North Korea Is Dodging Sanctions With a Secret Bitcoin Stash (bloomberg.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: North Korea appears to be stepping up efforts to secure bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which could be used to avoid trade restrictions including new sanctions approved by the United Nations Security Council. Hackers from Kim Jong Un's regime are increasing their attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea and related sites, according to a new report from security researcher FireEye Inc. They also breached an English-language bitcoin news website and collected bitcoin ransom payments from global victims of the malware WannaCry, according to the researcher. Kim's apparent interest in cryptocurrencies comes amid rising prices and popularity. The same factors that have driven their success -- lack of state control and secretiveness -- would make them useful fund raising and money laundering tools for a man threatening to use nuclear weapons against the U.S. With tightening sanctions and usage of cryptocurrencies broadening, security experts say North Korea's embrace of digital cash will only increase. The 15-member Security Council on Monday approved sanctions aimed at punishing North Korea for its latest missile and nuclear tests. U.S. officials said the new measures would cut the country's textile exports by 90 percent, restricting its ability to get hard currency.

Comments

Re: This is why we need to criminalize CryptoCash

[Archangel Michael]

Well, IMHO the cry of Racism is so over used, that it has lost all meaning, to the point where Charlottesville violence was initially panned by a lot of people (including me). Crying wolf works until it doesn't, and we have actually reached that point.

And you are probably right, that it was sarcastic trolling, but there is a very real chance it wasn't. And that doubt is telling.