North Korean hackers steal more than $400 million using video images, FBI says
Nov 12 (Reuters) - North Korean state-backed hackers have stolen more than $400 million in cryptocurrency over the past 18 months using surreptitiously recorded images of people which are then used to target their contacts, the FBI said Thursday.
North Korean hackers, operating under the alias "Sapphire Sleet" or UNC1069, have stolen over $400 million in cryptocurrency over the past 18 months through a deceptive video chat scheme, according to the FBI. This cybercrime, dubbed "FaceStealer" by the FBI, involves surreptitiously recording images of people and using them to target their contacts.
The targets receive invitations for video chats on impersonated video meeting platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, courtesy of compromised social media and communication accounts whose images have been secretly captured.
Once onboard the call, the unsuspecting targets are confronted with a faux technical glitch that necessitates a fix through clicking a malicious link. This action infects both the target's computer and social media accounts. The hackers then exploit the compromised accounts to further propagate the attack. The FBI has managed to recover more than 900 victim webcam videos from these illicit activities.
In a disturbing development, the hackers have begun leveraging artificial intelligence to generate deepfake videos of prominent figures in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors. The FBI has attributed this multi-million dollar cybercrime to the North Korean hacker collective known as "Sapphire Sleet" or UNC1069, a faction separate from the party responsible for the $6.3 billion Binance hack.
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