The US Department of Justice allegedly sued a North Korean hacker yesterday for a number of cybercrime crimes in recent years, many of which were hacking operations that shocked the world, including Sony Pictures’ hacking, last year’s NotPetya cyber-attack (The ransomware), the $80 million stolen by the Central Bank of Bangladesh in the previous year, once invaded the Sade system in South Korea.
According to the US indictment, the hacker Park Jin Hyok is a staff member of the North Korean Investigation Directorate and has been engaged in cyber-attacks and fund fraud for many years. Park Jin Hyok is said to be a representative of North Korean hackers who has been hiding in the online world for years. According to the VOA report, the prosecutor confirmed that he was a member of the hacking team known as the Lazarus Group, which was accused of computer intrusion and cyber fraud in North Korea, the United States, and other countries. A wide-ranging conspiracy that lasts for many years.”
According to financial blog Zero Hedge, the US government’s allegations against Park Jin Hyok’s 179 pages detail his hacking from 2014 to 2018 and will impose sanctions on him and his company, Chosun Expo Joint Venture. The US Treasury Department even called this company a wallet for his extensive overseas intelligence!
The U.S. Treasury’s indictment against Park Jin Hyok also showed that the organization launched a global cyber-attack called WannaCry 2.0 in 2017 using ransomware.
On May 17, 2017, a monitoring website noticed that the Bitcoin node activity in North Korea suddenly increased exponentially from zero to hundreds of times a day. What is certain is that North Korea launched a large-scale mining operation against the bitcoin currency.
Just before May 14th, when North Korea began to excavate bitcoin on a large scale, the EternalBlue WannaCry bitcoin extortion virus broke out. So far, tens of thousands of computers in nearly 100 countries and regions have been attacked. The data file on the computer is locked and requires a $300 equivalent of bitcoin value currency to unlock the file.
Therefore, some analysts believe that the real purpose of North Korea to start mining bitcoin is to cover up the bitcoin which extortion from the wallet. If they have bitcoin, at least they can explain that these bitcoins are dug out, clarify the relationship of the virus and them.
Judging from the news of the media, North Korea is not only mining but also using hacking technology on a large scale to implement international bitcoin theft and money laundering. When our eyes are attracted to nuclear weapons, a big net about bitcoin is likely to have been quietly woven. North Korea is mountainous, hydropower stations produce low electricity costs, and North Korea’s electricity has been controlled by the state, so the cost of energy is negligible; as for the investment in mining machines, it is even less.
It is reported that North Korea’s hacker has reached 7,000 in 2017.
According to various information disclosed by the media in the year, North Korea has formed a perfect industrial chain and protection mechanism around bitcoin stealing and extortion.
For example:
Strict Bitcoin Transfer Network: Some media pointed out that in order to avoid the risk of being tracked by the large bitcoin transfer that has been stolen, North Korea has formed a large bitcoin to be split, transferred by a large number of personal accounts, and quietly transferred to the stolen goods.
Bitcoin’s money laundering function: North Korea will not only use Bitcoin for foreign exchange but also use other channels of funds to purchase Bitcoin, just like monero coin, thus achieving the purpose of money laundering. And often the process is complicated.
Bitcoin security protection mechanism: It is said that among the North Korean network forces, there is a dedicated team responsible for the security of the national Bitcoin. After all, you can’t get back the stolen things, and the security is very important.
Bitcoin attacks and circulation have spread beyond North Korea: some media believe that in order to avoid drawing attention. North Korea will lurk a large number of hackers outside the border and use different IPs to launch cyber-attacks. The more lurking areas are northeast China and some Southeast Asian countries. It will also send people overseas to do bitcoin trading, and even organize speculation.
It has been pointed out that after a rapid combat, North Korea has become a big bitcoin player with a strict system, a clear division of labor, and all-powerfulness.
Because South Korea and North Korea use language, the Korean Bitcoin exchange has naturally become the focus of North Korean hackers, and based on the anonymity of blockchain technology, North Korean hackers can be cleverly hidden after they succeed. According to South Korean intelligence, North Korea has been involved in the hacking of Bithumb, the country’s largest digital currency exchange, in which more than 30,000 users’ personal data were stolen by hackers. In addition, the National Intelligence Agency revealed that billions of won of cryptocurrency like eth coin were stolen by North Korean hackers last year.
According to a former official of the US National Security Agency, in 2017, North Korea received at least 11,000 bitcoins through mining and hacking attacks, with a profit of more than 200 million US dollars.
The prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum have fallen sharply. At present, the situation of the cryptocurrency market is not optimistic. Once this incident in North Korea proves to be true, it will be a major blow to the entire market.
Because in this market, too many ICO frauds have emerged. If there are many security issues at this time, the cold winter of cryptocurrencies may really continue.
At the same time, this is also a good opportunity, because the companies that pass the screening, such as Binance exchange, which will become the backbone of the blockchain industry.