US to Prioritize Stopping N. Korean Hacking that Funds Weapons Programs
The White House is prioritizing measures to stifle North Korea’s hacking operations in a bid to sever funding for the regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The U.S. National Security Council’s top cybersecurity expert, Anne Neuberger, discussed the issue in an interview with news outlet Politico on December 24.
The official said that cybercrime has facilitated the evasion of sanctions and global steps to end the regime’s weapons programs.
Earlier in May, Neuberger estimated that about half of the country’s missile program funding came from cybercrime, including cryptocurrency heists, with industry tracker Chainalysis estimating that hackers affiliated with the regime stole around one-point-seven billion dollars in digital assets last year.
The expert described the North’s cybercriminals are “capable, creative and aggressive” as she stressed the importance of aggressively throttling the profitability of the digital attacks.
At the end of last month, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the regime’s hacking group, Kimsuky, over its persistent, illicit cyber activities.
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