‘North Korea Targeted South Korean Cryptocurrency Users and Exchange in Late 2017 Campaign’ – a report with this name was issued by the American cybersecurity company Recorded Future. The company has been studying the activity of the hackers’ group Lazarus who are tied to North Korea.

It appeared that Lazarus group is to be blamed to several hackers’ attacks on the South Korean crypto exchanges. Moreover, it seems that the same type of malware was used during the attack on Sony company.

Before the report was issued it seemed like two countries on Korean peninsula were getting along better. In the beginning of 2018 Koreas’ official sat together in the first in almost a decade parley. An important decision was made – North Korea’s Olympic team is going to participate in International Winter Games in South Korea this winter. The teams of North and South Koreas will march under one flag. That was the news that seemed to cheer world community and gave a slight hope that the reconciliation between the countries is possible.

But now it is under question once again. And, although the injured party hasn’t made any statements, yet it is already safe to say that the hacks have cost the users around $7 million. Hackers have stolen from Bithumb – second biggest exchange in the world. Bitcoin and Ether were the main targets of the heist.

North Korean hackers have been a reason for quite some research. There are certain groups that study activity and means with which the hackers are operating. One of the most popular means of getting inside the digital wallets is sending e-mails with what seems to be a Word file inside. Upon opening the file malware could be downloaded and self-installed to the computer. It takes control of the wallet and gains access to the assets.

The activity of Lazarus has been increasing since the beginning of 2017. Now the world is waiting for the reaction of South Korea’s officials.