Way back in February 2016, it emerged that $81 million had disappeared from the central bank of Bangladesh’s account at the New York Federal Reserve and reappeared in accounts in the Philippines, in a mysterious act of cyber-robbery that felt straight out of a Hollywood screenplay. Now it turns out that federal prosecutors who have been investigating the situation may have found both the middlemen and the heist’s masterminds—the leaders of a small nuclear-armed international pariah state on the border of China, called North Korea. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
According to The Wall Street Journal, a key turning point in the investigation occurred when investigators “linked the code used to perpetrate the cyberheist” of the $81 million with the massive hack on Sony Pictures that took place in December 2014, which the F.B.I. blamed on North Korea. (As you may recall, Sony was set to release a movie starring James Franco and Seth Rogen which involved a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a man who doesn’t have the greatest sense of humor about himself.) If charges were filed, the Journal notes, they would “target alleged Chinese middlemen who prosecutors believe helped North Korea orchestrate the theft,” and though there may not be charges filed against North Koreans, the nation “would likely“ be implicated.
Speaking at a panel at the Aspen Institute on Tuesday, deputy director of the National Security Agency Richard Ledgett said, “If that linkage” between the two cyber-crimes “is true, that means a nation-state is robbing banks. That is a big deal.”
More:
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/north-korea-new-york-fed-heistI know, damned strange source for an article like this. Still, thought it was of enough interest to pass on.
