Crypto exchanges in South Korea are vulnerable to North Korean efforts to evade international sanctions and finance its nuclear programmes via cyber attacks. With the latter feeling the effect of punishments, it has identified digital assets as a means of raising funds, according to a report by UK security think tank Royal United Services Institute. It pointed to North Korea’s suspected hijacking of South Korea’s crypto market, and the 2017 WannaCry global ransomware attack. The report, titled “Cyber Threats from North Korea, Part 1: A Global Perspective,” said that cryptocurrencies have been used for illicit purposes since at least 2013, when Pyongyang launched an attack on South Korean cryptocurrency sector makes it vulnerable, with the region’s banks already a target of North Korea’s hackers.
Crypto exchanges in South Korea are vulnerable to North Korean efforts to evade international sanctions and finance its nuclear programmes via cyber attacks. With the latter feeling the effect of punishments, it has identified digital assets as a means of raising funds, according to a report by UK security think tank Royal United Services Institute. It pointed to North Korea’s suspected hijacking of South Korea’s crypto market, and the 2017 WannaCry global ransomware attack. Limited regulation throughout southeast Asia’s cryptocurrency sector makes it vulnerable, with the region’s banks already a target of North Korea’s hackers.