{"id":19714,"date":"2023-06-07T22:14:38","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T02:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/markets\/crypto\/north-korean-crypto-hackers-targeted-south-korea\/"},"modified":"2023-06-07T22:14:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T02:14:40","slug":"north-korean-crypto-hackers-targeted-south-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=19714","title":{"rendered":"North Korean \u2018Crypto Hackers Targeted South Korea\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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North Korean crypto hackers \u201ctargeted South Korean ministers\u201d in a campaign last year, Seoul-based police officials have claimed.<\/p>\n

According to Dong-a Ilbo, police officials took control of a server they claimed was used during the attempted attacks.<\/p>\n

And officers said they had \u201cfound two cryptocurrency wallet addresses\u201d on the server.<\/p>\n

They claimed that transactions worth almost $1,600 had been made using these wallets.<\/p>\n

A police official stated:<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are continuing to investigate to see whether or not this [campaign] was an attempt to steal [funds].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for a number of high-profile attacks on South Korean crypto targets.<\/p>\n

And Seoul has long claimed that the North targets include major exchanges south of the DMZ, as well as individual crypto users.<\/p>\n

A branch of the National Police Agency said the server contained evidence that \u201cthe North Korean hacking organization Kimsuky had sent phishing emails to South Korean officials in mid-2022.\u201d<\/p>\n

These officials include \u201cforeign affairs and security experts,\u201d as well as \u201cformer and current high-ranking officials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who Did Alleged North Korean Crypto Hackers Target?<\/h2>\n

The agency gave details about nine people who had allegedly been targeted in the attacks.<\/p>\n

These targets allegedly included \u201ctwo former ministerial-level officials, one vice-ministerial-level official, four academic experts, one incumbent executive-level official, and one journalist.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Kimsuky allegedly lured dozens more security experts onto what turned out to be a phishing site.<\/p>\n

Police said this was done in a bid to obtain sensitive information.<\/p>\n

In some cases, the alleged hackers appear to have posed as students or people seeking professional opinions on work they had done.<\/p>\n

The police said that the campaign had been conducted \u201cfrom April to July last year,\u201d at around the time of the inauguration of President Yoon Seok-yeol\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

The news comes shortly after the security provider Sentinel Labs reported that Kimsuky was \u201cspecifically targeting expert analysts of North Korean affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The firm claimed that Kimsuky had \u201cimpersonated\u201d the English-language, North Korea-focused media outlet NK News.<\/p>\n

And it said Pyongyang was \u201cstealing NK News credentials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Security experts have also claimed that \u201ca North Korean hacking group\u201d is behind the recent theft of $35 million from the crypto wallet platform Atomic Wallet.<\/p>\n

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The analytics firm Elliptic claimed that the stolen funds had been moved to the crypto mixer Sinbad \u2013 thought to be a reboot of the Blender coin mixing platform.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n