Police are pursuing a secondary thief in connection with a virtual asset leak at the National Tax Service.
A Korean National Police Agency official said at a press briefing on the 3rd that "the first thief submitted a confession to the Cybercrime Reporting System on the 28th of last month, so on the 1st we arrested the person based on that and are tracking the secondary thief."
On the 26th of last month, the National Tax Service distributed a press release saying it had seized four cold-wallet USBs containing a delinquent taxpayer's virtual assets and mistakenly exposed the "mnemonic code" that serves as a master key. Immediately after, the virtual assets in the e-wallet were stolen; after the first thief put the coins back, another theft occurred.
On the 27th of last month, police received a request for an investigation from the National Tax Service and immediately began a pre-case inquiry at the Korean National Police Agency Cyber Terror Investigation Unit, then converted it to a formal investigation. Police have not yet specifically identified the secondary thief. A police official left open the possibility that the person whose asset was seized committed the theft and said the case is under investigation.
The scale of the virtual asset (PRTG coin) leaked from the National Tax Service is known to be 4 million coins, worth $4.8 million (about 6.9 billion won). A police official said, "The (damage) amount is still under investigation, and we are checking because the price fluctuates," adding, "the coin itself is not one that is frequently traded."
With virtual asset loss incidents recurring, police also decided to strengthen their own security level. Since the 23rd of last month, police have implemented a system for managing seized virtual assets with detailed rules across four stages: seizure preparation, seizure, storage, and transfer.
A police official also said, "We are preparing to implement a system in the first half of this year to entrust seized virtual assets to service providers for safekeeping," adding, "lastly, we plan to draw up a meticulous manual for virtual asset seizure rules and push it forward."