With the Bitcoin prices rising again in the last couple of days, the cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as investors, are now being targeted by hackers which are believed to be associated with North Korea. The malware which is attacking the exchanges, as well as investors, is the same malware which has impacted Sony pictures as well. It is also the same malware which was used to siphon off money from the Central bank of Bangladesh.
Lazarus is the hacking group which is behind these attacks on South Korean investors as well as exchanges. This hacking group is closely associated with North Korea.
The malware initiated the attacks from October to November. This was the time period when Bitcoin was surging to newer highs. Similarly, some of the other currencies like Ethereum and ripple also witnessed an astronomical price rise during this period.
According to a research report, North Korea has previously as well been behind many of the malware attacks as well as ransomeware attacks and even theft. All of these in the fields related to cryptocurrency. This is just a continuation of their behavior.
The report did not highlight whether the attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges as well as investors were successful or not.
Many of the cryptocurrency exchanges, as well as investors, do not have any government protection and security. This is one of the main reasons why North Korea is interested in cryptocurrency hacking as well as affecting the cryptocurrency financial systems.
In summer of 2017 as well, North Korea had targeted certain cryptocurrency exchanges. On its part, North Korea has always denied being behind such attacks.
The news of the attack on the South Korean investors as well as exchanges comes at a time when South Korea is trying to climb down on cryptocurrency trading as well as the exchanges which are offering the investors the same.
According to researchers, if South Korea is able to climb down entirely on cryptocurrency trading as well as exchanges, the North Korean-based hackers would just move to exchanges in other countries in order to gain from the attacks.
With that being said cryptocurrency exchanges all over the world are taking extra measures to ensure that their operations are not disrupted in any way. More and more security measures are being put in place by different cryptocurrency exchanges all over the world to ensure that the traders, as well as investors, are able to have a seamless experience.
Mahesh Sashital is cofounder of Smartereum.
He was previously Vice President at J.P. Morgan. He has over 15 years of experience in software engineering at various Fortune 20 companies. He has a Bachelor's in Engineering from the University of Mumbai and an MBA from the University of Texas-Austin.
