The US last week linked North Korean hackers to the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency associated with Axie Infinity. The Coordinator of a United Nations Body calls for a greater focus on North Korea’s cybercrimes.
The coordinator for the UN body monitoring North Korean sanctions enforcement said on Wednesday that a greater emphasis was needed on North Korea’s cybercrime, which had become critical to Pyongyang’s ability to finance its banned weapons programs.
According to Eric Penton-Voak of the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on North Korea, despite the most stringent sanctions regime ever imposed by the UN on a nation-state, North Korea has significantly increased its missile testing, particularly in the last six months.
“It may not be a coincidence that the words cyber and crypto-currency do not appear in the UN sanctions resolutions,” he said at a discussion hosted by Washington’s Center for a New American Security think tank.
Mr. Penton-Voak stated that he believed cyber activity had become “absolutely fundamental” to North Korea’s ability to evade UN sanctions in order to fund its nuclear and missile programs, but that the experts’ panel’s biannual reports had not reflected this because member states were reluctant to report breaches.
“We rely on UN member states to notify us of violations so that we can investigate them. However, many member states are wary of their own cyber capabilities “He stated.
“Victims, for their part, are frequently hesitant to discuss how hacks occurred and how widespread they were… I hope and expect that our future reports will better reflect the critical importance of cyber-enabled financial crime to (North Korea).”
North Korean hackers, according to Mr. Penton-Voak, are at the cutting edge of cyber technology, as evidenced by the recent hack of the Axie Infinity video game.
Last week, the United States linked North Korean hackers to the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency linked to Axie Infinity.
On March 23, digital cash worth nearly $615 million was stolen, according to Ronin, a blockchain network that allows users to transfer crypto in and out of the game.
It has been accused of being involved in the “WannaCry” ransomware attacks, hacking international banks and customer accounts, and the Sony Pictures Entertainment cyber-attacks in 2014.
According to a draught resolution reviewed by Reuters last week, Washington has been urging the UN Security Council to blacklist Lazarus and freeze its assets.
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