About half of North Korea’s missile program has been funded by cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft, a White House official said Tuesday. A sweeping US federal government effort is ongoing to understand how “a country like [North Korea] is so darn creative in this space,” Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, said at an event hosted by the nonprofit Special Competitive Studies Project. US intelligence agencies are working to identify North Korean operatives and the Treasury is tracing stolen cryptocurrency, Neuberger said, adding that the Biden administration is “putting a lot of time and thought” into the problem. It’s an estimate that suggests hacking and cybercrime are key to the North Korean regime’s survival. Neuberger’s comments come amid heightened international concern over Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear weapons program. A new intercontinental ballistic missile that North Korea tested in April could allow the regime to launch long-range nuclear strikes more quickly, CNN previously reported. The Justice Department last month charged a North Korean man with an elaborate money laundering scheme that tapped employees of US cryptocurrency firms to help fund the North Korean regime.
Full story : Half of North Korean missile program funded by cyberattacks and crypto theft, White House says.
