North Korea Backs Hacker Group
Lazarus APT, a famous group of hackers have been continuously attacking cryptocurrency exchanges, Kaspersky Labs warns.
On March 26th 2019, the Russian security firm summarised, in a blog post, the motives behind these attacks had been financially fuelled. North Korea supports this group of hackers are also evolving the tactics and tricks they use to avoid exchange firewall detection. As a result, and in combination with advanced malware, the group have succeeded in attacking both Windows and Mac platforms.
Kaspersky Labs in their post stated, “In the middle of 2018, we published our Operation Apple Research, which highlighted Lazarus’s focus on cryptocurrency exchanges utilizing a fake company with a backdoor product aimed at cryptocurrency businesses. One of the key findings was the group’s new ability to target macOS. Since then Lazarus has been busy expanding its operations for the platform.”
“Financial gain remains one of the main goals for Lazarus, with its tactics, techniques, and procedures constantly evolving to avoid detection,” the Russian computer security company post noted,
The security company detailed that Lazarus is attacking both Windows and Mac platforms using its sophisticated malware.
Crypto Businesses Beware
Kaspersky Labs has advised public cryptocurrency businesses to be extra cautious with their security measures due to the risk of those group putting traps in place in an attempt to steal public money.
“If you’re part of the booming cryptocurrency or technological startup industry, exercise extra caution when dealing with new third parties or installing software on your systems […] And never ‘Enable Content’ (macro scripting) in Microsoft Office documents received from new or untrusted sources,” the cybersecurity firm advised.
Lazarus has become one of the worst & most infamous hacking groups that target cryptocurrency exchange. Out of the fourteen digital breaches on cryptocurrency this group has done, one five were successful. The most famous of these attacks is when the cryptocurrency hackers were able to break into CoinCheck, a Japanese Crypto Exchange. The hackers were able to walk away with $536 Million in cryptocurrency.
Attacks in 2019
Despite the rising business and technological and business standards, crypto exchanges are not cyber attack immune. The first three months of 2019 saw two exchanges being attacked – DragonEx and Cryptopia – and that compromised millions in funds.
Haydn Franklin
