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- The international community is facing tough times because of the “rogue nation’s” activities.
- The United States, Japan and South Korea came forward to voice their concern within the UN.
North Korean cyber activities were infamous for the threats they posed to many countries and now the global political powers are trying to corner the bully. Special envoys from the United States, Japan, and South Korea in the United Nations, raised concerns regarding the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). They were highly sceptical of the nuclear program of DPRK, the official name of North Korea.
According to the AFP, the envoys asked UN members to take action against North Korean immigrants working across different countries. They claimed that these workers were making the sanctions against the country inefficient by financing the “unlawful weapons programme.”
“Overseas DPRK IT workers continue using forged identities and nationalities to evade UNSC sanctions and earn income abroad that funds the DPRK’s unlawful weapon of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.”
A joint statement of all three nations called out the “malicious cyber activities” of North Korean hackers, which carry out hacking operations in order to fulfil the country’s military objectives. Also, the country takes advantage of its citizens working abroad in countries like China, and Russia, and even in faraway countries like Africa and the Middle East.
UN’s Action Against North Korean Immigrants in the Past
In a 2017 resolution approved by the UN, the member states were given two years, i.e. by 2019, to send the North Korean workers working in the region back to North Korea.
The envoys cited data from analytics firm Chainalysis and stated that state-backed hackers in North Korea illegally stole cryptocurrencies worth 1.7 billion in 2022. The representatives showcased their concerns on the support of DPRK supporting such “stealing and laundering funds” initiatives which also included throwing out illicit activities and collecting sensitive information from the countries.
For a long time, state-backed hackers were stealing cryptocurrencies and raising funds for North Korea. Cybersecurity firm Mandiant’s report stated that the cybercriminals from the “rogue state” were specifically targeting LinkedIn and Indeed-like platforms. They plagiarized job seekers’ resumes and profiles and get remote jobs at crypto firms.
In such an attack, such hackers attacked a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange in 2018 and managed to loot cryptocurrency worth 530 million USD. The incident was the biggest crypto heist at the time and hackers exploited malware in order to gain the crypto firm’s exchange and then stole the funds.
Cryptocurrencies being the newest asset class are more prone to cyberattacks. This remains the concern of financial regulators which seek to safeguard the investors’ funds.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.
