Tokyo: Japanese police and other authorities have warned that a North Korean hacker group called Lazarus is highly likely targeting Japanese crypto asset-related operators in its cyber attacks.

The National Police Agency, the Financial Services Agency and the National Center of Incident readiness and Strategy for Cyber-security issued the warning in a document released on Saturday.

According to the document, the North Korean hacker group uses such tactics as sending an email to employees of a crypto asset company while pretending to be an executive of the company, and approaching them through social media, with the aim of gaining access to the company’s network and stealing crypto assets.

To avoid falling victim to such an attack, the authorities call for keeping secret keys to confidential data separate from the internet and thinking twice before opening files attached to emails.

The North Korean group is believed to have been involved in the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017. In April this year, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation pointed to the group’s involvement in a case where crypto assets worth about 78 billion yen were stolen.

JIJI Press