North Korean cyber programme linked to $6.3 billion Binance theft

North Korea’s cyber programme has been linked by U.S. authorities, Binance and blockchain investigation firms to the theft of $6.3 billion from Binance, while Pyongyang denies involvement. Defectors and analysts describe a state system that recruits talented students for cyber training and rewards some successful hackers with cash and other privileges. The attribution of the Binance attack remains disputed. The FBI and Binance have said North Korea was responsible for the breach, and blockchain firms have attributed it to TraderTraitor, a North Korean group. The FBI has said TraderTraitor is affiliated with Lazarus. The North Korean government denied involvement. The reports do not present the underlying technical evidence for the attribution. Kim Heungkwang, a North Korean defector who said he trained hackers for the state before fleeing to South Korea in 2004, described a programme that selects students in middle school. He and two other defectors who worked in information technology said authorities choose about 150 to 200 children a year to study computer science. Top students are sent to universities at about age 17 and undergo further screening before some enter the...