A South Korean crypto change operator has been sentenced to 4 years in jail after a courtroom discovered them responsible of “leaking army secrets and techniques” to North Korean hackers in change for Bitcoin (BTC) funds.
Chosun Ilbo reported {that a} 42-year-old particular person surnamed Lee was discovered responsible of violating the Nationwide Safety Act.
Lee was additionally suspended from working in related roles for an extra 4 years.
Crypto Trade Operator: Jailed for 4 Years
The courtroom heard that Lee was the “operator of a crypto change” once they “acquired 700 million gained [$480,000]” price of BTC.
The cash, the courtroom heard, got here “from an individual believed to be a North Korean hacker.”
The hacker satisfied Lee to “method an active-duty army officer” to “leak army secrets and techniques.”
Presiding Choose Choi Kyung-seo, at a department of the Seoul Central District Courtroom, mentioned that North Korea “has an anti-state nature.”
Choi added that Pyongyang “seeks to overthrow South Korea’s liberal democratic system.” The courtroom defined:
“Lee was within the pursuit of extraordinarily private and financial positive aspects. However within the course of, Lee dedicated a criminal offense that would have endangered everything of South Korea.”
The courtroom heard that Lee approached a army captain surnamed Kim upon directions from a “North Korean hacker.”
In a surprising first, a courtroom in South Korea was attacked early Sunday morning by protesters who opposed the courtroom's ruling that granted an official warrant of arrest for President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial legislation bid.https://t.co/wwSfleNqxO pic.twitter.com/cGgPfQWwCy
— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) January 19, 2025
The hacker, codenamed “Boris,” contacted Lee through Telegram in July 2021. Boris was allegedly biding to “recruit active-duty officers who might present army secrets and techniques.”
Prosecutors defined that Boris was “a member of” one hundred and tenth Analysis Heart, a Pyongyang-based, state-run hacking group.
The US Treasury positioned the group below sanctions in Might 2023. Seoul thinks the group was behind 2009 DDoS assaults on “key authorities companies” such because the Presidential workplaces and the Nationwide Meeting.
South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attended a courtroom listening to the place investigators had been searching for to increase his detention, making a shock look after his arrest earlier this week. https://t.co/N3eLJeI8ti
— Bloomberg Asia (@BloombergAsia) January 18, 2025
Hackers Paid in Bitcoin
The courtroom heard that Lee gave Kim “a watch-shaped hidden digital camera” to “movie numerous confidential army paperwork.”
Lee additionally “tried to” assist North Korean hackers by smuggling hacking software program right into a South Korean army base on a USB flash drive.
Nevertheless, prosecutors mentioned that legislation enforcement companies intercepted Lee earlier than they may hand the USB gadget over to Kim.
The prosecution service mentioned it had traced the “supply of the Bitcoin” Lee acquired “as compensation for his actions” to assist it “conclude that Boris was a “North Korean agent” and a member of the one hundred and tenth Analysis Heart.
Final 12 months, a courtroom jailed a gaggle of mortgage sharks who took army passwords as collateral from troopers. The troopers needed to borrow cash to put money into crypto.
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