North Korea has recently become the global leader in crypto crime, after netting over $1.5 billion in digital assets. According to blockchain analyst and former FBI analyst, Nick Carlsen, the state-sponsored hackers in North Korea targeting blockchain companies are “going to get worse.”
In 2021, the US and South Korea decided to strengthen their alliance to find a way to stop financial cybercrime. One of the biggest accomplishments of this alliance was the “promotion of information sharing on North Korean cyber activity with the South Korean government,” said So Jeong Kim, a researcher at the Institute for National Security of South Korea.
In May 2022, US president Joe Biden and ROK president Yoon Suk-yeol met at the US-ROK summit to rediscuss the previous dealings of the alliance in 2021. However, despite their efforts, they did not make any progress. During the summit, Carlsen said that there should be joint operations to go on the attack and recover stolen assets. He said:
“If you were to combine the intelligence that both countries have on those networks, not to hoard it, but to share it in a productive way, that could actually have a meaningful impact here, to interdict and seize post crypto – where it’s in the traditional financial system, which is much more accessible and vulnerable to recovery.”
The experts say that the situation should be dealt with head-on. They say that the Korean hackers have become accustomed to being the hunter and that the only way to deal with the situation is to take a different approach, to use a more innovative strategy. To make them feel that they are being hunted.
