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In summary
- North Korean cybercriminals are stepping up their attacks to steal Cryptocurrency, including investigations into those connected to cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the FBI has warned.
- The agency reported that criminal actors in the closed state are carrying out “hard-to-detect social engineering campaigns” against workers in the cryptocurrency sector.
- The FBI warned that these sophisticated scams target workers in the digital asset space, impersonating others or making fake job offers to steal valuable personal information.
North Korean cybercriminals are stepping up their game and becoming more sophisticated in an attempt to steal cryptocurrency, including conducting investigations into those connected to cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the FBI has warned.
In an announcement Tuesday, the agency said closed-state criminal actors were carrying out “hard-to-detect social engineering campaigns” against those working in the cryptocurrency sector, including those in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and ETF space.
Sophisticated scams target workers in the digital asset space by impersonating others or making fake job offers in an attempt to steal valuable personal information, the FBI said. Such attempts are often called phishing scams.
“Malicious North Korean cyber actors conducted research on a variety of targets connected to cryptocurrency ETFs over the past several months,” the announcement reads. “This research included pre-operational preparations that suggest North Korean actors may attempt malicious cyber activities against companies associated with cryptocurrency ETFs or other cryptocurrency-related financial products.”
The FBI added that “even those well versed in cybersecurity practices” could be fooled by increasingly sophisticated scams.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs this year, giving traditional investors the ability to invest in the two largest cryptocurrencies through stocks traded on stock exchanges. Prior to that, cryptocurrency futures ETFs were available in the U.S. market.
The FBI alert does not specifically mention any cryptocurrency, but Bitcoin ETFs are the most prominent in the US and have been operating since January. The only other cryptocurrency ETF available in the US are Ethereum ETFs, which have only been operating for a little over a month at the time of writing.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s questions.
North Korean actors frequently target cryptocurrency companies and protocols. The state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus Group has been alleged to have used token mixing tools such as Tornado Cash and other apps to hide the trail of illicit funds, which US authorities say have been stolen.
Chainalysis has stated that the group steals hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency each year by targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and other platforms, including $622 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen from Ethereum gaming network Ronin in March 2022.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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