FBI Issues Alert Concerning Malicious State-Sponsored North Korean Hackers Targeting Crypto Firms – The FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the US Treasury Department, released a Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) report on April 18 highlighting illicit North Korean state-sponsored bitcoin activity.
Law enforcement officers in the United States have noticed North Korean cyber attackers targeting certain blockchain companies in the industry, according to the US government.
A CSA report titled “North Korean State-Sponsored APT Targets Blockchain Companies” was published by the FBI and a number of other US agencies. The advanced persistent threat has been state-sponsored and active since 2020, according to the research.
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The group is known as Lazarus Group, according to the FBI, and US officials accuse the cyber operators of a number of hostile hacking attempts.
North Korean cyber actors target a several organizations such as “organizations in the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency industry, including decentralized finance (defi) protocols, cryptocurrency exchanges, venture capital funds investing in cryptocurrency, play-to-earn cryptocurrency video games, cryptocurrency trading companies, and individual holders of large amounts of cryptocurrency or valuable non-fungible tokens.
The FBI’s CSA report comes after a recent update from the Office of Foreign Assets Control accusing Lazarus Group and North Korean cyber operators of involvement in the Ronin bridge attack.
Following the release of the OFAC upgrade, Tornado Cash, an ethereum mixing project, stated that it was employing Chainalysis tools to prevent OFAC-sanctioned ethereum addresses from using the ether mixing protocol.
The FBI claims that the Lazarus Group used dangerous spyware known as “Apple Jesus” to infect cryptocurrency companies.
“As of April 2022, North Korea’s Lazarus Group agents have used spear phishing campaigns and malware to steal cryptocurrency from various organizations, and exchanges in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry,” according to the CSA assessment.
Also Read: South Korean Intelligence Service Informs Crypto Exchanges About Cyberthreats
FBI Issues Alert Concerning Malicious State-Sponsored North Korean Hackers – “These actors will very certainly continue to take advantage of the vulnerabilities of bitcoin technology businesses, gaming companies, and exchanges to create and launder cash to support the North Korean regime.”
According to the FBI, North Korean hackers deployed large spear phishing attacks to crypto company employees. Cyber criminals usually target software developers, Devops personnel, and IT operators.
