Expert: North Korean hackers harvest 11,000 Bitcoins in 2017
Priscilla Moriuchi, a former official of the National Security Agency (NSA) said that North Korea seized about 11,000 Bitcoin in 2017 and made a total of more than $200 million in profits.
North Korea faces severe international sanctions and North Korea is overwhelmed by economic pressure. North Korea resolutely turned its attention to digital currency after it discovered the profitable digital money market. According to estimates, if North Korea realizes 11,000 BTC cash in mid-December 2017, it will be $210 million.
Security experts in the financial industry believe that due to severe international sanctions, North Korea uses virtual currency markets to provide financial support for its sluggish economy. Senné concluded that North Korea will honor these virtual currencies as current currency or tangible commodities in order to support North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.
As North Korea goes further and further on the road to cybercrime, it is accused of being the most fractious cybercrime country in the world. In December 2017, the United States accused the WannaCry ransom raid that ravaged the world was committed by North Korea. North Korean hackers were also accused of stealing about 81 million U.S. dollars from the Central Bank of Bangladesh in 2015. There is evidence that North Korean hackers have set up operations centers in foreign countries.
In December 2017, North Korean hackers allegedly attacked South Korea’s cryptocurrency trading platform, stealing more than $7 million worth of digital currency and forcing Youbit, the Korean bitcoin exchange, to declare bankruptcy.
In November 2017, the FBI and DHS jointly issued a warning: Beware of the Korean hacking organization Lazarus. In late February 2018, there was news that North Korea’s state support for the hacking organization Lazarus was returning and began to do things. Lazarus seemed to once again start stealing its urgently needed foreign currency for the government.
Source: news.bitcoin.com
