In 2016, North Korean hackers attempted a cyber attack on Bangladesh Bank where they attempted to steal ~$1B from the bank’s account at the Federal Reserve in New York. They used phishing emails to gain the credentials for the account and after laying dormant for a year, sent transfer requests on a Friday (the start of the Bangladeshi weekend) to various accounts for laundering. 5 of the requests went through, totalling >$100M. The article also discusses the development of North Korea’s cyber warfare unit, where many of the members are trained abroad in China; cybercrime and cryptocurrency theft allows North Korea to fund its nuclear program and evade sanctions. This event exemplifies how a relatively weak country such as North Korea could have disproportionate power in cyberspace.
