Since 2018, North Korean criminal groups have stolen digital assets totaling $2 billion across more than 30 incidents. This is according to a report by TRM Labs.
In the first seven months of 2023 alone, North Korean hackers stole about $200 million in cryptocurrency, accounting for 20% of the total hacks during that period.
However, analysts noted that the criminals slowed significantly compared with the previous year, when they drained about $800 million. The main targets of the groups at that time were cross-chain bridges.
According to the Федерального бюро расследований США, the Lazarus group carried out the largest hack of a crypto project in history, stole $625 million from the Ronin Bridge in March 2022.
«North Korea uses vulnerabilities in the ecosystem in various ways, including through phishing and supply-chain attacks, as well as infrastructure breaches that involve compromising a private key or seed phrase», experts said.
In addition, researchers noted the evolution of methods for laundering stolen assets.
On June 3, 2023, North Korean hackers attacked users of the Atomic Wallet crypto wallet — according to various estimates, the damage amounted to more than $100 million. Later, the attackers transferred 503 ETH to the THORChain platform and exchanged the assets for Bitcoin.
According to UN data, in 2022 North Korean hackers stole a record amount of cryptocurrency and targeted networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies.
South Korea puts the damage at $630 million, while cybersecurity experts put it at more than $1 billion. In turn, Chainalysis analysts say about $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency obtained from cyberattacks.
The UN has repeatedly warned, that North Korea continues to develop its nuclear program, with funds obtained from attacks on Bitcoin exchanges becoming an important source of financing. In 2019, sanctions observers said that North Korea had received about $2 billion for these purposes over several years.