- avant-hier
Nous entendons parler des opérations de piratage informatique de la Corée du Nord presque tous les jours. Mais comment ce pays, caractérisé par une pauvreté incroyable, un retard technologique et une absence quasi-totale de connexions avec le monde extérieur, peut-il être aussi doué pour le piratage informatique ? Il s'avère que sa vaste armée de pirates informatiques n'est pas seulement une possibilité, c'est une nécessité...
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00:00Welcome to North Korea, the land of military parades, occasional famines and that
00:14type. Its nuclear weapons, the most spectacular technological failures and the
00:20the world's most powerful hackers.
00:22Whoa, something's wrong here, just wait. When it comes to technology,
00:33North Korea often looks stuck in the 1960s. So how can this country be
00:39as strong in computer hacking? It's a complicated story in which many
00:44things are not what they seem. One could even say that there is some temperance
00:48in the air like a play. So, welcome to this North Korean theater.
00:54If you were online a few years ago, you may have seen this. This is AXI,
01:06the cute creature from AXI Infinity, a video game that's supposed to give you a chance to win money,
01:11real money, by playing. The game became a hit at the height of the NFT craze,
01:16Millions of people have played it, some even quitting their real jobs for it.
01:20And in March 2022, these players started seeing something strange. It looked like a
01:25serious glitch. Some features had been removed, but surely someone was going to
01:30fix this problem. And in reality, no one could fix it. You see, the game became
01:35so popular because the game's currency is tied to Ethereum. Ethereum is the second most
01:40major cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. So these are not just coins in the game,
01:43They have a direct link to real-world money. A few conversions and your coins are
01:48transform into real money. The exchange mechanism is quite complicated, but it relies on a
01:53user-friendly platform called Ronin, a special service set up by the game developers
01:58to facilitate transfers. The problems encountered by players in March 2022 have everything to do with Ronin.
02:05They had hacked it. The entire system. A vast network of computers set up to ensure that the
02:23gambling transactions were legitimate. And they now had control over them. This allowed
02:27hackers to steal $600 million in in-game currency from players. They then
02:32converted this currency into Ethereum and disappeared. All that remained was to launder the money. 600
02:38million dollars. And at the time, it was the biggest heist in history. And it still is
02:43the biggest heist if we only have the value of the loot for inflation. It is only a little later that
02:50internet loggers, professional investigators, Ronin and Axie developers and the
02:55The rest of the world were able to piece together what had happened. And they all came to the same conclusion. Who was
03:02these attackers? Well, you probably guessed it, North Korea. This North Korea,
03:09a country that is often the laughing stock of the planet and which managed to steal 600 million dollars from
03:15an NFT game. Ask anyone on the street how NFTs work and they'll get
03:21difficult to explain. But the North Koreans understood it well enough to hack the whole thing
03:26of the system and run away with hundreds of millions. And in fact, this wasn't the first gallop
03:31death of North Korea. The country has already committed crimes. And you might think that this is not
03:35It doesn't matter that countries sometimes commit crimes against arms gangs, against ways of
03:39documents, etc. You've seen the movies, you know how it works. Almost every country does
03:44do, at least a little, for all sorts of reasons. And if they don't want to get into trouble,
03:48They are cautious and obvious about overdoing it. But there is one country that doesn't care about
03:54problems. And yes, it's North Korea. And when you don't care about problems like North Korea,
03:59Well, crime can get a little bit out of control. North Korea is absolutely
04:04undoubtedly in a league of their own when it comes to violating international law.
04:08You may be thinking of other countries that you don't like and that don't hold back,
04:12But compared to North Korea, even that is nothing. The North Koreans, on the other hand,
04:17They did everything. The trafficking of arms and cigarettes, the poaching of endangered animals
04:21disappearance, the production of counterfeit drugs, highly illegal illegal drugs and trafficking
04:25of very very illegal drugs manufactured by others, human trafficking, the sale
04:29of human beings, kidnapping and trafficking of human beings and of course, trafficking of human beings to
04:34slavery. In the 1980s and 1990s, the country even started counterfeiting dollars.
04:41And she did it so well that American intelligence agencies called them
04:45super dollars, because their quality was actually better than that of real dollars printed in the
04:50United States. But then, in the 2000s, this type of activity began to wane.
04:57It still happens and even today there is a sale of illegal North Korean weapons.
05:02discovered here and there. But today, the communist criminal empire is only a shadow of its former self.
05:08himself. Or at least, that's what you might think because on some levels, he's actually more
05:13more extensive than ever. The only difference is that the things the North Koreans are trafficking in are not
05:19look more like this, this or that. Very often, these things have taken a whole form
05:26a little more complicated. But printing counterfeit money is one thing. Hacking a system
05:32incredibly extremely complicated crypto, that's a whole other thing. So how did it happen?
05:39To answer this question, you need to learn two Korean words. I promise you they are
05:48easy and unlike some, we won't hold it against you if you don't repeat it every
05:52days. One of those words is Juche. It's North Korea's state ideology, the idea that a
05:58A truly independent country must be completely self-sufficient. It must provide everything it needs.
06:04himself. International trade networks, complex agreements, supply chains,
06:09All of this is the enemy and must be eradicated. Perhaps a country can start with a small
06:14closed circle of socialist allies, but he certainly cannot deal with the enemy
06:19capitalist and his dangerous ideas. Think what you will about Juche, but practice shows
06:26that it is not really compatible with a decent standard of living. The North Korean middle class lives in
06:32what would be considered abject poverty elsewhere in the world. Things like running water
06:36or personal transportation are an inaccessible luxury. Food shortages
06:41are daily and hard manual labor is the main pastime for people
06:45of all ages. And the internet? Well, it exists, in theory, or rather in propaganda,
06:51when North Korean students sit down at computers to do something.
06:56For most North Koreans, electricity is the only sign that the industrial revolution has
07:08actually take place. But even that is strictly rationed. The network does not operate during the
07:13most of the day and when it works, it is used to power the radios which broadcast a
07:17propaganda and cannot be turned off. According to some estimates, the size of the economy
07:21North Korea's situation is comparable to that of Afghanistan, a country ravaged by decades of war.
07:26And that's not all. Poverty in North Korea isn't even the biggest problem.
07:32created for Kim here. Indeed, adhering to this ideology is a bit like living on a farm
07:38isolated and refuse to interact with the outside world. On the surface, everything may seem okay.
07:43You control your own life and the roof over your head. If you're lucky,
07:48you have a surplus of food to meet your needs. But if you start
07:52you get bored and decide to try something more exotic,
07:55you have no chance of achieving it. And it's even worse if the crops have been
07:59bad and if your farm workers catch a virus or, even worse, decide to
08:04lift and knock you over. The problem then becomes very, very complex. It is impossible to obtain
08:09high-tech weapons to protect themselves from their adversaries. It is impossible to take advantage of the latest
08:13technological advances made elsewhere in the world. And you can't even damage your
08:17health with these corrupt capitalist snacks they manufacture on the other side of the ocean.
08:21The North Korean government understands this very well. That is why, while claiming that the perched
08:26is the best thing since Kim Il Sung invented sliced bread, actually,
08:30This isolationist approach does not pose a problem for him. One of his prerogatives,
08:35is to engage in international crime. Another prerogative is songburn,
08:40the second North Korean word you need to learn. You know how, in communist countries,
08:45all people are equal, but in reality, some are more equal than others. Well,
08:49In North Korea, this principle is effectively the unspoken law. Songburn is a class system.
08:54rigid semi-official system that governs North Korean society. It divides all citizens
08:59into three categories, although each of these categories can be subdivided.
09:03At the very bottom of this system is the hostile class. According to the government, the hostiles do not
09:09don't even deserve to know the name of Kim Il Sung, let alone use technology,
09:13if not the strength of their tomorrow. The complex or basic, it is the middle class of which we
09:19We've already talked about it. Manual labor, a radio you can't turn off, and a life of poverty.
09:23And then there is the core or upper class, where life is very different. The core is the
09:30class on which the North Korean government relies. In fact, the entire government
09:34belongs to this class, of course. The high-ranking officers of the army, the senior managers and all
09:39Other prominent North Koreans are members of the core. This class has access to many goods
09:44that one might expect to find in an ordinary country. Not very rich, but not very poor either.
09:49more. For example, here is a North Korean computer store. There are TVs, washing machines,
09:56coffee makers and, yes, computers. Not very recent, by the way. Most of these products
10:02smuggling must escape the international blockade and prices are far from being within the reach of most
10:07North Koreans. And they will probably all be equipped with the Red Star. This is the system
10:12North Korea's own operating system that looks like an old Windows or macOS that follows
10:16everything the user does and only allows connecting to the North Korean version
10:19of the internet. A completely closed network that doesn't really resemble our internet. But everything
10:25That's for the regular core members. And if you want the best, like Kim himself,
10:32who always poses with the latest Mac, well for that, you have to go even higher. Because the kernel
10:38has its own core. The elite of the elite. The 1% of the 1%. And the North Koreans, who belong to
10:45This class lives in luxury. Restrictions, shortages, borders, that's for the common people.
10:51Food, technology, and even media: the Songbund summit provides access to everything. Sanctions
10:57international standards don't change anything. And very often, they can even travel the world with fake
11:02passports. These are what Kim relies on when he needs to exchange the money he earns from his crimes.
11:07for goods, technology or other things found on the black market, such as
11:12uranium enrichment centrifuges for example. All right, that's the end of our lesson on
11:17North Korean language and culture. Just remember that there is the Juche ideology and the system
11:21social Songbund. And these two things are not really compatible with each other, because while the
11:26lower classes must be content with what they have, the upper class needs
11:30its macs, its snacks and its nuclear bombs. And piracy in all this lies at the very center
11:36of this problem. This is one of the main means used by the North Korean government to
11:39maintain the Songbund and bypass the perch. And the way he does it is quite interesting.
11:45But before I explain it to you, I have to ask you two things. First of all, do you
11:49could you like this video and subscribe for the good of all? And secondly, he's gone,
11:56So it's okay, let's get back to the video. Have you ever seen North Korean children playing?
12:05of a musical instrument? Like this? And this? Or this again? On the one hand, yes it's a bit creepy,
12:13but on the other hand, these children are geniuses. They have mastered their art to a level that very few
12:19of adults in the rest of the world will ever be able to achieve. How? Well, North Korea loves
12:26gifted children. This is how she manages to see an incredible music scene. Getting
12:33sporting results well beyond its economic capabilities and achieve good results in the
12:37other international competitions. Children from the middle class and perhaps sometimes from the upper class
12:41hostile are closely monitored. If they are good at music, sports or any
12:46type of science, they are selected and subjected to rigorous training. They cannot
12:51choose their own career, but in reality, their less talented friends didn't either
12:55this opportunity. But what these children can have is an opportunity to rise. They receive
13:01the best education their country can offer and severe punishments for every failure. They can
13:06briefly go abroad for various competitions and if they ever win, their social status improves.
13:11And it's not just in IT.
13:14But for math geniuses, there is a special career path they can follow to
13:44earn money abroad. North Korea has been doing this for decades through all the
13:49criminal activities that have been discussed. One of these activities is forced labor.
13:55North Koreans were sent to do everything from laying bricks in the Middle East to cutting
13:59wood in Siberia. But if they can do that, maybe they can do it for jobs too.
14:03better paid. This awareness hit North Korea in the 2000s.
14:09Digital was exploding and IT jobs were becoming the most
14:15prestigious and they could bring in a lot of money. Spend a few years learning the
14:19programming or web design and you'll earn more money than an entire crew of lumberjacks.
14:23Of course, building even a small IT industry inside North Korea
14:29It was impossible. Internet connections in North Korea are closely monitored and any
14:34Violation of international sanctions could have serious consequences. But this is where
14:38The idea of sending workers abroad resurfaces. Give your geniuses fake passports.
14:43math, send them to a country with poorly policed borders and there's your army
14:47of expat IT specialists. We know of at least a few cases where this model has been applied,
14:53and entire institutions were created to support it. Here is one of these institutions,
14:57a cheap hotel in Shenzhen, China. It operated like a real hotel and was
15:03surprisingly well-appointed for its real visitors. But most of its visitors were not
15:09customers. They were North Koreans who were working there using local internet access.
15:23And when it happened, he found a lot of North Koreans. And the phones
15:27on the establishment showed photos of the Korean War. But the Korean War,
15:32I should say. But the war in Korea in Korea in Korea in Korea in Korea in Korea in Korea.
15:36Over time, this establishment earned the nickname Hacker Hotel. Because of course,
15:44Sending educated people to earn money working remotely is enough
15:48to make some money. But if you don't feel obligated to obey the law,
15:51There are ways to make a lot more money very, very quickly. But it didn't all start out as
15:58This. The early North Korean hacking operations were about prestige,
16:02and a little espionage. In the mid-2000s, they started attacking South Korea.
16:06Especially by jamming its services with denial of service attacks. These attacks have not
16:11caused lasting damage, but they proved quite troublesome. By the mid-2010s,
16:16These pirates took on an international dimension. And then they started to see things in a bigger way.
16:20In 2014, they hacked Sony in revenge for the release of a film that mocked Kim Jong-un,
16:25and carried out a data theft that demonstrated an excellent understanding of the aspects
16:30technical and social aspects of hacking. And these aspects helped them enormously with the
16:34The task for which most countries use their army of pirates is espionage.
16:38They have been studied to deal with defense companies, both in countries where they do not intend
16:43with, and also sometimes in friendly countries like Russia. Last year, they tried to
16:50attract missile data from the Russian industry. This information is very important for their
16:57development of weapons development. And in addition, they will also deal with research,
17:02They will deal with strategies, they will deal with government organizations. They will deal with
17:05organizations around the world because they want to understand policy decisions.
17:10But the same techniques work against commercial entities too. So why not
17:14Monetize? By the end of the 2010s, North Koreans had a thousand packages. Hacking banks,
17:19ransomware distribution and massive operations that only a hacker army funded by a
17:24State could achieve. After a few years, cryptocurrencies appeared. A monetary system
17:30complete system designed to circumvent government and institutional controls. Who would have guessed that
17:35would it be popular with criminals? And who would have imagined that a country like South Korea
17:39North could start exploiting it with such enthusiasm? The thing, as you will have
17:44guessed that North Korea didn't just use cryptocurrencies. Stealing
17:50other cryptocurrency users, it was also on the menu. For several years, it has been estimated
17:54that nearly half of the world's cryptocurrency thefts are the work of hacker groups
17:59North Koreans. The Axi Infinity hack was the largest and most effective, but countless
18:05Smaller hacks happen almost every month. So are we sure that these
18:20attacks were carried out by North Koreans? Let's be clear, establishing the genealogy of the
18:24Cybercrime isn't simple. Digital fingerprints aren't reliable. They're digital,
18:28They can be manipulated, misplaced, falsified or simply erased. But in each of these cases,
18:34and in thousands of others, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the
18:38The attacks came from North Korean hacker groups operating outside the country under
18:43false identities and shell companies.
18:45Mr Creator is using your Upwork or LinkedIn account to scam people. You get 10% of these fraudulent
18:51earnings if he actually does pay you. But all of the scam is under your LinkedIn account, which is under your
18:57name. Or your Upwork account, which is under your name. Because to sign up for these services, you need to have ID
19:03verification. There's been research by the United Nations and other watch groups that are working with the global
19:10community to prevent them from gaining access to weapons. And a good amount of the money that they've
19:20converted into fiat currency has been traced to purchases of materials to build their missiles program.
19:27Of course, there are still many details we don't know. As you might expect,
19:31The more closely one examines the structure of North Korea's hacker army,
19:35the more obscure it becomes. We know the payloads they use, the times at which
19:39they operate and even the location of some operations. But beyond that, there remain many mysteries.
19:44And there is, there is a lot of agreement about technology. There is a lot of
19:51advance on which things are structured. The particular office associated with technologies,
19:57what is called the first office, which is responsible, of one of the people who say for the intelligence of
20:01foreign. Some people say that it has one of the techniques. And one of the realizing, there are a lot of
20:08cyber groups operate
20:10under these bureaus
20:11and another entity called
20:13Lab 110, which some
20:15view as a reorganization
20:18of a previous bureau responsible
20:19for cybercrime. We don't know how this is
20:22and even during the pandemic, there
20:24have been reports that cybercrime operations
20:26have been reorganized.
20:28What we do
20:30know for sure is that
20:31within these offices, they're
20:33operating under them
20:35are many different cybercriminals
20:38many different threat groups
20:39and we know them by
20:42different names
20:42Lazarus, Kim Suki,
20:45Andario, Blunarov.
20:50What we are certain of,
20:51is that North Korea selects the
20:53most talented and dedicated people
20:55among its population and
20:57train them, invest in them
20:59and transforms them into a talented heart.
21:02We know they operate
21:03mainly under cover of false identities
21:05and companies outside the country, under the eye
21:07vigilant of the North Korean army.
21:10We also know that they have freedom
21:11surprising in their operation.
21:14A good illustration of this is the latest invention
21:16of these pirates.
21:18The proxy employment system.
21:20Here's how it works.
21:22North Korean agents contact people
21:23in the United States or Europe and offer them the opportunity to apply
21:26for IT positions.
21:27These Americans or Europeans don't really work.
21:30It's the North Koreans who are working
21:31but the employer has no idea.
21:33In the worst case,
21:34The hacker earns a lot of money.
21:36In the best case scenario,
21:38he benefits from exclusive access
21:39to the system of certain large companies
21:41and steals their secrets.
21:43But this,
21:44like many other attacks
21:45from North Korea,
21:46is not a simple job
21:47which would require technical skills.
21:49It also requires advanced mastery
21:51social engineering.
21:52Convincing phishing message,
21:54fake calls,
21:55fake websites.
21:56The vast majority of hacks
21:58begin this way.
22:00It doesn't mean
22:00that he lacks technical skills,
22:02quite the contrary.
22:03And on top of all that,
22:04they are extremely,
22:05extremely strong in innovation.
22:07They are extremely sophisticated
22:10and they stay ahead
22:12the exchange in crypto technology
22:15more than most
22:16in the crypto-enthusiast world.
22:19They are often,
22:20You know,
22:21a step ahead
22:22or alongside,
22:23You know,
22:24the best and the brightest
22:25in the world of crypto-investigation.
22:27And they are continuously
22:29experimenting with new ways
22:30of either steal money
22:32or make money off
22:33of crypto schemes
22:34or launder funds.
22:36We've seen them dappling
22:38in mining.
22:39We've seen them dappling
22:40in NFTs.
22:41We've seen them dappling
22:42in Monero,
22:43as you mentioned,
22:44and bits of ways
22:47that they can move money
22:50or gain access
22:53to money out of crypto.
22:54But there is another problem.
22:58These pirates must be able to
22:59taste the outside world.
23:01They even have to learn
23:02how they work.
23:03After all,
23:04they will have to do everything,
23:05fake phone calls
23:06until use
23:07subtleties
23:08of the crypto market.
23:10And after discovering
23:11the outside world
23:11and have trained
23:12to the Western way of life,
23:14he could become
23:15a little difficult to control.
23:17This is where the class system
23:19comes into play again.
23:20On the one hand,
23:21These pirates are not so different
23:22of the regular elite
23:23who travel around the world,
23:25take advantage of the internet
23:26and eat all the chips
23:27that they want.
23:29Actually,
23:29these math geniuses
23:30might even come
23:31of this upper class
23:32or be motivated
23:33by perspective
23:34to join her
23:35if their criminal adventures
23:36end up having
23:37enough success.
23:39Computer hacking
23:40North Korean
23:41is therefore a sinister
23:41feedback loop.
23:43She encourages you to go up
23:43in the social hierarchy
23:45and helps the country
23:46to maintain its upper class.
23:47And this elite class
23:48is also at the origin
23:49of the whole
23:49hacking activities.
23:51But what's going on?
23:52if the whole
23:53of the system of social coercion
23:54failed ?
23:55What's going on?
23:55if the idea of defecting
23:57crosses the pirate's mind?
23:59So of course,
23:59there are the usual sticks,
24:00total surveillance,
24:02threats of execution
24:03and the perspective
24:03of a demotion
24:04of the whole
24:05of the pirate's family
24:05recalcitrant
24:06to the class
24:07unwanted people.
24:08And of course,
24:09there is the biggest
24:09deterrent factor,
24:11apathy.
24:23They saw
24:24the height of the Empire
24:25State Building
24:25or something like that.
24:26So they can see
24:27New York,
24:27they can see
24:28the Empire State Building,
24:29they can see
24:29Manhattan,
24:30but more of that,
24:31they didn't have
24:32inquisitiveness.
24:33They didn't want to
24:34know,
24:34what is New York
24:35and where is the Empire
24:37State Building
24:37and where is the park
24:38Central Park
24:38and how people
24:39live.
24:39There was no
24:40inquisitiveness.
24:41They couldn't
24:41simply the internet
24:42like a window
24:43in a world
24:43that they have never visited.
24:44So this idea
24:45of inquisitiveness
24:46on the world
24:47is stamped
24:48on birth
24:50in Korea.
24:52And it is possible
24:53that there is something else
24:54which is stifled
24:54in North Korea.
24:56Do you remember?
24:56from the first time
24:57that you heard
24:57talk about hackers
24:59North Koreans?
25:00What was
25:00your reaction?
25:01Weren't you
25:02convinced
25:02that it was impossible
25:03than North Korea
25:04could not be
25:05related to piracy
25:05computer science ?
25:06A country where the majority
25:07of the population
25:08lives in poverty
25:09and exclusion
25:10who would operate
25:11hacking operations
25:12the most sophisticated
25:13and organized in the world?
25:16It seems absurd.
25:17Two stories
25:19whose beginnings
25:20don't work
25:20really together.
25:21And yet,
25:22by digging a little,
25:22they not only coexist,
25:24they complement each other.
25:26But to make this idea
25:27seems absurd,
25:28stifle all curiosity
25:29about
25:30of the criminal empire
25:31from North Korea,
25:32it's there
25:32the whole strategy.
25:35Convince the rest of the world
25:36that you do not represent
25:37no danger,
25:38that you are not
25:39than a hermit kingdom
25:40with its poverty,
25:41his naive propaganda,
25:42its slightly crazy leader
25:43and his strange obsession
25:44nuclear weapons
25:45which do not work
25:46not even most of the time,
25:47It's very ingenious.
25:50To be honest,
25:51we don't know
25:51if it's done on purpose
25:52or a happy coincidence
25:54that the North Korean regime
25:56likes to exploit.
25:58But we really hope
25:59that after watching
26:00this video,
26:00you will not fall again
26:01in the panel
26:01because you learned
26:03something new
26:03about the world.
26:04Thank you for your attention.
26:07This video was created
26:08by a whole team
26:09at CyberNews
26:10and we would really like
26:11to know if you liked it.
26:13So don't hesitate
26:13to express your feelings
26:15with a like,
26:15a comment
26:16or maybe even
26:17by subscribing to the channel.
26:18It means a lot to us.
26:19So once again,
26:20Thank you and see you next time.
26:22THANKS.
Recommandations
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