Life Sentence for Chinese Official Over Crypto Espionage

A former Chinese government worker, Wang Moumou, has been sentenced to life in prison. He was found guilty of selling state secrets to foreign intelligence in exchange for 1 million yuan (around $138,000) in cryptocurrency.

According to China’s Ministry of State Security, Wang fell into heavy debt due to losses from cryptocurrency trading. To earn more money, he posted on an online forum seeking part-time work. In his post, he mentioned his government job, which caught the attention of a foreign agent.

The agent offered crypto payments for classified information. Wang began providing sensitive data but later tried to cut ties. However, he was blackmailed and forced to continue cooperating under threat of exposure. 

China has also used crypto for espionage. Taiwan recently indicted two military officers for selling military secrets to China for 8,151 Tether (USDT). The Taiwan High Court also sentenced eight individuals for similar crimes, with the harshest penalty being 13 years in prison.

WazirX Cyber Attack and Arrest

Indian police have arrested SK Masud Alam over the 5 million cyberattack on WazirX cryptocurrency exchange. The complaint filed said Alam created a fake WazirX account and sold it to a Telegram user identified as “M Hasan.” He allegedly used the said account to exploit the security of the entire platform.

Details of the case include:

Liminal Custody, the firm responsible for securing WazirX’s wallets, was accused of withholding information during the investigation. WazirX blamed this as a reason for the breach due to some sort of security loophole in Liminal’s system. Then, in turn, Liminal denied it and put an accusation of spreading disinformation on WazirX.

This incident ranks as one of the broadest crypto-related cyber-attacks of the year. According to security experts, it’s very likely that the North Korean Lazarus group is behind the breach.

It has remained anonymous, hence its attractiveness for criminal activities in espionage and cyberattack, raising concerns across the world.