North Korean Hacker Group Steals ¥1.7 Billion in Cryptocurrency

A North Korean hacker group called WaterPlum has been linked to a series of cryptocurrency thefts spanning over 100 countries, including Japan. According to a warning document released by seven organizations from four countries, WaterPlum infected more than 30,000 devices with malware between December last year and July this year, stealing credentials for around 7,000 cryptocurrency accounts.

The group posed as corporate headhunters recruiting IT professionals, sending malware-infected files disguised as technical assessments to steal victims' crypto-asset account credentials. At least ¥1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency was transferred to accounts controlled by the group, with much of it believed to have come from compromised accounts.

The report also confirmed that North Korean IT workers living in North Korea, China, and Russia earned foreign currency by taking on remote programming jobs under false identities. As a result, hundreds of millions of yen had been transferred to North Korea in recent years.