware attacks and hacks targeting cryptocurrency marketplaces have been observed.

In so-called ransomware attacks, the attackers penetrate the systems, take control and lock the victims out. The data is usually encrypted and only made accessible again after paying a ransom.

Legend:

A hacker’s computer screen shows “Hydra”, a network logon cracker, a tool for cracking passwords. (Image dated July 12, 2019).

Symbol picture/KEYSTONE/str

According to the UN report, another scam used by hackers is to infect certain organizations active in the crypto business with malware in order to be able to intercept money transfers. “In addition, as part of the campaign, the hacking group registered fake domains mimicking well-known banks and venture capital firms,” ​​it said.

North Korea is also trying to steal “non-fungible tokens” (NFTs) via so-called phishing attacks. With them, digital content can be provided with a non-exchangeable certificate and thus marked as original, which sometimes leads to immense increases in value.

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