According to a United Nations (UN) Security Council expert panel report, North Korea has been carrying out major cryptocurrency hacks in order to bypass economic sanctions imposed due to its nuclear program. The hacks, including at least five attacks on Asian cryptocurrency exchanges between January 2017 and September 2018, reportedly created losses totaling $571 million. A number of attacks on overseas financial institutions and exchanges were also reported. The UN report urged member states to be vigilant in sharing any information they have about North Korean cyberattacks on other governments and domestic financial institutions.
Early last week, Ledger, a manufacturer of offline, cold/hardware cryptocurrency wallets, issued a report identifying five security "vulnerabilities" in devices manufactured by its direct competitor, Trezor. Ledger claimed that it told Trezor of these purported weaknesses and only went public with them after Trezor failed to take "appropriate measures." Trezor has since responded, claiming that none of the weaknesses were critical, and any exploitation of them would require physical access to the wallet, specialized equipment, significant time and technical expertise. Trezor also stated that some of the identified vulnerabilities had already been patched.
Tether, a cryptocurrency stablecoin, recently updated the terms of its website in a manner that indicates its USDT stablecoin may not in fact be backed 100 percent by fiat reserves. Since its inception, Tether had asserted that it supported a direct coin-to-dollar ratio. The Tether website now qualifies this, stating that while its reserves include traditional currency, "from time to time" they may also include "other assets and receivables from loans made by Tether to third parties."
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- North Korea Hacking Crypto Exchanges to Circumvent Sanctions: UN Panel
- North Korea's military has stolen more than half a billion dollars in cryptocurrency
- Our Shared Security: Responsibly Disclosing Competitor Vulnerabilities
- Ledger Discloses Five Reported Vulnerabilities in Two Models of Trezor Hardware Wallets
- Our Response to Ledger's #MITBitcoinExpo Findings
- Cryptocurrency Community Eyes Tether After Website Dilutes USD Backing Claims
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