‘North Korea-linked hackers stole $659 million in cryptocurrency in 2024’
Tokyo, Jan 14 (EFE).- Hackers linked to North Korea stole at least $659.1 million in cryptocurrency in 2024 as it continued to engage in malicious cyber activities to finance its illicit weapons program, according to a joint statement by South Korea, the United States and Japan on Tuesday.
This is the first time that the three nations have jointly identified North Korea-linked thefts of cryptocurrency and their targeted entities in a public statement.
“Advanced persistent threat groups affiliated with the DPRK, including the Lazarus Group, which was designated by the relevant authorities of our three countries, continue to demonstrate a pattern of malicious behavior in cyberspace by conducting numerous cybercrime campaigns to steal cryptocurrency and targeting exchanges, digital asset custodians, and individual users,” said the statement.
In 2024 alone, the three governments jointly attributed to Pyongyang thefts of virtual assets from the companies DMM Bitcoin ($308 million), Upbit ($50 million), and Rain Management ($16.1 million).
In addition, the US and South Korea also attributed thefts against WazirX of $235 million and Radiant Capital of $50 million to the secretive country.
According to observations by the three nations, North Korea has ‘aggressively targeted’ the cryptocurrency industry using “well-disguised social engineering attacks that ultimately deploy malware.”
In the case of Japan’s DMM, an investigation revealed that an employee of a company that manages DMM’s cryptocurrency accounts was contacted through LinkedIn by a person posing as a headhunter.
The criminal then accessed the wallet management system using malware and falsified transaction amounts and remittance destinations, according to police.
North Korea’s cyber program “poses a significant threat to the integrity and stability of the international financial system,” the three countries warned.
They added that they continue to work together to prevent thefts and to “recover stolen funds with the ultimate goal of denying [North Korea] illicit revenue for its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.”
Last month, Chainalysis, a US-based cryptocurrency analytics firm, published its analysis of the activities of North Korean-affiliated hackers, noting that they stole $1.34 billion in a total of 47 incidents.
If confirmed, this figure would mark a significant jump from the approximately $660.50 million in 20 incidents recorded in 2023, according to data from the same source. EFE
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