NSA official points the finger at North Korea in Bangladesh Bank heist

A senior US security agency official has said that the North Korean hackers are behind the multi-million dollar heist targeting Bangladesh’s central bank.

“A senior National Security Agency official appeared to confirm that North Korean computer hackers were behind a multi-million dollar heist last year,” the Foreign Policy magazine reported. 

Computer hackers attempted to steal $951 million but only got away with $81 million, some of which was later recovered.

Though the security firms quickly pointed the finger at North Korea after the theft, other experts disputed that finding.

But on Tuesday, NSA Deputy Director Rick Ledgett appeared to say “North Korea was the culprit during a cryptic exchange at a Washington forum.”

Speaking at an Aspen Institute roundtable, Ledgett pointed out that “private sector researchers had linked the digital break-in in Bangladesh to the 2014 hack on Sony Pictures, which the US government attributed to Pyongyang.”

“If that linkage from the Sony actors to the Bangladeshi bank actors is accurate — that means that a nation state is robbing banks,” Ledgett said, according to the FP report. “That’s a big deal.”

The moderator of the event, former Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin, quickly followed up: “Do you believe that there are nation-states now robbing banks?”

Ledgett offered a simple answer: “I do.”

Ledgett, however, did not mention about what evidence the agency collected on the Bangladeshi heist.

It also stopped short of an official US government statement that North Korea was behind the attack.

But on the other hand, experts believe, Ledgett, a 30-year veteran of the agency due to retire later this year, would be unlikely to lend his credibility to reports that do not match his agency’s findings.

“I think the public case was well-made,” Ledgett told Foreign Policy. The NSA declined to comment beyond Ledgett’s public remarks.

“The alleged attempt by North Korean hackers to break into a bank and attempt to steal just short of $1 billion alarmed many in the cybersecurity world and marked a significant escalation of its behaviour in cyberspace,” the FP said.

“Computer security experts described the heist as technically sophisticated and one that cemented Pyongyang as one of the world’s most capable — and daring — actors in cyberspace.”

Ledgett’s comments come as the ‘hermit kingdom’ is increasingly starved for cash. The United Nations has stepped up sanctions against Pyongyang and is examining North Korean front companies in China that allow it to secure much-needed foreign currency.

Meanwhile, the international community is increasing pressure on North Korea after a series of missile and nuclear tests.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently said that the United States might be willing to take preemptive military action against North Korea’s nuclear program.

China, meanwhile, has suspended coal imports from North Korea, in a measure of ‘dissatisfaction toward’ its recalcitrant neighbour.

By attacking a bank and making off with large sums of money, North Korea can evade sanctions and obtain foreign currency, but so far, that effort has not delivered serious dividends for Pyongyang, according to the magazine.