North Korea Utilizes Banned NVIDIA GPUs to Enhance Cryptocurrency Cyberattack Capabilities

A recent analysis indicates that North Korea is leveraging banned NVIDIA GPUs to enhance its artificial intelligence (AI) technology, further boosting its cyberattack capabilities in areas such as cryptocurrency theft, deepfake creation, and surveillance systems. Research shows that Pyongyang has been accumulating AI technology since the late 1990s, focusing on areas such as pattern recognition, speech processing, and data optimization. These technologies aid in cyberattacks and intelligence gathering. If these technologies are further applied to automated tools, North Korea's capabilities in stealing digital assets, money laundering, and identity forgery will significantly increase.

First, a report titled "Analysis of the Current State of Artificial Intelligence in North Korea and Policy Considerations," published by Kim Min Jung, director of the Advanced Technology Strategy Center at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS) in South Korea, points out that North Korean research teams have recently used NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2700 graphics cards in several projects. These cards are subject to export bans by the United States. The report warns that the international community should closely monitor the development trends of North Korea's AI research and take appropriate policies to prevent these technologies from being used for military purposes or expanding the scale of cyberattacks.

Second, the report reviews North Korea's AI research and development over the past three decades. Since the 2010s, North Korea has been continuously expanding its research institutions and developing indigenous AI algorithms. Despite relatively rudimentary computing facilities, it has made significant progress. Recent research involves technologies such as facial recognition, multi-target tracking, and speech synthesis, focusing on improving algorithm efficiency with limited computing power. These technologies can be widely applied to cyberattacks such as target identification, path prediction, and phishing.

Notably, some of North Korea's research explicitly uses GeForce RTX 2700 graphics cards, which are prohibited from export by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). If these graphics cards continue to be used to train more advanced recognition and forgery models, it will further enhance the automation level of North Korea's cyberattacks, making its activities more difficult for international monitoring systems to detect.

Furthermore, the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology has increasingly enhanced North Korea's cyberattack capabilities. Deepfake videos and fake identity generation can help it create imposters, manipulate public opinion, and even bypass the security protections of cryptocurrency platforms. In addition, by utilizing high-performance computing resources, North Korea can significantly increase the frequency of attacks, enabling a small number of technicians to conduct cyber theft on an "industrial" scale. The report points out that the intensity of automated attacks allows attackers to conduct tens of thousands of intrusion attempts in a short period of time, greatly increasing the success rate.

Furthermore, in the field of surveillance, North Korea's multi-target tracking technology has been able to integrate video data from multiple time periods to form a real-time monitoring system. Once combined with drone reconnaissance footage or urban CCTV footage, North Korea can track large areas in real time. Simultaneously, lightweight speech synthesis technology can be used to forge call identities, bypass remote verification systems, and thus affect the security of financial accounts.

In addition, the report also mentions that with the outbreak of the Ukraine war, technological cooperation between North Korea, Russia, and China has deepened, accelerating the advancement of North Korea's artificial intelligence projects. Through cooperation with these countries, North Korea may obtain more technological support, enhancing its capabilities in areas such as military, surveillance, and cyberattacks. Therefore, the international community must remain vigilant and continuously monitor North Korea's technological applications in these areas to take timely countermeasures.

Finally, although there is currently no evidence that North Korea has mastered cutting-edge generative AI technology, its research has gradually expanded to more complex areas such as speech recognition, image processing, and large-scale data analysis. The report emphasizes that the international community should closely monitor technology inflow paths and strengthen sanctions and supply chain management to prevent North Korea from using external technology to circumvent restrictions.

In conclusion, North Korea is enhancing its cyberattack and intelligence-gathering capabilities by strengthening its artificial intelligence technology, and banned GPUs play a crucial role in this process. As its AI technology continues to advance, the international community should pay closer attention to this trend and adopt effective policies and regulatory measures to address potential cybersecurity threats.