North Korean authorities have reportedly arrested a group of elite state-trained hackers accused of stealing and laundering the regime’s own funds via crypto.
According to a report by Daily NK, which cites an anonymous source inside Pyongyang, the hackers infiltrated the internal networks of North Korea’s Chosun Central Bank and Foreign Trade Bank.
The group was reportedly rounded up on July 12 after an internal investigation that traced suspicious cryptocurrency transactions to a safe house in Pyongyang.
According to the report, the ring was led by former members of a cyber warfare unit under the Reconnaissance and Intelligence General Bureau. They recruited talented graduates from Kim Chaek University of Technology and Pyongyang University of Science. The group relied on military-grade hacking skills, encrypted communications, and Chinese wireless equipment to pull off such a feat.
Brokers in China allegedly converted the crypto into cash, which was then exchanged for fiat currencies by contacts operating in North Korea’s border regions.
Long history of crypto theft allegations
North Korea is, of course, known as one of the world’s most prolific state-backed cryptocurrency hackers.
The United Nations, the United States, South Korea and Japan have repeatedly alleged that Pyongyang’s cyber units (including the infamous Lazarus Group ) have stolen billions of dollars worth of digital assets.
U.S. officials have accused North Korean hackers of carrying out some of the largest crypto thefts on record. These include the attacks linked to the Ronin Bridge, Harmony Horizon Bridge, Atomic Wallet, Alphapo, CoinEx, DMM Bitcoin, and WazirX.
Pyongyang has repeatedly dismissed U.S. and UN accusations as politically motivated fabrications.
If Daily NK’s report is accurate, however, the latest incident is highly ironic. Individuals allegedly trained by the North Korean state to conduct sophisticated cyber operations stole the hermit kingdom’s own financial institutions.