The theft of 342,000 ETH from the Upbit exchange in 2019 has been linked to North Korea, according to South Korea’s National Investigation Service. This was reported by The Block.
This marks the first time the country’s authorities have connected the crime to the neighboring state.
“[We] reached this conclusion based on a comprehensive analysis of evidence, […] including IP addresses, virtual asset flows, terminology, as well as data obtained from the FBI,” the statement reads.
Specific details were not disclosed.
The agency confirmed that Upbit was the victim of the attack.
In 2019, the stolen ETH was valued at approximately $41.5 million, now it exceeds $1 billion.
The perpetrators converted about 57% of the stolen ETH into Bitcoin at a 2.5% discount on three crypto exchanges. The remaining funds were withdrawn in fiat through 51 platforms.
South Korean police and Swiss authorities recovered 4.8 BTC of the stolen assets for Upbit.
In December 2017, the country’s National Intelligence Service reported suspicions of North Korean hackers in an attack on Bithumb, resulting in the theft of 7.6 billion KRW ($6.9 million).
Earlier in 2023, Upbit faced 159,061 hacking attempts in the first six months.
In November, South Korea’s financial intelligence unit of the FSC identified at least 500,000–600,000 potential violations of KYC procedures on the platform.
Previously, ForkLog reported that the North Korean state-associated Lazarus Group created a fake investor to target the DeFi sector.