Lazarus, a hacker group, backed by North Korea, has been sending phishing emails to employees of Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges in an effort to infect their computers with malware, according to a report last week from Japan’s National Police Agency.
- The National Police Agency (NPA) and Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan released a public advisory statement on October 14 warning the nation’s crypto-asset enterprises to be wary of “phishing” attacks by the hacking gang aimed at stealing crypto assets.
- In the statement, the police and the FSA of Japan requested that local cryptocurrency businesses be on the lookout for such attempts and store their private keys offline. The authorities, however, withheld information about the specific businesses subjected to these phishing attacks or compromised.
- The group’s activities have compromised various computer systems allowing them to steal cryptocurrencies.
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Who Are Lazarus?
- The Lazarus Group, a North Korean government-backed hacking organization with financial motivations, is best known for the high-profile Sony hack in 2016 and the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017.
- Additionally, Lazarus is motivated by efforts to advance North Korean state goals, such as military research and development and circumvention of international sanctions.
- The group has recently focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency enterprises. It has been connected to the recent loss of $100 million in cryptocurrency from Harmony’s Horizon Bridge and the $625 million theft of cryptocurrency from the Ronin Network.
See Related: Former Ethereum Developer Virgil Griffith Sentenced To 63 Months In Prison Over North Korea Conspiracy
