More Than $500 Million in Crypto Stolen in North Korea-Sponsored Hacks, Study Shows

A new study shows North Korea is now responsible for 65% of all crypto exchange hacks.

According to the cybersecurity firm Group-IB, a North Korea-sponsored hacker group that calls itself “Lazarus” has stolen $571 million worth of crypto since the start of 2017. That’s about 65% of the $882 million in crypto stolen over the last 22 months.

“In 2017 and 2018 hackers’ interest in crypto currency exchanges ramped up. A total of 14 crypto currency exchanges have been attacked, suffering a total loss of $882 million.

At least five attacks have been linked to the North Korean hackers from Lazarus state-sponsored group. ICOs are another hackers’ target: approximately 56% of all money siphoned off from ICOs were stolen through phishing attacks. Group-IB experts predict that the biggest miners may become the target not only of cybercriminals, but also of state-sponsored groups.”

Lazarus is linked to the massive hack on Japan’s cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, which happened back in January and led to the loss of about $532 million worth of NEM.

The hack triggered increased scrutiny by Japan’s financial watchdog. Coincheck pledged to reimburse all of its customers’ assets.

You can download the full report here.

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