According to recently published NPA cyber safety report, hackers from the Lazarus Group crime syndicate are targeting Japanese crypto companies. Officials have used ‘public attribution” to the suspects, and noted that hackers were most likely from North Korea.

NPA describes Lazarus as a’subordinate organization of North Korean authorities’. It also claims that recent cyber attacks are ‘targeting cryptocurrency-asset-related business’. Japan’s NPA notes that similar warnings have been issued by the FBI and law enforcement officials in the United States about Lazarus Group’s attack methods.

According to the NPA, hackers sent phishing emails to employees pretending they were executives of the target companies. They also attempted to ‘approach employees at the target companies’ using a fake account. Japan News details how this is the fifth warning from Japanese authorities about the Lazarus Group.

According to the report, Lazarus has not been identified by the NPA. Japan News reports that sources close to the matter believe Lazarus is responsible for both the 2018 Zaif hack and 2019 Bitpoint Japan hack.

Notice from the NPA warns against engaging in suspicious phishing emails or shady characters using disguises. Katsuyuki OKamoto, an executive at Trend Micro’s information security company, said that the NPA’s joint warning to the Financial Services Agency is useful in bringing attention.

Okamoto stated that public attribution is important because it raises public awareness about the tactics of the perpetrator and prompts people to take action.

Japan’s NPA/FSA has received the latest notice about North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile above Japan during the first week in October. Five years ago, in 2017, was the last time Pyongyang launched a missile above Japan. The tensions between the two countries are getting worse since North Korea’s latest missile provocation over Aomori Prefecture.