A study from The Wall Street Journal claims that North Korea has used cybercriminals to acquire almost $3 billion in bitcoin over the last five years.
It is thought that around half of the nuclear programme of the secretive country is financed by these stolen monies. Due to North Korea’s state’s secrecy, it is impossible to know the precise status of their nuclear programme, including the amount and complexity of its nuclear arsenal.
In this sophisticated operation, hackers pose as IT professionals or recruiters and target blockchain gaming companies like Sky Mavis, where over $600 million has reportedly been taken in a single crime.
The U.S. Treasury Department connected Lazarus, a hacking collective, to the North Korean government in 2022 after it was discovered that it had stolen a significant amount of bitcoin from the Ronin Network. The hack on this network, which serves the well-known blockchain game Axie Infinity, resulted in the theft of ether and USDC tokens valued at approximately $600 million. This hack is one of several significant assaults connected to Lazarus, including the infamous 2017 WannaCry ransomware attacks and the 2014 Sony Pictures hack.
The United States claims that North Korea has established a shadow IT workforce that is distributed across several nations and routinely works with the regime’s cybercrime activities.
North Korea’s effective execution of sophisticated cyber manoeuvres and large-scale thefts suggests that its cyber activities are becoming more technically sophisticated.
The U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash, a “mixer” accused of assisting hackers, particularly those from North Korea, in laundering the profits of their cybercrimes, in response to their illegal acts. According to reports, The Lazarus Group alone has used the business to launder at least $455 million.
