The US has linked North Korean-backed hackers to a $615 million (£469 million) cryptocurrency robbery last month from gamers of the popular online game Axie Infinity.

Players can earn cryptocurrency by participating in games or trading their avatars.

The hack is possibly one of the largest to have occurred in the crypto world’s history.

According to US officials, the breach was linked to a group dubbed “Lazarus,” which is thought to be managed by North Korea’s major intelligence agency.

“Through our investigations, we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with [North Korea], are responsible for the theft,” the FBI said in a statement on Thursday.

Lazarus Group sprang to prominence in 2014 after being accused of hacking into Sony Pictures and publicly disclosing secret information.

The group asked that Sony pull its upcoming film The Interview, a satirical comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco about an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

A United Nations panel that monitors North Korea’s compliance with international sanctions has accused Pyongyang of using stolen funds to finance its nuclear and ballistic missile programs in order to circumvent international sanctions.

“The United States is aware that the DPRK has increasingly relied on illicit activities – including cybercrime – to generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs as it tries to evade robust US and UN sanctions,” Reuters quoted a Treasury Department spokesperson as saying.

According to a 2020 US military study, North Korea’s hacking operation extends all the way back to the mid-1990s and has evolved to a 6,000-strong cyber warfare squad known as Bureau 121 that operates out of Belarus, China, India, Malaysia, and Russia.

North Korean hackers stole about $400 million (£291 million) in digital assets in at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms in 2021, one of the most successful years on record for cybercriminals in the isolated East Asian state.

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