March 25, 2022
How to Strengthen South Korea-US Cooperation on Combatting Cyber-enabled Financial Crime
Key logistical and structural differences between U.S. and South Korean intelligence and law enforcement agencies restrict enhanced coordination on crucial cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
Although Washington and Seoul have previously cooperated on cyber-enabled financial crime cases, these joint efforts are often only in response to ongoing incidents and not preventative in nature. This significantly reduces their ability to predict and prevent future crimes as information sharing often occurs already after the initial hack and/or illicit cyber-activity has succeeded.
The United States and South Korea each possess unique strengths in combating the rise of cyber-enabled financial crime, but their true joint potential is largely untapped.
In likely response to rising levels of cyber-enabled financial crime, Washington and Seoul included specific language on creating a joint cyber working group to combat the spread of ransomware and online sexual exploitation in a May 2021 summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. However, the document outlining the summit failed to include coordination on issues related to the misuse of cryptocurrency and other financial technology – despite cybercriminals using crypto as a major source of financing for their illicit activity.
Dating back to roughly 2017, North Korean operatives have continuously employed ransomware to extort cryptocurrency from their victims and South Korea-based child pornography websites also request payments in cryptocurrency to view their illicit content. Including joint research and investigations on the exploitation of cryptocurrency and new financial technology is crucial to strengthening both U.S. and South Korean national security.
Read the full article from The Diplomat.
More from CNAS
-
Trump's First 100 Days in Trade Policy
Emily and Geoff look back on the first 100 days of Trump’s trade policy, with a focus on how different parts of the U.S. political and economic system are reacting. They get i...
By Emily Kilcrease & Geoffrey Gertz
-
Red Lines and Supply Chains: Trump’s Approach to Trade and Security
The Trump administration is increasingly linking trade policy to national security. Join Emily Kilcrease, senior fellow and director of the Energy, Economics, and Security Pro...
By Emily Kilcrease
-
Ziemba: Struck By Energy Deal Between India & Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia and India have agreed to deepen energy ties and cooperate more closely on tourism and technology as the countries seek to strengthen relations at a time of turbul...
By Rachel Ziemba
-
What is President Trump’s Economic Plan?
Global financial markets plunged as investors braced themselves for a shock to the flow of international trade. Faced with prolonged market turmoil, within days the US Preside...
By Emily Kilcrease