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- 1 Concerns over North Korea’s crypto hacking groups are increasing.
- 2 Government officials predicted there must be a surge in North Korean crypto hacks.
The cyber-attacking groups from North Korea have become a major concern for crypto firms. In 2022 the hacking groups from the country stole around 3 trillion won ($2.3 billion) through scamming, and illegal exports are being naturalized against North Korean sanctions. Recently a South-Korean government official raised a concern about North Korea’s crypto hacking groups.
According to local news reports, one of the Seoul-based government officials said, “The scale of North Korea’s cybercrime-related activities suggests that the international community’s sanctions against North Korea are being rendered powerless.” As the sanctions are not impacting hackers, the officials predicted there must be a surge in North Korean crypto hacks in the coming years.
In February, the South Korean government announced its first-ever independent sanctions on North Korean hackers for hacking millions of crypto assets from various sites. According to the country’s foreign ministry report, North Korean cyber-attacks have looted around $1.2 billion of digital assets since 2017 and $626 million in 2022. Recently the South Korean government framed guidance that defines which type of crypto assets will come under securities in the country.
According to a United Nations confidential report, the scammers hacked more crypto assets in 2022 compared to 2021. US regulators believe that some of the hacking groups from North Korea, like Lazarus, use coin-mixing services for illegal activities. The FBI accused a North Korean attacker of carrying out the Ronin bridge hack earlier.
In 2022, most of the cyber attacks carried out by the Lazarus group were on the Ronin Bridge, with the loss of 173,600 ether and 25.5 million USDC, a total worth of $625 million. It used Ethereum’s Tornado Cash mixing application to deposit and withdraw crypto assets from different addresses.
Earlier in June 2022, Horizon bridge was hacked and lost around $100 million to scammers. Later in January 2023, the FBI confirmed that North Korea-linked hackers were behind the Horizon bridge hack in 2022. The report added that the hackers used the Railgun technique to steal over $60 million worth of ether tokens. Railgun is designed to provide security and privacy to crypto and DeFi users through a Zero Knowledge Proof (ZK-SNARK) Technology.
“To identify and disrupt North Korea’s theft and laundering of virtual currency, which is used to support North Korea’s ballistic missile and weapons of mass destruction programs,” the FBI said.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions stated by the author, or any people named in this article, are for informational purposes only and do not establish financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading crypto assets comes with a risk of financial loss.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.
