South Korea's Lee pushes cybersecurity 'czar' body after Binance hack

After an October 29 theft of about $6.3 billion from crypto exchange Binance’s internet-connected hot wallets, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung asked officials at a Blue House cabinet meeting to study creating a powerful cybersecurity tsar body to oversee responsibilities currently divided among many government offices. The FBI blamed North Korea on October 31 for the theft, which involved ten blockchains. Several South Korean financial firms, including Mirae Asset Global Investments, Bithumb and Daishin Securities, have also been hacked recently, some exposing customer data. The National Intelligence Service began emergency checks at more than 2,100 ministries, local governments and public offices, and officials must still decide the proposed agency’s structure and powers.