North Korean state-sponsored hackers have stolen a reported $2 billion from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges over the past three years, using the cash to fund nuclear weapons research, according to a Reuters report published this week.
North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has developed significant and sophisticated cyber capabilities over the past decade. While other nations have occasionally conducted cyberattacks for financial gain, the DPRK's intelligence arm, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, has focused much of its effort on stealing money to fund the national economy and, specifically, the nation's nuclear aspirations.
A report by a Panel of Experts to the United Nations Security Council, published in March, pointed to a series of attacks in 2018 as a demonstration of North Korean actors sophistication and persistence. In those heists, the attackers transferred tens of millions of dollars from banks to accounts in 30 different countries and Hong Kong, where the funds were immediately withdrawn almost simultaneously in tens of thousands of transactions.
"These more recent attacks show how the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has become an increasingly sophisticated actor in cyberattacks for financial gain, with tools and tactics steadily improving," states the report by the Panel of Experts.
The Reuters article, published on August 5, puts a number on the level of disruption caused by North Korean hackers and cites an unnamed United Nations report that seems close i ..
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