North Korea’s cyber army has reportedly stolen $3 billion in cryptocurrencies, with 50% of the funds allegedly being used to fund the country’s ballistic missile program. According to a recent analysis by The Wall Street Journal, state-sponsored hackers from North Korea have amassed more than $3 billion from crypto thefts over the past five years.
The stolen funds have been supplying roughly half of North Korea’s ballistic missile program, with defense accounting for a significant portion of the country’s expenditure. North Korean hacking groups account for a large portion of illicit cyber activities, as well as some of the biggest crypto heists ever, including the hack of Axie Infinity‘s Ronin blockchain, which saw hackers make off with about $625 million worth of Ethereum and USDC in one of the largest crypto hacks of all time.
The magnitude of the stolen funds poses a significant threat to the growth and security of the digital currency industry. These large-scale cyberattacks have caught the attention of the US government, further intensifying efforts to counter such activities. The US Treasury has also acknowledged the ability of North Korean hackers and scammers to exploit loopholes in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, laundering money and hiding criminal activity in the process.
North Koreans have shifted their focus from traditional espionage or cyber attack capabilities for geopolitical purposes to generating cash. US officials and researchers have been impressed by the skill of North Korea’s cybercriminals, as they have successfully executed elaborate maneuvers not observed anywhere else.
Thousands of IT workers, government officials, and freelance Japanese blockchain developers are believed to be linked to North Korea’s cybercrime operations. These illicit efforts have enabled schemes like the $81 million heist from the central bank of Bangladesh in 2016, and the rapid spread of the WannaCry worm, which netted over $100,000. However, nothing has been as lucrative as their string of crypto attacks, which began earnestly in 2018.
More recently, North Korean hackers have executed a cascading supply-chain attack, a first-of-its-kind cyber operation targeting software makers one at a time. This included the corruption of Trading Technologies’ products and 3CX software, purposed to access victims’ systems and infiltrate 3CX customers, including cryptocurrency exchanges.
In conclusion, the growing proficiency of North Korean cybercriminals and their bold cyberattacks present a substantial threat to the security and integrity of the digital currency industry. The need for heightened cyber vigilance and collaboration between governments, cybersecurity experts, and crypto exchanges is more important than ever, in an effort to counter the ongoing assault on the blockchain ecosystem.
Source: Cryptonews
