North Korean hackers target Bitcoin to bypass US and China sanctions, claim researchers..

North Korean hackers are increasingly targeting Bitcoin as a way to circumvent international sanctions, researchers have claimed.

Hackers linked to the regime have hacked into at least three South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges to steal Bitcoin this year, a report by cybersecurity firm FireEye said.

The UN Security Council has agreed to impose new sanctions on North Korea following its sixth and largest nuclear test, banning textile exports and capping fuel supplies, but such measures may mean North Korea focuses its efforts on generating revenue through cybercrime.

North Korea has been observed using cybercrime to steal money by targeting banks in the past, the report notes.

“Now, we may be witnessing a second wave of this campaign: state-sponsored actors seeking to steal Bitcoin and other virtual currencies as a means of evading sanctions and obtaining hard currencies to fund the regime,” Luke McNamara, the report's author, wrote.

Mr McNamara said North Korea's secretive Office 39, which is thought to be involved in generating black market funds through gold smuggling and counterfeiting foreign currency, could be linked to the hackers.

His report noted how escalating sanctions against North Korea were associated with an increase in spearphishing campaigns and malware attacks targeting South Korean Bitcoin exchanges.

Spearphishing involves targeting personal email accounts of employees at the digital currency exchange, then using their passwords to gain access to the company's network.

From there, the hackers can steal Bitcoin or withdraw the cryptocurrency as South Korean won or US dollars.