Virtual currency hacking damage caused by North Korea in 2023 will exceed 80 billion yen = Report

Involved in one-third of total damage

TRM Labs, an American blockchain intelligence company, announced in its latest report on the 5th that in 2023, the amount of damage caused by hacking of crypto assets (virtual currency) believed to be related to North Korea will be approximately 86.5 billion yen (6 billions of dollars).

North Korean hackers stole USD 600 million in crypto in 2023, TRM Labs research shows. Read the story now: https://t.co/dyNmTcVzcP

— TRM Labs (@trmlabs) January 5, 2024

Furthermore, if North Korea was involved in the attack on Orbit Chain that occurred late last year, the total damage could reach 100 billion yen ($700 million).

According to the TRM Institute, the amount of damage caused by North Korea’s virtual currency hacking in 2023 decreased by 30% from 122.3 billion yen ($850 million) the previous year, but it still accounts for one-third of the total amount of damage caused by all hacking. occupies

Additionally, hacking incidents in which North Korea is said to have been involved cause, on average, 10 times more damage than other incidents, and since 2017, North Korea has stolen approximately 431.8 billion yen ($3 billion) in virtual currency. It is said that

North Korean hacker tactics

According to the report, North Korean hackers typically gain unauthorized access to users’ private keys or seed phrases and transfer their assets to wallet addresses controlled by North Korean operatives.

The stolen cryptocurrencies are then mainly exchanged for stablecoins USDT and Tron, which are converted into hard currency by large OTC brokers.

The TRM Institute pointed out that “North Korea’s money laundering methods are constantly evolving to evade international law enforcement pressure.”

North Korea has moved away from the virtual currency mixing service “Tornado Cash,” which was sanctioned by US judicial authorities and whose founder was indicted, and “ChipMixer,” which was shut down by German and US authorities, and has replaced it with the Bitcoin mixing service “Sinbad.” He says he has shifted his focus.

Then, at the end of November last year, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Sinbad for being used as a money laundering tool by the North Korean cybercrime group Lazarus. The search continues, the report said.

connection:US Department of Justice indicts Tornado Cash founder on charges of aiding and abetting money laundering of over 140 billion yen

connection:US authorities seize 6.2 billion yen worth of Bitcoin and shut down virtual currency mixer ChipMixer

More vigilance required

TRM Institute warns that despite exchanges’ significant advances in cybersecurity and increased international cooperation in tracking and recovering stolen funds, more cybercrime is likely to occur in 2024 are doing.

Ali Redboard, TRM’s director of legal and government affairs, said North Korean hackers do not commit crimes “out of greed, money, or a typical hacker mentality.” The motive was to “take funds and use them for weapons proliferation and other types of disruptive activities,” it claimed, and could pose a “global threat.”

Addressing North Korea’s cybercrime problem is critical from a national security perspective, and the country’s “excellent hacking capabilities require continued vigilance and innovation by businesses and governments,” the report said. Concluded.

connection:Japan has the world’s largest amount of virtual currency hacked by North Korea, worth 98 billion yen = Nikkei

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