Over $1.2B in Crypto Assets Have Been Stolen by North Korean Hackers

Over the last five years, North Korean hackers have stolen cryptocurrency worth more than $1.2 billion.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS), South Korea’s top spy agency, reportedly told the Associated Press that the hackers stole more than half of their illegal cryptocurrency profits only this year.

According to the research, state-sponsored North Korean hackers have stolen $1.2 billion in digital assets from unidentified places worldwide since 2017. $626 million of the entire stolen cryptocurrency was lost by 2022. Most of the stolen cryptocurrency—more than $78 million—came from South Korea.

Since the United Nations tightened economic sanctions against North Korea in 2017, the nation has increasingly turned to cybercrime to support its faltering economy and finance its nuclear weapons development, according to the NIS, which claims that the nation’s hackers are among the finest in the world. According to the article, more restrictions were imposed in retaliation for its nuclear and missile tests.

According to the study, various North Korean exports, including coal, textiles, and seafood, were prohibited by the 2017 U.N. sections. In reaction to the COVID epidemic, the government imposed some of the strictest regulations, which caused the nation’s economy to deteriorate further.

According to the article, senior officials from the United States, South Korea, and Japan recently decided to do more to combat North Korean cybercrime due to the lucrative crypto thefts.