Remove the cryptocassus North Korea attacks the exchange of crypto-currencies and individual users for the purpose of kidnapping bitcoins, - at least, say the non-profit radio station Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the United Press International news agency.

With reference to the South Korean Center for Military Operations in Cyberspace (Cyber ??Warfare Research Center), the agency reported that North Korea's cyber-warfare routinely attacks crypto-currency exchanges and international payment systems for the theft of bitcoins.

In addition to them, the victims of attacks are called "startups that use blockade, technology companies in the financial sector and others".

According to the representative of the Center for Research, Simon Choi (Simon Choi), "North Korea somehow got information about all those individuals who regularly trade on bitcoin-exchanges," and used spyware-phishing against them. The malicious code contained in the attachments, they say, was "identical to other viruses of North Korean origin," says Choi.

"Crypto-currencies in general - this is still such a" shadow "zone, where myths constantly multiply, in some cases duplicate the main information field, - says Dmitry Gvozdev, CEO of Information Technologies of the Future. - A fashionable theme in actual refraction is quite capable of drawing attention to the publication. Almost for any serious attack, identifying a source requires a detailed investigation, which in this case is clearly not carried out. Therefore - to believe or not to believe such information - everyone decides for himself.

Measure of reliability.

The reliability of this information really raises some questions.

For example, the legal status of the Center for the Study of Military Operations in Cyberspace, which is also called the Cyber ??Warfare Research Center,.

His presence on-line is limited to Facebook accounts and Simon Choi's personal account on Twitter. Choi on some resources called an official, but who he really is, an open question.

Choi's own statements do not support any details: no exact dates, no time, no technical evidence in his statements is given.

On the other hand, other security experts have repeatedly pointed out that North Korea does have the resources and resources to conduct complex cyberattacks and whole campaigns. North Korea is credited with "authorship" of a series of coordinated DDoS attacks against state bodies and attacks on South Korean banking structures in 2009 and 2013. , Respectively, as well as a massive attack on the servers of Sony Pictures in 2014.

There were also opinions that the WannaCry encryptor was also established in North Korea. And although the exact attribution of cyberattacks is always a problem, among experts on cybersecurity there is a certain consensus: yes, North Korea has well-trained cyber-warfare. There is also a motive for massive attacks, especially now, when new sanctions are introduced for nuclear tests against the country.

Research director of Cybereason Ross Rustici predicts that the DPRK's cybersils can intensify attacks on banking, financial institutions and currency exchanges in order to correct the financial situation that has deteriorated due to the sanck, and that it is likely that these attacks can also be very Destructive, as the DPRK has the opportunity. "The likelihood of such a scenario is low, but different from zero," Rustici said..

In his opinion, first of all, the attacks will be directed at the main enemies of the DPRK - South Korea, Japan and the US, to give the attacks a political coloring.

But financial institutions in other regions may also be attacked, especially where the average level of protection is lower than in Western countries, Japan and South Korea.