North Korean hackers have been sharing money-laundering and underground banking networks with fraudsters and drug traffickers in Southeast Asia, United Nations said in a report. Casinos and crypto exchanges are emerging as key venues for organised crime, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said adding that it had observed "several instances" of such sharing in the Mekong area -Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia - by hackers from North Korea.
The activity was observed via analysis of case information and blockchain data but a person at North Korea's mission to the United Nations in Geneva said as per news agency Reuters that he was "not familiar with the issue" and that previous reporting on Lazarus was "all speculation and misinformation".
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The group involved is named Lazarus which US said is controlled by North Korea's primary intelligence bureau. It has earlier been accused of involvement in a string of high-profile cyber-heists and ransomware attacks. These funds stolen by North Korean hackers are a key source of funding for Pyongyang and its weapons programmes, the report claimed as Southeast Asia's casinos and junkets have become "foundational pieces" of the banking architecture used by organised crime in the region.
Casinos have proven "capable and efficient in moving and laundering massive volumes" of crypto and traditional cash undetected, it said, “creating channels for effectively integrating billions in criminal proceeds into the formal financial system,” the report said.
{{/usCountry}}Casinos have proven "capable and efficient in moving and laundering massive volumes" of crypto and traditional cash undetected, it said, “creating channels for effectively integrating billions in criminal proceeds into the formal financial system,” the report said.
{{/usCountry}}The sector has been infiltrated by organised crime for "industrial-scale money laundering and underground banking operations," with links to drug trafficking and cyber fraud as well, the report said, citing licensed casinos and junket operators in the Philippines which helped launder around $81 million stolen in a cyber-attack on Bangladesh's Central Bank in 2016. This theft was attributed to the Lazarus Group.
UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Jeremy Douglas said that the spread of casinos and crypto have "supercharged" organised crime groups in Southeast Asia as “it's no surprise sophisticated threat actors would look to leverage the same underground banking systems and service providers.”