North Korea uses crypto cyber-attacks to fund nuclear missile program

Steffy Bogdanova
February 8, 2022 8:51 am

During the past year, North Korea has been growing its nuclear missile program and the country used cyberattacks on cryptocurrency exchanges as a revenue source, according to a confidential United Nations report, reported by Reuters.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has been banned from conducting nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the U.N. Security Council. Even though no such tests or launches were reported, DPRK continued to develop its capabilities.

According to the U.N. report, North Korean hackers have targeted financial institutions, cryptocurrency firms and exchanges in cyber-attacks as a revenue source for the country’s nuclear missile program.

North Korea steals millions in cyber-attacks for its nuclear missile program

The reports stated that $50 million were stolen from crypto exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia during the period between 2020 and mid-2021.

A report from cybersecurity firm Chainalysis was also cited saying that North Korea conducted seven attacks on crypto platforms last year and stole approximately $400 million worth of digital assets.

The U.N. sanctions monitors reported that an estimated $2 billion from sophisticated cyber-attacks were generated in 2019 to fund North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction programs.

LeapRate Analyst

Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
Tags:

Read Also: