Source: Nikkei Chinese Network
Author: Izawa Mingxin, Xiaolin Ling
North Korea aimed at Japan's encrypted assets (virtual currency) in the Internet attack.The joint analysis of Japan Economic News and Elliptic in the United Kingdom showed that the amount of virtual currencies stolen from Japan since 2017 has reached US $ 721 million, accounting for 30 % of the global total loss (US $ 2.3 billion).Some people point out that in order to obtain foreign exchange, North Korea targets virtual currencies in other countries and uses it as a source of funds for developing missiles.This may pose a security threat to the entire Asia, and the priority is to prevent it by building an international encirclement network.
In the joint statement passed on May 13th, the Minister of Finance of the Seventh Kingdom Group (G7) and the President of the Central Bank clearly stated on the North Korea who launched missiles in multiple launch of missiles.Increase the threat. "The concerns of virtual currencies are strengthened by hackers.
ELLIPTIC implements the survey has a technology that tracks and locks on the remittance on the blockchain.Under the commission of Japan Economic News, Elliptic classified the electronic wallet company used by the virtual currency to the North Korean hacker organization "Lazarus Group" in accordance with the area where the base is located.The Internet attack around North Korea is the first time that the losses in various countries and regions have been made public.
North Korea's network attacks are mainly divided into two types: "hacker attack" and "Ransomware" (Ransomware (Rand Virus).This time it was found out, it was mainly a hacking attack from the virtual currency exchange.The ransomware cannot get the ransom every time, and the hacker attack can steal the huge amount at one time, and North Korea has increased its attack.
According to Elliptic statistics, from 2017 to the end of 2022, the total virtual currency stolen from companies in other countries and regions from other countries and regions reached US $ 2.3 billion.Among them, Japan is the largest, followed by Vietnam (US $ 540 million), the United States (US $ 497 million), and Hong Kong (US $ 281 million).The virtual currency market in Japan and Vietnam has expanded rapidly, and many companies despise their security, so they have been regarded as attack targets.
The data from the Japan Trade Revitalization Agency (Jetro) shows that US $ 721 million stolen from Japan is equivalent to 8.8 times the export volume of North Korea in 2021.
North Korea's background in strengthening hackers is that it is difficult to obtain foreign exchange due to sanctions in the international community.The transactions of the main export products were prohibited, so the internet attack replaced the significant restricted exports and was regarded as a "national strategy."
The large -scale activities of the North Korean Group were found around 2014.In addition to cyber attacks, the main activities also have information such as defense and medical care. Cyber security experts said that "the programming technology used is higher than the attack group in other countries."
According to relevant sources, the stolen cases of the three virtual currency exchanges that occurred in Japan at least 2018 to 2021 were suspected to be dry in North Korea.One of them was the "ZAIF" exchange. In 2018, 7 billion yen was stolen, and the operator later withdrew from virtual currency services.
The methods used by North Korea hackers are mostly sent malware through "fishing emails" such as fake acquaintances to make their computer infection and then invade.At the beginning of the rapid popularization of virtual currencies, there were many problems. For example, priority is given to the fast access operation according to customer orders without breaking the wallet to the network, and in order to expand the customer, I confirmed that the process is simpler than existing financial institutions.
The international community has been criticizing North Korea.The U.S. government broke the global raging software in 2017 with North Korea's participation.
The expert group of the United Nations Security Council also warned many times, and in the 2021 report, it stated: "In order to support the development of nuclear weapons and missiles, North Korea continued to implement hackers."The report in April 2023 pointed out that in 2022, the virtual currency theft of North Korea reached 600 million to $ 1 billion, which was over the previous year.
In October 2022, officials such as the Japanese Police Department also reminded virtual currency operators to pay attention to North Korea's attack.Police cadres are full of sense of crisis: "As users increase, the risk of becoming the target of attack is getting greater."
If the stolen virtual currency is used for military, it will become a threat of security.All countries are speeding up response.Japan's amendment of the funding law has strengthened security countermeasures, but it has not been able to cope with new technologies such as decentralized finance (DEFI), as well as countermeasures for domestic operators in Japan.Countries need to promote the establishment of industry standards through legal and industry groups.
Cross -border cooperation in the virtual currency industry is also essential.Iwai Iwai, president of Sighnt, who is familiar with the threat of the Internet, said: "It is necessary to share threat information such as attack paths and malicious software between government -enterprise and industry groups, and improve the defense capabilities of various industries such as finance."
