N Korean leader, Kim Jong-united nations, is reportedly backing a grouping of hackers. Their goal? Stealing cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) using phishing scams. Sources point that the country has ramped up these efforts in an attempt to prevent a financial meltdown amongst the COVID-19 crisis.

A written report published on May 13 by the U.K. Mirror claims that the Lazarus group, a hacking syndicate with alleged ties to the North Korean state, could be launching a cybercrime entrada of advanced persistent threat, or APT, attacks.

Experts from Seoul-based house, ESTsecurity, land that Lazarus is "increasingly engaging" in cybercrime activities in and out of South Korea. Still, they accept too received reports that some attacks are being fabricated internationally in countries like the United States.

Lazarus group represents a "serious threat"

The attacks are mainly aimed at people trading crypto, as the group sends malicious files that impersonate blockchain software development contracts.

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Brett Callow, threat analyst at malware lab, Emsisoft, explained that the group of hackers is also known every bit "HIDDEN COBRA". He commented:

"The Lazarus Group, or HIDDEN COBRA, undoubtedly correspond a serious threat and have been blamed for a number of meaning security incidents including the WannaCry attack, the Sony breach, and the 2022 attacks on users of various cryptocurrencies. Some reports have claimed the group is Northward Korean and may be a country-sponsored actor, but this may or non be right."

Alleged ties with North korea are difficult to verify

Callow warns that ascribing ties with the Lazarus Group to the Due north Korean authorities is "extremely difficult". He points out that even if the claims are well-evidenced, they may "notwithstanding be incorrect."

The hacking group, famous for allegedly hacking Sony Pictures over the release of the film "The Interview," has been accused of stealing more than $570 million worth of crypto from exchanges.

In a press release on April 27, ESTsecurity warned:

"They are as well engaging in cyber-espionage operations likewise as activities designed to generate foreign currency."

Latest developments around the hacking group

Cointelegraph has repeatedly reported some of the attacks allegedly carried out by the Lazarus group.

For instance, on February 5, information technology was revealed that the hacking group created an elaborate trading bot to phish DragonEx commutation employees into installing a malware-infested application.

On March five, information technology was appear that the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Strange Assets Control, or OFAC, sanctioned 2 Chinese nationals accused of laundering cryptocurrency stolen in a 2022 crypto substitution hack, allegedly connected to Lazarus group.