North Korea behind $100m crypto theft, FBI says

• North Korean cyber actors used the privacy protocol Railgun to launder more than $60 million.
• A blockchain bridge was used to transfer cryptocurrencies between different blockchain networks.
• Cyberattacks increased by 40% between 2020 and 2021.

According to US law enforcement, North Korean hackers were responsible for the theft of $100 million in digital assets from a US crypto firm last year.

The cyber heist on crypto firm Harmony was carried out last June by North Korean hacking groups Lazarus Group and APT38, according to a statement issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Monday.

According to the FBI, North Korean cyber actors used the privacy protocol Railgun earlier this month to launder more than $60 million in Ethereum stolen during the heist, a portion of which was sent to several virtual asset service providers and converted to Bitcoin.

Harmony, based in California, announced in June that hackers had stolen $100 million in digital coins from Horizon bridge, a so-called blockchain bridge used to transfer cryptocurrencies between different blockchain networks.

The FBI, which had previously issued an advisory about a malware campaign used in the “TraderTraitor” heist, said it had frozen some of the funds with the help of some of the virtual asset service providers.

The FBI would continue to work to “identify and disrupt”

In attempts to steal and launder cryptocurrency to fund the secretive state’s illicit missile and nuclear weapons programs.

“The FBI will continue to expose and combat the DPRK’s use of illicit activities, including cybercrime and virtual currency theft, to generate revenue for the regime,” the FBI said, referring to the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea, led by third-generation dictator Kim Jong Un, has been accused by US and UN officials of orchestrating an escalating cyber theft campaign to fund its activities, which include the development of long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

South Korea’s spy agency reported in December that North Korean hackers had stolen an estimated 1.5 trillion South Korean won ($1.2 billion) in virtual assets over the previous five years, including 800 billion South Korean won ($650.5 million) in 2022 alone.

According to a report released in January last year by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, the value of assets stolen in North Korea-linked cyberattacks increased by 40% between 2020 and 2021.

Last month, Google’s anti-hacking unit revealed that North Korean hackers used South Korea’s deadly Halloween crowd crush to target internet users with malware planted in documents disguised as South Korean government reports.

The US Department of Justice charged three North Korean computer programmers in 2021 with extorting or stealing more than $1.3 billion in cash and cryptocurrency in a series of cyberattacks that began in 2014.

North Korea, which typically does not engage with international media, has denied carrying out cyberattacks overseas and accused the US and its allies of “spreading ill-hearted rumors”.

Also Read

FBI probes a gun attack on a power grid in Moore County

After shots were fired at two power plants in North Carolina, the...