For the past five years, North Korea has used hackers to steal $3 billion in cryptocurrencies to fund its nuclear program. This is reported by journalists of the Wall Street Journal.
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WSJ: North Korean hackers stole $3 billion in cryptocurrency
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The country has created and is still creating a shadow labor force of thousands of IT professionals working in all countries around the world, including Russia and China. All of them earn sometimes more than $300,000 a year doing routine work. These people pretend to be Canadian IT specialists, government officials and freelance Japanese blockchain developers. Sometimes they can masquerade as potential employers.
To be hired by cryptocurrency companies, they invite fake actors to sit in on interviews. After people are hired, they make small changes to the products, which are then hacked, WSJ reporters wrote.
Earlier, it was revealed that DPRK-linked hacker groups stole $721 million in cryptocurrency from Japanese entrepreneurs between 2017 and 2022;
U.S. authorities believe cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft have become a major source of revenue for North Korean authorities. At least half of the DPRK’s missile program is funded by cybercrime, Washington claims;
In May, analysts at Sekoia reported a report that North Korean hacker group BlueNoroff was attacking macOS users with a malware called RustBucket.