I robbed 6.7 billion won at ATMs in Pakistan alone… “North Korea, the worldwide bank robbery”

“Conspirators steal information and money and hack victims’ computers to advance the economic interests of the North Korean government and its leader, Kim Jong-un.”

In an indictment against hackers Chun Chang-hyuk, Kim Il, and Park Jin-hyuk of the North Korean People’s Army Reconnaissance Office, released by the U.S. Department of Justice on the 17th (local time), it stipulated that they committed crimes in order to maintain the North Korean regime and to bring monetary benefits to Chairman Kim Jong-un.

In December of last year, federal prosecutors prosecuted three North Korean hackers for attempting to steal $1.3 billion (about 1.4 trillion won) of cash and cryptocurrency from banks and businesses around the world, and two months later disclosed this fact. A month after the biden administration’s inauguration, North Korea was defined as a’cyber criminal state’ and legal sanctions were reaffirmed.

The Ministry of Justice said at a press conference on the same day that North Korea, which has been stiff due to US and UN sanctions, is financing hacking to finance the government’s maintenance costs, including the development of nuclear weapons. Deputy Assistant Secretary for National Security at the Justice Department, John Demus, pointed to North Korea as “a criminal gang with a flag,” and criticized North Korea as “the world’s bank robbers who steal cryptocurrency wallets using keyboards rather than guns.”

According to the complaint, hackers have targeted banks, businesses and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world, including the United States, Mexico, Poland, Pakistan, Vietnam and Malta, a small Mediterranean country. Of the $1.3 billion attempted robbery for about five years from 2014, the amount actually withdrawn was not indicated, but the Washington Post reported that it would reach at least $190 million (approximately $20.7 billion).

The Ministry of Justice indicted Park Jin-hyuk for the first time among North Korean agents in September 2018 for blaming responsibility for attacks on US film company Sony Pictures (2014) and cyber attacks using ransomware WarnerCry (2017). Based on this, the investigative authorities have now additionally prosecuted the charges of a new crime committed by the three.

Gong said that North Korean hackers used new criminal tactics such as ATM hacking, cryptocurrency application (app) development, and cryptocurrency disclosure (ICO).

North Korean hackers used the’ATM cash withdrawal’ technique to withdraw money as much as they wanted by implanting malicious software that controls ATMs in the bank’s computer network. Only one Bank Islamy Bank in Pakistan has taken out $6.1 million (about 6.7 billion won). A 37-year-old Canadian-American, arrested for withdrawing cash and money laundering at an ATM on their behalf, pleaded guilty to a crime puzzle.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that North Korean hackers aimed at raising public interest in digital currencies such as bitcoin to raise money for crime.

As the bitcoin boom broke out in 2017, he hacked the cryptocurrency exchange when funds were rushing to all kinds of cryptocurrencies, followed by creating a fake cryptocurrency app, and expanding the trick with an ICO scam. The investigative team revealed that the app they put forward as a digital wallet or cryptocurrency transaction app was actually a backdoor (a device that penetrates the computer network and steals information). Only apps created from 2018 to 2020 were at least 9, including Coingo and Ants2Whale.

Among them, hackers used the’Cryptonuro Trader’ app to infiltrate New York financial institutions in August 2020 and steal $11.8 million (13 billion won) of cryptocurrency from digital wallets. It hacked a total of 120 million dollars (122.4 billion won) worth of cryptocurrencies, including $75 million (about 83 billion won) from a Slovenian company and $24.9 million (about 27.5 billion won) from an Indonesian company.

They also cheated on the issue of a new cryptocurrency’Marine Chain’ that holds a stake in a ship owned by a shipping company in Singapore and intercepted it with an investment. It was led by Kim Il, who has lived in Singapore.

Hackers, who have become increasingly courageous, have recently challenged the heart of US security. In January and February of last year, it attempted “spear phishing” to steal information by sending e-mails with malicious code to employees of the Ministry of Defense and State Department. It also targets well-known US defense and energy companies.

The US prosecutors know that hackers mainly live in North Korea and commit crimes between China and Russia. The US government also calls North Korean malicious cyber hackers’hidden cobras’. The U.S. government’s judgment is that while China and Russia are condoning or assisting, the Hidden Cobra is on the run.

Demerist Demus said, “It is not possible that the governments of China and Russia, which are of an authoritarian and totalitarian nature, did not know that North Korea sent cyber operatives.

Under U.S. law, North Korean hackers can face up to 30 years in prison. However, it is unlikely that they will be arrested by US investigation authorities. Punishment is possible only after receiving extradition from foreign countries, but the possibility of cooperation between China and Russia is also not high.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Justice said that the reason for prosecuting them and announcing them was to disclose the naked face of North Korea, who is committing ugly illegality to maintain the regime, to warn hackers and the countries that support them, and to convey the substance of the North Korean threat to Americans. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on the day that “we will take into account North Korea’s malicious activities and threats as a whole in the review of North Korea policy.” It is a notice that he will decide how to deal with North Korea by putting cyber crimes into the category.

Washington = Correspondent Park Hyun-young [email protected]