[ad_1]
Cybercrime is a problem for all those who are present on the internet, there is no denying it, but when you consider cryptocurrency, the crime seems to be taking place at an unparalleled scale. Group-IB and Recorded Futures, a total of almost $ 882 million was stolen through initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency funds over the period of the last two years since 2016. Recent evidence however cropped out, that sums up to approximately $ 571 million, was taken by North Korean hackers.
Recorded Future, which is a security firm based in the United States, published on October 25, stating their findings that the North Korean Government had sponsored at least two bogus cryptocurrencies. The report titled "Shifting Patterns in Internet Use Reveal Adaptable and Innovative North Korean Ruling Elite" was presented by the research team.
The first fraudulent crypto coin purportedly backed by North Korea was called Interstellar. Reports state that the cryptocurrency has been renamed multiple times using various names such as HOLD, HUZU, or Stellar. The second coin, which is called a series of coins, was found in a number of Bitcoins in August 2018. It was the same coin which apparently facilitated the tokenization of the maritime vessels for various owners and users. It was stated to be fraudulent by the Canadian state of Ontario.
In the recent turn of events, the North Korean hackers shifted to targeting individual holders of cryptocurrency as a result of Pyongyang to mitigate the consequences of international sanctions.
Stealing cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin from individuals shows a shift from the previous thefts that were carried out on exchanges and financial institutions. International analysts said that Pyongyang is trying to find a new source of revenue as a suffocating under the sanctions which targets the country's unsanctioned nuclear weapons program.
An English-language media site South China, said the CEO of a cyber security firm called Cuvepia said that he had detected more than thirty cyber-attacks on individuals who were holding cryptocurrencies and that the hacks were carried out hackers all of whom belonged to North Korea. Kwon Seol-Chul CEO of Cuvepia also stated that a lot of cases had gone undetected.
Hackers of the cyber-security enhancements that are implemented by various crypto exchanges and financial institutions. Simon Choi who is the founder of the cyber warfare research company IssueMakersLab while talking about the hackers targeting the individual crypto investors stated:
Direct attacks on exchanges have become harder, they are hackers are thinking about alternatively going after individual users with weak security.
He also pointed out that the hackers were targeting rich people and leaders of organizations that would give them a chance to tap into billions of funds in virtual currencies.
Luke McNamara, who is an analyst at FireEye, who is also a cyber-security company, has been hacked out on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Kaspersky Labs also claimed to be a hack North Korean hacker group called Lazarus Group had employed the first macOS virus to breach a crypto exchange. The North Korean had been very effective in their thefts. Their methods involved gathering intel to understand their targets so that they could be easy to create them.
United States urging the global community to raise security and implement plans to tackle the North Korean cyber-crimes.
