For a country that is notorious for its lack of connection to the outside world, North Korea is one of the world experts in cyberwarfare.
Only this week, North Korean hackers managed to steal $1.5 billion from the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, in what is the largest cryptocurrency hack on record. The fact that the stolen money is just over 5 per cent of the country’s GDP does not mean the profits will be going to the North Korean people or economy though. After all, nuclear weapons and missiles hardly come cheap.
There has been a deluge of North Korean cyberattacks in the 21st century. The country even has its own state-run cyberwarfare agency, the elusive ‘Bureau 121’, which forms an integral part of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the country’s central intelligence agency responsible for managing and orchestrating clandestine intelligence operations.
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