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 said Singapore is seen as leading the way in crypto-asset regulation in Southeast Asia, while Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand are working to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges in line with guidance from the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force, which sets global standards for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing. 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. 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.