North Korea "Building a Cache of Bitcoin”, Warns Cybersecurity CEO

When a country faces sanctions, its leadership can sometimes do some unorthodox things to acquire the resources it needs to keep itself in power. In North Korea’s case, Kim Jong Un may very well be thinking of using cryptocurrencies, which are not regulated or controlled by any single entity.

“It’s an anonymous currency, it can easily bypass any sort of sanctions because there are none on Bitcoin, and the value has increased dramatically. It’s the perfect currency for North Korea to be hoarding,” said George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, a company that offers SaaS endpoint protection and threat intelligence.

Kurtz believes that North Korea is “building a cache” of cryptocurrencies that its hackers steal to gain benefits from its appreciation in value and to continue to do international commerce despite the sanctions placed on them.

Thomas P. Bossert, President Donald Trump’s homeland security advisor, confirms that this was the case, at least as far as the WannaCry ransomware attack is concerned.

“Cybersecurity isn’t easy, but simple principles still apply. Accountability is one, cooperation another. They are the cornerstones of security and resilience in any society. In furtherance of both, and after careful investigation, the U.S. today publicly attributes the massive ‘WannaCry’ cyberattack to North Korea,” he wrote.

The WannaCry ransomware attack was a massive infiltration of over 300 thousand computers all around the globe. Rather than ask for dollars or other mainstream fiat currencies on the market, its ransom was in Bitcoin.

“We do not make this allegation lightly. It is based on evidence. We are not alone in our findings, either. Other governments and private companies agree. The United Kingdom attributes the attack to North Korea, and Microsoft traced the attack to cyber affiliates of the North Korean government,” he added.

A few months ago, reports published by FireEye and Recorded Future discussed a possible desire for North Korea to acquire Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to give the country some immunity to sanctions. It appears that the report was right in thinking so, and that North Korea is indeed continuing to fuel its ambitions—perhaps even its nuclear program—through the use of this new decentralized invention.