North Korea Stole Over $1 Billion in Crypto Assets

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Pyongyang. Source: Adobe/Oleg Znamenskiy

North Korean government-sponsored hackers have stolen more than $1 billion worth of digital assets since 2017.

South Korea’s main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, has revealed that North Korean hackers have stolen around 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in crypto assets over the past five years. , according to a report by AP News.

More than half of that tally, or about 800 billion won ($626 million), has been stolen so far this year. Additionally, more than 100 billion won ($78 million) of the total came from South Korea.

The NIS claimed that North Korea’s focus on cybercrime has made the country one of the best in the world when it comes to crypto theft. The country has specifically turned to cybercrime since 2017 after tougher UN economic sanctions in response to its nuclear and missile tests.

The AP report noted that North Korea is using the stolen crypto assets to fund its nuclear program and prop up its fragile economy which has steadily shrunk over the past two years amid tough US sanctions. UN and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NIS expects North Korean hackers to further increase their illicit cyber activities in 2023 to steal advanced South Korean technologies and confidential South Korean foreign policy and national security information.

Earlier this month, Japan, South Korea and the United States announced new sanctions against North Korean officials linked to the country’s weapons program. The move comes as North Korea has carried out a record number of missile tests this year despite its economic difficulties.

In early August, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on crypto mixer Tornado Cash for its alleged role in money laundering operations.

At the time, the department alleged that the mixing service had been used to launder more than $7 billion worth of crypto since 2019, including the laundering of around $1 billion for North Korean-sponsored cybercriminals. the Lazarus group.

As reported, North Korean hacker group Lazarus is behind the Axie Infinity Ronin blockchain hack that saw hackers grab around $625 million worth of Ethereum and USDC in the blockchain. one of the greatest crypto hacks of all time.

North Korea has repeatedly denied it was seeking to hack crypto and has refuted accusations surrounding the Lazarus Group, which has previously been accused of orchestrating the 2014 Sony Pictures hack and the Wannacry ransomware attacks in 2017.

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