Hackers from North Korea could have stolen $3 billion with the help of cyberattacks, which Pyongyang subsequently directed to the development of the nuclear program. This is stated in an unpublished report of the United Nations (UN) sanctions monitors, Reuters writes with reference to the document.
According to the observers, between 2017 and 2023, North Korean hacker groups, which are under the control of the General Bureau of Intelligence of the DPRK, carried out at least 58 cyberattacks on companies associated with cryptocurrency. And they are still doing so, as well as conducting subversive activities against foreign defense companies and supply chains of critical goods.
About half of the funds mined by hackers, the DPRK spends on the purchase of components for the missile program, said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for the United States. In fact, it is about “the DPRK’s shadow labor force of thousands of IT specialists” working all over the world, including Russia and China, U.S. officials noted.
