Why is North Korea enticing Bitcoin Job Seekers? The soaring price of the crypto-currencies in the international market has grabbed the attention of not only the retail investors but also of cybercrime gangs as well who are allegedly linked to the North Korean government, according to the report from cyber researchers tracing the group’s activities.
According to the report published by researchers at U.S. Cybersecurity firm SecureWorks’s Counter Threat Unit (CTU), the very well known Lazarus cybercrime group is scripting a scheme to steal the online credentials of bitcoin industry insiders.
North Korea is alleged to be behind the Lazarus group, as suspected by the Cybersecurity firm SecureWorks. The notorious cyber group was also linked to an $81 million cyber heist last year at the Bangladesh central bank as well as for the 2014 attack on Sony’s Hollywood studio.
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“Given the current rise in bitcoin prices, CTU suspects that North Korea’s interest in cryptocurrency remains high and (it) is likely continuing its activities surrounding the cryptocurrency,” SecureWorks said in a statement to Reuters.
Prices for the volatile cryptocurrency is surging towards $20,000 in the foreseeable future. A single bitcoin traded above $17,500 on Friday, up more than 7 percent on the day and more than 18 times in the year to date.
Monitoring the cyber attacks during the unexpected rise in Bitcoin prices, SecureWorks came to the conclusion that as recent as last month, targeted email campaigns were aiming to trick victims into clicking on a compromised link for a job opening for chief financial officer role at a London cryptocurrency company.
Those who clicked on the hiring link were infected by malicious code from an attached document in the email that installed software to take remote control of a victim’s device, allowing hackers to download further malware or steal data.
This malware shares technical links with former campaigns staged by the mysterious cybercrime group Lazarus, which SecureWorks has labeled “Nickel Academy”.
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