The great North Korean crypto hack

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2020

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Crypto-currency and cybercrime have together provided the DPRK with the hard currency it needed to continue with its nuclear weapons programme.

Ed Butler speaks to sanctions specialist Nigel Kushner of W Legal about how Bitcoin and the like are used by sanctioned individuals to continue doing business outside the official banking system. In North Korea's case, much of the business involves outright theft - be it the Wannacry ransomware attack, the hacking of the Bangladeshi central bank's accounts, or robbing of various crypto-exchanges in recent years.

Priscilla Moriuchi of the internet security firm ‎Recorded Future explains how North Korea built this surprisingly sophisticated cybercrime business, while Jesse Spiro of blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis describes the money laundering schemes the country has employed.

Producer: Joshua Thorpe

(Picture: North Korea flag button on computer keyboard; Credit: alexsl/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, you know, we've had a problem here.
0:01.9	13 minutes to the moon, season two.
0:04.9	We were not confident we were going to get to crew back.
0:07.2	Episode 1, available now.
0:13.6	Hello there, I'm Ed Butler.
0:15.4	Welcome to Business Daily from the BBC.
0:17.7	Today, why experts are comparing North Korea to a nation run like a crime syndicate?
0:23.4	In our research, we found that the North Koreans have hacked upwards of $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency
0:31.1	over the years.
0:32.3	North Korean leaders have become much more savvy. They've developed a model for using the internet as a tool to generate revenue.
0:42.0	The Hermit Kingdom turned cyber thief.
0:44.7	That's Business Daily from the BBC.
0:49.0	Ever since Donald Trump entered the White House in 2017,
0:52.8	the problem of North Korea's nuclear program has been
0:56.0	very much on the radar, hasn't it? Warheads and missiles potentially capable of carrying them,
1:01.4	as far as the US mainland, have raised the stakes. President Trump has variously called Kim Jong-un,
1:07.5	a little rocket man, a sick puppy, and on other occasions, very talented, a great
1:12.3	personality, very smart. In the midst of all of this, there has been the threat of US fire
1:17.9	and fury if North Korea carries on arming. Mostly, though, he's depended on sanctions, a lot of
1:24.2	them, to deter the country and anyone who trades with it. Today I'm announcing a new executive order I just signed.
1:31.5	That significantly expands our authorities to target individuals, companies,
1:39.4	financial institutions that finance and facilitate trade with strong sanctions.
	...

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