Cybercriminals Infiltrate Digital Business Owners through Zoom Platform
North Korean hackers leverage false Zoom calls to steal cryptocurrency project data
disguising themselves as venture investors, North Korean hackers are using the popular video conferencing platform, Zoom, to trick cryptocurrency project founders into giving away confidential information. In a recent incident, a founder received a call supposedly from venture capitalists, who indicated they had sound issues and provided a link to a different Zoom conference, claiming it to be a fix.
Security Alliance expert, Nick Bax, claims that scammers have been using this method to steal "tens of millions of dollars." The scammers initiate contact with promises of funding or partnerships and exploit human psychology by making victims believe they are meeting important venture capitalists. Once the victims install the provided file, they unknowingly grant the hackers access to their devices.
Julio Ksilyannis, co-founder of Mon Protocol, and the head of marketing reported an attempt by hackers to deceive them. Disguising the contact as the CEO of Story Protocol, the hackers brought up sound issues and suggested a new Zoom link that the victims were tempted to follow.
David Zhang, co-founder and CTO of Stably, and several others in the crypto industry have also fallen victim to similar North Korean scammer tactics. Zhang's tablet, however, seemed to be incompatible with the scammers' tools, leaving them confused and ending the call.
In a separate instance, Melvin Thomas, founder of Devdock AI, admitted that he may have been affected by the hackers' actions. Thomas took actions to protect his device and data, but remains cautious about potential infection.
It's worth noting that threat actors such as the North Korean Lazarus Group have been targeting cryptocurrencies through platforms like GitHub, as well as using fake Zoom calls for social engineering for confidential data theft.
To protect against these attacks, cryptocurrency project founders and team members are advised to take stringent security measures. These include verifying identities of communication partners, securing devices and accounts, protecting sensitive data, educating themselves and their teams, monitoring for suspicious activity, utilizing virtual machines or sandboxes, and regularly updating software. By implementing these strategies, the risk of falling victim to these scammers can be significantly reduced.
Finance and technology converge as North Korean hackers, disguising themselves as venture investors, exploit the popular video conferencing platform, Zoom, to infiltrate cryptocurrency projects by misleading founders into revealing confidential data. Despite some near misses, these scammers have managed to steal "tens of millions of dollars" by investing false promises of funding or partnerships, thereby highlighting the importance of cybersecurity measures in the cryptocurrency industry.
