Threat actors use social engineering tactics.
Cryptocurrency firms have been warned by the FBI regarding increasingly sophisticated, stealthy, and prevalent social engineering attacks by North Korean hacking operations.
According to Bleeping Computer, social engineering attacks by the attackers are aimed at exfiltrating cryptocurrency assets, particularly targeting employees with investment or employment lures under the guise of known contacts.
An FBI advisory said North Korean malicious cyber actors “routinely impersonate a range of individuals, including contacts a victim may know personally or indirectly” and threat actors' usage of technical cryptocurrency language, and legitimate-looking websites are convincing.
This alert follows previous FBI warnings regarding the impersonation of cryptocurrency exchange employees and law firms for fraudulent activity.
Attacks against the cryptocurrency sector were reported by Recorded Future to have netted North Korean state-sponsored threat operations nearly $3 billion worth of cryptocurrency since 2017.
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
