North Korea Hacking Nigerian Banks

North Korea’s hacking operations have expanded to more countries, including Nigeria, a report by a Russian cyber security firm, Kaspersky, has claimed.

The cyber security firm said hackers backed by North Korea were targeting financial institutions in 18 countries, including Nigeria. But why?

According to a report on the hacking claims by the CNN, two international security experts believe North Korea is likely spending the stolen funds on its nuclear weapons programme.

“Banks and security researchers have previously identified four similar cyber-heists attempted on financial institutions in Bangladesh, Ecuador, the Philippines and Vietnam.

“But researchers at Kaspersky now say the same hacking operation, known as ‘Lazarus’, also attacked financial institutions in Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Poland, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay,” the report read in part.

Hackers were traced to North Korea after Kaspersky detected a mistake, and a hacker from a group operation known as Lazarus connected from North Korea, the United Press International also reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the hackers had previously routed their attacks from computer services in France, South Korea and Taiwan, a move which made it difficult for security experts to identify the origin of the breaches.