TRM Labs predicts that in 2023 alone, hackers from North Korea will steal $200 million worth of cryptocurrencies.
Hackers from North Korea have stolen an estimated $2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, posing a constant danger to the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.
North Korean cybercrime was the target of Blockchain intelligence outfit TRM Labs’ newest investigation into the murky realm of cryptocurrency-related hacking. TRM Labs estimates that North Korea is responsible for 20% of all cryptocurrency theft in 2023, or over $200 million.
It is believed that North Korean cyberattacks are ten times greater than those of other harmful actors. The country’s hackers have also targeted the DeFi ecosystem, namely the cross-chain bridges that continue to process a high amount of crypto transactions.
Six hundred and fifty million dollars worth of crypto was lost in a cross-chain theft, such as the Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge hack, and North Korean hackers stole over $800 million in three distinct assaults in 2022.
These assaults may be carried out in a variety of ways, including via phishing and supply chain attacks that make use of compromised private keys and seed phrases.
According to TRM Labs, North Korean hackers have gotten more productive with on-chain laundering techniques. Stolen digital currency was first cashed out via cryptocurrency exchanges this practise has now grown into sophisticated “multi-stage money laundering processes.”
As the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has implemented stricter penalties, law enforcement has ramped up operations, and blockchain tracking tools have improved, hackers have adapted their approaches. TRM Labs decoded a North Korean breach of the 2023 Atomic Wallet to demonstrate the sophistication with which hackers from the sanctioned state are now protecting their work.
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