North Korea is hacking for a new purpose, alleges its Southern counterpart.
North Korean hackers known as Andariel breached a server at a company in South Korea to steal 70 Monero coins last summer, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing analysis from the South Korean government. The coins, supported by musicians such as Mariah Carey and Fall Out Boy, are valued at a total of $25,000 (£18,440 or AU$31,880).
When you're developing intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons while under some of the harshest economic sanctions the world has seen, every bit—and every bitcoin—apparently helps.
North Korea has been implicated in both the WannaCry cryptographic worm and its bitcoin ransom demands as well as stealing about $81 million in traditional money through fraudulent funds transfers from a Bangladeshi bank. And now it appears that North Korean hackers are responsible for bringing down the Youbit cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea.
State-sanctioned North Korean hackers allegedly continue to target cryptocurrency companies and exchanges, particularly as a means of enriching the nation and countering the effects of imposed economic sanctions, according to newly released reports.
Bitcoin's price set a new record on Saturday as the virtual currency rose above $19,000 for the first time on the Bitstamp exchange. The gains came just hours after the currency crossed the $18,000 mark. Bitcoin's value has doubled over the last three weeks, and it's up more than 20-fold over the last year.
Let me freak you out for a second. You know what bitcoin is, right? I mean, no, but quickly, it’s a “cryptocurrency” that’s basically secret computer money. One bitcoin, which doesn’t actually have a real, physical form, is worth at this moment upwards of $16,000. But to get one, you either have to buy them from online exchanges or use specialized computing hardware to “mine” it. That last bit is where the freak-out comes in.
The soaring price of bitcoin—the virtual currency is now worth more than $250 billion—has gotten a lot of attention in recent weeks. But the real significance of bitcoin isn't just its rising value. It's the technological breakthrough that allowed the network to exist in the first place.
North Korea is profiting from the rise of bitcoin by hacking, stealing and mining the cryptocurrency with vigour, say experts.
Multiple security companies have linked Kim Jong-un's state hackers to digital assaults on the networks of casinos, cryptocurrency exchanges and large banks. Symantec, one such firm, said in May 2017 that North Korea had possible ties to the "WannaCry" outbreak.
Bitcoin is one step closer to becoming a part of the mainstream financial world. Cboe is launching the first US bitcoin futures exchange at 6PM Eastern, giving speculators a chance to bet on the value of the cryptocurrency through a listed (XBT), regulated entity. You don't use a digital wallet or otherwise require bitcoins -- instead, you trade and settle futures contracts using cash, with a $10 minimum price interval and a $1 transaction fee from January onward.
Hackers are looking to exploit the surging interest and value in Bitcoin by targeting traders with a fake advertisement for a bitcoin trading bot called Gunbot, researchers have found. However, the advertisement actually spreads the malicious Orcus remote access trojan (RAT) to steal bitcoin.
Bitcoin is currently the talk of the town as it continues to grow in acceptance, and has soared in value. At the time of publication, 1 BTC is worth $16,116 (£12,035).
The massive surge in Bitcoin prices in recent months suddenly has made online cryptocurrency exchanges and services popular targets for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
This Monday, Bitfinex, one of the largest US dollar Bitcoin exchanges in the world, said it was the victim of a DDoS attack that knocked it offline for a short period of time. The company reported a similar incident just a few days earlier, and at least one other incident in June affected withdrawals and deposits of the then newly launched IOTA cryptocurrency.
