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North Korean Hackers Hijack Computers To Mine Cryptocurrencies (bloomberg.com)
North Korean hackers are hijacking computers to mine cryptocurrencies as the regime in Pyongyang widens its hunt for cash under tougher international sanctions. From a report: A hacking unit called Andariel seized a server at a South Korean company in the summer of 2017 and used it to mine about 70 Monero coins -- worth about $25,000 as of Dec. 29 -- according to Kwak Kyoung-ju, who leads a hacking analysis team at the South Korean government-backed Financial Security Institute. The case underscores the increasing appetite from cyber-attackers for digital currencies that are becoming a source of income for the Kim Jong Un regime. North Korea is accelerating its pursuit of cash abroad as the world tightens its stranglehold on its conventional sources of money with sanctions cutting oil supplies and other trade bans.
How does a 3rd world country as backward as NK have elite, top of the line, hacking capability? Last I checked, they had a whole 1024 IP addresses for the whole country. There is no high tech industry there and they don't actually produce any computing or software products. I would be highly surprised if they could make a single ASIC, much less a complex and capable CPU on par with Intel/AMD.
I ask seriously. There are many more technically capable adversaries out there but it's not them who strike successfully yet all of the "bad" hacks I've heard about over the last few years are all being attributed to DPNK
So how do the norks have such a world class hacking capability in the middle of such a technological backwater? How is that even possible?
A few years ago it was always Syrian Electronic Army. Now it's always North Korea and Russia. Lol