North Korea Arrests Former State Cyber Operators for Hacking State Banks, Laundering Funds via Crypto

North Korean authorities have reportedly arrested a group of former state cyber operators and IT specialists accused of hacking two state banks and laundering stolen funds through cryptocurrency. South Korean outlet Daily NK reported Thursday, citing an anonymous source in Pyongyang, that the group allegedly hacked the internal networks of North Korea’s central bank and the Foreign Trade Bank, converting stolen state funds into cryptocurrency before laundering them through China-based brokers. Cointelegraph could not independently verify the report. If confirmed, the reported arrests would mark a rare case of North Korean cyber operators being accused of stealing from their own government’s financial institutions. Pyongyang is widely accused of directing state-backed hacking groups to steal from crypto companies to generate revenue and circumvent international sanctions. Daily NK is a Seoul-based specialist news outlet that relies on a network of sources inside North Korea. Reporting from North Korea is difficult to verify independently because of the country’s restrictions on access and information.