South Korea points the finger northward for Youbit’s latest hack
It has definitely been a bad month for Seoul-based crypto exchange , Youbit . As the rest of the crypto world celebrates the rise and rise of digital currencies, the embattled exchange has been hacked once again, and has subsequently had to declare bankruptcy.
Their problems started in April this year when a hack resulted in the loss of 4,000 bitcoins. The country’s authorities had blamed North Korea for the attack.
The 19th of December saw another hack, where 17% of its total assets were stolen. However, the exchange said that 83% of its funds were actually stored in a cold wallet. Users would therefore be able to withdraw their crypto at 75% of the current value.
As with April’s attack, authorities have laid the blame at their northern neighbor’s door. Investigators have pointed to “telltale signs and historical evidence” to substantiate their allegations. According to a Wall Street Journal report:
“The Bitcoin heist follows similar suspected Pyongyang-directed offensives against other South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges and an increasing number of attempts to steal from individual investors.”
However, the investigation is still underway and it may be a while before conclusive evidence can be found.
North Korea is no stranger to Bitcoin pilfering. Hackers in Kim Jong-Un’s regime have previously targeted Bitcoin exchanges. In fact, the government actually sponsored a campaign to hack South Korea’s exchanges in order to obtain decentralized digital currencies to circumvent economic sanctions placed on North Korea because of their continuous testing of nuclear weapons.
The Republic of Korea’s National Police Agency (NPA) confirmed that Northern Korea did this through phishing efforts.
Interest in digital currencies is growing exponentially in South Korea, which could be to the detriment of exchanges who are dealing with high increases of new users. Also, these new crypto holders might not be as vigilant as they should and could be when it comes to keeping their crypto secure.
In addition, the north is not limiting itself to its own continent. The US has blamed them for the WannaCry debacle, which saw hackers making off with hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin.
North Korea may be subjected to more than just the ire of the US and South Korea. A NATO-sponsored think tank has stated that state-sponsored malware attacks, such as WannaCry, can actually be considered as an act of war, which could result in military retaliation.
If this is the case, North Korea could have much more to worry about than countries just pointing the blame finger their way.
Author : Jack Dean