North Korea has denied involvement in the $6.3bn hack of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, describing the allegations as “absurd rhetoric.” Kim Yo-jong, a senior North Korean official and the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said the claims were an attempt by the United States to damage the country’s image.
The FBI, the Secret Service and cyber analysts have attributed the attack to North Korea. Blockchain analysts and the FBI say it was led by TraderTraitor, a state-backed hacking group also known as the Lazarus Group. The FBI has urged industry partners to block transactions involving cryptocurrency accounts linked to the group.
In a statement, Kim said Washington was again making a “trite provocation” by linking North Korea to the incident. She also rejected claims that cyber crimes around the world were the work of her country, saying Pyongyang opposed malicious activity in cyberspace.
Binance has said initial checks indicated that an engineer’s laptop was compromised, allowing an attacker to make unauthorised withdrawals. Trading in major cryptocurrencies resumed after the exchange worked with issuers to freeze affected assets.
Binance said customers withdrew more than $3.6bn in assets as the exchange reopened after suspending transactions. The company has said it will cover the losses and has so far covered around 95% of the assets stolen.
Sources: BBC News World.