The FBI has issued a public service announcement today, in which they explained how the DPRK is aggressively targeting the crypto industry. In their announcement, the FBI mentioned that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is using social engineering schemes to target crypto companies.
Objectives and Attack Methods
These social engineering campaigns are highly tailored and difficult to detect. The DPRK targets employees of decentralized finance and cryptocurrency-related businesses to deploy malware and steal the company’s crypto assets. North Korean cyber players are known for their subtle research on potential targets. They often engage in extensive pre-operative planning to craft highly personalized scenarios to deceive the victims. These scenarios involve fake offers of employment or investment tailored to the background and interests of the victim.
Recent Incidents
On August 15, a renowned crypto researcher, ZachXBT, shared a similar incident where a crypto organization asked for his help after they lost $1.3M in an exploit. Zach shared that the team was unaware that they had hired multiple DPRK IT workers as devs. Quote from ZachXBT: "1/ Recently a team reached out to me for assistance after $1.3M was stolen from the treasury after malicious code had been pushed. Unbeknownst to the team they had hired multiple DPRK IT workers as devs who were using fake identities. I then uncovered 25+ crypto projects with..."
FBI Recommendations
The FBI has identified and shared several indicators of North Korean social engineering attempts. These include unsolicited employment offer letters with very high compensation, investment proposals and applying for jobs with high experience to stand out of other candidates. The actors insist on using non-standard softwares for simple tasks or requests to move the conversation to other messaging platforms and then send unexpected links or attachments. The FBI has recommended several practices to crypto firms to mitigate these threats. The organization should develop various methods to verify contacts’ identities and avoid executing codes on company-owned devices during pre-employment tests. Every crypto firm must have procedures to check and validate every transaction and smart contracts before signing it. They also recommend that if a company device is suspected to have been impacted by such a social engineering campaign, it should be immediately removed from the server and internet. And immediately file an FIR with the law enforcement agency.
The FBI continues to actively combat cyberattacks and strongly recommends that cryptocurrency companies pay special attention to social engineering methods used by North Korean cybercriminals. By following the FBI's recommendations, companies can reduce risks and protect their assets.
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