According to the agency Nikkei Asian Review citing a senior US official, the country’s authorities believe that North Korea received up to half of its foreign exchange earnings last year from cybersecurity crimes, such as the theft of cryptocurrency or attacks on the information infrastructure of companies for the purpose of extortion.
Image Source: KCNA
The South Korean government estimates that the northern neighbor made $700 million in cryptocurrency theft last year, with hundreds of millions more gained by North Korean hackers operating outside the country. According to the source, tens of thousands of people are sent from North Korea to the countries of Asia and Africa in order to gain access to the infrastructure of Western companies as remote employees. According to US representatives, the foreign exchange earnings thus received are used by North Korea to finance its military program. Previously, such a source of income was the smuggling of goods such as coal to China, but the pandemic has deprived North Korea of this channel for replenishing the budget, according to the authors of the publication.
2023-06-05 06:20:00
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