Report: North Korea has stolen $2 billion through cyber attacks to fund weapons program

A new United Nations report states that North Korea is using "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyberattacks to steal money in order to fund its weapons of mass destruction programs, Reuters says.

The confidential report, compiled by a group of independent experts and obtained by Reuters on Monday, was submitted last week to the U.N. Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee. The report said that by stealing money from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges, North Korea has brought in an estimated $2 billion.

The attacks are becoming harder to trace, Reuters reports, and the experts are investigating at least 35 incidents in 17 countries. These cyber actors are reportedly operating under the direction of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's top military intelligence agency.

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