WazirX Theft and Other Incidents Also Attributed to North Korea
South Korea, the United States, and Japan have officially attributed the $660 million (approximately 960 billion KRW) cryptocurrency theft incident that occurred last year to North Korea.
On the 22nd, Bitcoin prices were displayed at the Bithumb Gangnam Customer Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Due to news such as the possibility of an early interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Chinese government's crackdown on cryptocurrency mining, prices of major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin are showing a downward trend. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@
On the afternoon of the 14th, the three countries issued a joint statement titled "Joint Statement of South Korea, the United States, and Japan on North Korea's Cryptocurrency Theft and Public-Private Cooperation," stating, "North Korean-linked advanced persistent threat groups, including the Lazarus Group, have continuously engaged in numerous cybercrimes to steal cryptocurrencies, targeting exchanges, virtual asset custodians, and individual users, thereby exhibiting malicious behavior patterns in cyberspace."
The three countries specifically identified the cryptocurrency exchange damages that occurred last year as the work of North Korea. The losses by exchange were $308 million at DMM Bitcoin, $50 million at Upbit, and $16.13 million at Rain Management. Additionally, South Korea and the United States also attributed the theft incidents involving WazirX ($235 million) and Radiant Capital ($50 million) to North Korea.
While the governments of the three countries have individually investigated and attributed some theft incidents to North Korea in the past, this is the first time they have collectively summarized and announced the incidents in a joint statement. The three countries pointed out, "North Korea's cyber program threatens South Korea, the United States, Japan, and the international community, posing a significant threat to the integrity and stability of the international financial system," and emphasized, "Deepening public-private cooperation among the three countries is essential to actively block the cybercriminal activities of these malicious actors."
They added, "The U.S. government has observed that North Korea continued to conduct disguised social engineering attacks targeting the cryptocurrency industry using malicious software such as TraderTraitor and AppleJeus through September 2024," and "South Korea and Japan have also been monitoring similar North Korean trends and tactics."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
