The modern world is gradually moving to an increasingly technological system that affects all areas of our lives, from buying goods and services, gaining new knowledge and skills, communicating with friends and colleagues to new means and methods of warfare.
As scientists rightly point out, today the development of civilization, which is viewed in the paradigm of scientific and technological progress, is approaching the development of the sixth technological mode, which is characterized by the development of
- cognitive, socio-humanitarian and educational technologies, nanobiotechnologies related to food production, medicine and pharmaceuticals and based on the achievements of molecular chemistry, biology and genetic engineering
- artificial intelligence systems and quantum technologies;
- global information networks and digital technologies;
- integrated high-speed transportation systems; new types and methods of energy production, etc.
The spread of innovations is unstoppable, but along with the positive aspects of their implementation, there are also negative ones, especially when modern technologies are used by dictatorial regimes to control the population of their countries or to monitor representatives of other states, as well as for various economic crimes and information and cyber warfare.
I would like to point out that current interstate conflicts involve not only political and military methods of struggle, but also business and domestic ones, including gambling!
It's hard to believe that the gambling market can be used to wage a modern war, but South Korean intelligence data on North Korean gambling sites indicates exactly this development.
What are we talking about? First of all, the fact that North Korea's intelligence services are using the creation of a number of cyber gambling platforms to obtain foreign currency bypassing international sanctions. In particular, this is done by an IT organization called Gyeongheung, which is part of the notorious "Room 39" of North Korea, a government department tasked with generating the country's revenue mainly from foreign sources. According to South Korea's National Intelligence Service, this organization facilitated the illegal accumulation of foreign currency by selling thousands of gambling websites to domestic crime syndicates in South Korea.
This is the first time that North Korea's involvement in domestic online gambling in the South has been revealed. According to the National Intelligence Service, the North Korean company Gyeongheung Information Technology Exchange Company is located in Dandong, China, and employs a team of 15 people who create various types of software, including gambling websites. In addition, Gyeongheung employees have administrator rights on these gambling platforms, which allows them to steal personal data of players from other countries and receive their funds from bank cards through embedded virus programs.
Russian state-owned IT structures, which are active participants in the shadow online gambling market in Ukraine and Europe, behave similarly. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the total number of illegal online gambling sites operating in the Ukrainian gambling segment exceeds the number of legal ones almost a hundred times! And illegal sites use a lot of techniques to look like legal sites (in terms of the homepage and domain name).
So, every time you want to try your luck and have fun, you should spend a few minutes to go to the CRGL website and see if the site you decide to play on is in the relevant register of legitimate companies. First of all, this is important for the military, whose personal data should not be leaked to the russians through illegal online gambling sites. Safety first - it should be a basic skill for Ukrainian players!