South Korean CEX Employee Receives Bitcoin Bribe to Leak Military Secrets to North Korea, Sentenced to 4 Years

**South Korea’s Supreme Court on December 30 sentenced a cryptocurrency exchange employee to four years in prison and banned them from working in the financial industry for four years.** The court ruled the employee—who received Bitcoin from North Korea—helped orchestrate a plot to induce a South Korean military officer to sell military secrets. North Korean hackers paid the employee roughly $487,000 in Bitcoin to recruit active-duty South Korean officers, the court found. An Army captain involved in the scheme received about $33,500 in Bitcoin. The judge noted the defendant knew their actions involved a hostile country, posed a threat to national security, and were motivated by personal financial gain. The captain was previously sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $35,000 for violating the Military Secrets Protection Act. The exchange employee was convicted under the National Security Act. The case revealed conspirators contacted the officer via a Telegram chat room, provided a hidden camera disguised as a watch, and used a USB intrusion device in an attempt to steal login credentials for the South Korea-U.S. Joint Command Control System.