Ian Campbell on Nostr: npub1c6xz0…pwwtu North Korean threat actors have a pretty well-tuned pipeline of ...

npub1c6xz0jhmeu2vm27eyprpqc4lxpaejxnxgcsemerxwrdhjfc6tsaskpwwtu (npub1c6x…wwtu) North Korean threat actors have a pretty well-tuned pipeline of cryptocurrency heists. They do it specifically as a source of national and departmental income.

Deny them that, and two things occur:

1. Those sophisticated NK threat actor groups turn towards more conventional means, similar to the waves of ransomware we see from Russian threat actors. This victimizes a lot more people who largely haven't placed themselves in the crosshairs with the ethical baggage that comes along with cryptocurrency.

2. Tether crashes, and most of the cryptocurrencies along with it (if not all), NKTA groups are a lot harder to track. Cryptocurrency transactions are more likely to deanonymize than anonymize you at this point.