Threat Management, Threat Management, Threat Intelligence

Report: North Korea funded WMD programs with $2B stolen via cyberattacks

North Korea's rampant and repeated cyberattacks on financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges over the years has generated $2 billion in stolen funds, which the nation allocated toward developing weapons of mass destruction programs, according to a confidential UN document, Reuters reported yesterday.

"Democratic People's Republic of Korea cyber actors, many operating under the direction of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, raise money for its WMD (weapons of mass destruction) programmes, with total proceeds to date estimated at up to two billion US dollars," the UN report said, according to Reuters.

The report, which was submitted last week to the Security Council, referred at least 35 instances of North Korean-sponsored cryptomining activity or attacks on financial companies and cryptocurrency exchanges, Reuters reported. The attacks spanned a total of 17 countries and were designed to generate funds the would be hard to trace and elude regulatory oversight, the Reuters report continues.

Reuters says the North Korean mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.