North Korea has been supporting its weapons program using sophisticated cyberattacks to hack banks and cryptocurrency exchanges. The attacks are reportedly getting more sophisticated and harder to trace.
North Korea is using cyberattacks on banks and cryptocurrency exchanges to fund its weapons programs, according to a UN Security Council report seen by Reuters news agency on Monday.
The report, compiled by independent experts monitoring Pyongyang's compliance with international sanctions over the past six months, said that North Korea is carrying out "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyberattacks. The experts say these measures have so far netted the rogue state over $2 billion (€1.7 billion).
The report also said that North Korea is using "increasingly sophisticated attacks to steal funds from financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to generate income."
At least 35 reported instances in 17 countries of North Korea-affiliated actors attacking financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges are currently under investigation, according to the report.
Using cyberattacks allows North Korea to "generate income in ways that are harder to trace and subject to less government oversight and regulation than the traditional banking sector."
North Korea is cut off from conventional revenue sources by UN sanctions and is forbidden from exporting coal, iron, lead, textiles and seafood.
'Handshake for peace' – Trump crosses into North Korea
US President Trump and North Korean leader Kim have met once again, this time in the Demilitarized Zone. In a largely symbolic meeting, Trump and Kim hailed their personal close relationship amid stalled nuclear talks.
Image: Reuters/U.S. Network Pool
Third Kim-Trump meeting
It was the third meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in just over a year. The first Trump-Kim summit took place in Singapore in June last year. A meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, was held in February 2019. Both meetings failed to provide a clear roadmap for North Korea's denuclearization.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/B. Smialowski
Making history
Trump made history on June 30 with his latest encounter with Kim. He's the first sitting US president to visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides South and North Korea. Trump briefly crossed into North Korea as he shook hands with Kim. He said he was "proud to step over the line."
Image: AFP/Getty Images/B. Smialowski
Watching over the North
Prior to his meeting with Kim, Trump flew to the DMZ with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The US president met with South Korean and American troops as he watched over North Korea from a military post in the DMZ. US presidents in the past have visited American troops on the South Korean side but not set foot in the DMZ.
Image: Reuters/K. Lamarque
'Great friendship'
From calling Kim Jong Un "little rocket man" to someone he has a "certain chemistry" with, Trump has come a long way in his dealing with North Korea. On June 30, he once again emphasized his personal ties with the North Korean dictator. Kim, too, hailed his "wonderful" relationship with Trump, saying the latest meeting would enable nuclear talks.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/B. Smialowski
'In no rush'
Washington and Pyongyang blame each other for the impasse over nuclear talks, but Trump is hopeful for a breakthrough. Although his previous two meetings with the North Korean leader didn't yield any result, Trump said he was "in no rush" to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Image: picture-alliance/Yonhapnews Agency
Regime survival
Experts have warned that North Korea may never agree to fully give up its nuclear ambitions, which they say Pyongyang views as vital for regime survival. In March, new satellite imagery suggested that North Korea started rebuilding a rocket launch site before Kim and Trump's Vietnam summit in Feruary. The site had been dismantled last year as part of Kim's denuclearization pledge.
Image: picture-alliance/Yonhap
6 images1 | 6
'Do not underestimate' North Korea
According to a another report on North Korea's cyber operations released Monday by 38 North, a North Korea think tank based in Washington, the cyber capabilities of the North Korean government "should not be underestimated."
The 38 North report said that although cyberattacks can be difficult to trace, an "identifiable signature" can be used to link an attack to North Korea.
"The industry knows the architecture of North Korean cyber activities quite well and the DPRK generally doesn't try that hard to obscure their operations, " said the report, referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the country's official name.
In 2017, $60 million was stolen from Taiwan's Far Eastern bank after the bank's computer systems were attacked by malware, which, according to analysts, is similar to that used in other Lazarus hacks.
The type of malware used by Lazarus was also linked to the 2014 Sony hack, which erased the entertainment company's servers and cost it at least $15 million. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) blamed the attack on North Korea.
"North Korea has used crime to support the Kim family's expensive tastes and the DPRK's weapons of mass destruction program for decades. The DPRK has merely turned state-run criminal enterprises to cybercrime," James Lewis, an international cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told DW.
North Korea's long killing streak
A South Korean media report has claimed a top Pyongyang nuclear envoy was killed — but he turned up on TV days later. It would not have been the first killing from the top, but it turned out to be another false report.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Living in the crosshairs
High-profile defector Hwang Jang Yop survived numerous assassination attempts before dying of natural causes at the age of 87. Hwang, who had been one of the leading ideologues of the North's isolationist regime, escaped to South Korea in 1997. Just months before his death in 2010, Seoul authorities arrested two North Korean military officers over one of many plots to kill him.
Image: AP
Uncle not 'fed to the dogs'
The execution of Kim Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek, once the second most powerful man in the isolated country, sent shock waves beyond North Korea's borders. Many media outlets wrongly reported that he was fed to hungry dogs, as punishment for his "betrayal" of the ruling family. In reality, he was shot, according to Pyongyang officials and South Korean intelligence.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Rumors of brutality
In 2015, Seoul's security services reported that North Korean Defense Minister Hyon Yong Chol was executed by an anti-aircraft gun. However, National Intelligence Service (NIS) soon appeared to backtrack from the report, saying that Hyon might still be alive. Reports of other brutal executions, involving artillery shells and flamethrowers, have also been difficult to confirm.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Poisoned needle
North Korean defector and well-known dissident Park Sang Hak was also targeted by a Pyongyang-linked hitman. In 2011, South Korean authorities arrested a former North Korean commando over the plot to assassinate Park with a poison-tipped needle.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Removing a rival?
The estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un was reportedly poisoned by two women at a Kuala Lumpur airport. While details remained sketchy, it was widely believed the killers were sent by the North Korean regime. The 46-year-old Kim Jong Nam had been living abroad after falling from grace in 2001 for visiting Disneyland in Tokyo.
