[Anchor]

The fallout is growing over an incident in which a North Korean group hacked 8 trillion won worth of funds from the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. In an exclusive interview with SBS, an American North Korean specialist investigator warned that this group is North Korea's most dangerous hacking organization and that South Korean exchanges could be the next target.

Reporter Hong Yeongjae has the first report.

[Reporter]

US analytics firm TRM Labs identified North Korea as the culprit just six hours after the Binance hacking.

The North Korea specialist investigator who led this analysis agreed to a video interview with SBS.

Investigator Nick Carlson, who worked at the FBI for 12 years, stated that Trader Traitor, the perpetrator behind this incident, is North Korea's most dangerous hacking organization.

[Nick Carlson / North Korea Specialist Investigator, TRM Labs: Trader Traitor is North Korea's elite hacking organization. (Are they more dangerous than other groups like Kimsuky or Lazarus?) Absolutely. They are at the top of the pyramid and are by far the most dangerous hacking unit. They have pulled off the most audacious financial asset thefts.]

He analyzed that because North Korean hacking groups have no fear of being arrested, they left their own distinct traces everywhere this time as well.

[Nick Carlson / North Korea Specialist Investigator, TRM Labs: Basically, they conducted several test transactions for the hacking. Furthermore, we identified much older activities connected to these transactions. The traces date back to 2020.]

He also mentioned that while there is more definitive evidence, it is difficult to disclose further details because North Korea could use them to evade detection.

[Nick Carlson / North Korea Specialist Investigator, TRM Labs: We have secured multiple pieces of evidence confirming that Trader Traitor executed this hack. However, I do not want to go into too much detail. That is because I do not want to teach North Korean hackers how to evade detection.]

He then warned that South Korean exchanges could become the next targets of attack.

[Nick Carlson / North Korea Specialist Investigator, TRM Labs: All exchanges could be targets, but I think South Korean exchanges in particular are primary targets.]

Investigator Carlson added that unless South Korea, the US, Japan, and other nations step up with more proactive measures, this problem will continue to grow.

(Camera reporting: Lee Chan-su | Video editing: Shin Seeun | VJ: Lee Ji-hwan)