Now researchers from cybercrime experts Kaspersky Labs say Lazarus is launching a new wave of hacks to steal cryptocurrency to fund the brutal dictatorship of Kim Jong-un. "Victims were recorded in the UK, Poland, Russia and China,” the Kaspersky report states.

“Moreover, we were able to confirm that several of the victims are linked to cryptocurrency business entities.

“We assess that the Lazarus group has been more careful in its attacks… and they have employed a number of methods to avoid being detected.”

Lazarus is also spreading the sophisticated malware, called UnionCryptoTrader, by Telegram – a secure messaging app that has come under fire from lawmakers for allowing jihadist groups like ISIS to secretly spread its orders and vile propaganda.

Since the beginning of 2019, North Korean agents have reportedly attempted five major cyber-thefts worldwide including a successful $49million theft from an institution in Kuwait.

Kim Jong-un’s regime recently angrily denied North Korea had been using an army of hackers to siphon off $2 billion from the world’s crypto exchanges and banks.

Officials from the sanctions committee of the United Nations Security Council accused the brutal dictatorship of the mass theft of huge sums of cryptocurrency, claiming the hacks were designed to fund tyrant Kim Jong-un’s nuclear weapons programme.

A form of digital money, cryptocurrency uses encryption to secure transactions and control the creation of new units

Cryptocurrency is a form of digital cash that uses cryptography – a form of secret coding originating from the Second World War - to process transactions securely.

There is a wide array of different cryptocurrencies, the most well-known being Bitcoin, which was launched in 2009.

• Coin Rivet is a website bringing news, information, analysis, opinion and insight from the fast-moving blockchain world.