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North Korean hackers proceed to threaten the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem, having stolen an estimated $2 billion of crypto over the previous 5 years.
Blockchain intelligence agency TRM Labs launched its newest deep dive into the murky world of cryptocurrency-related hacking, specializing in the exploits of North Korean cybercriminals. Based on TRM Labs’ information, North Korea has stolen round $200 million of crypto in 2023, accounting for 20% of all stolen funds this yr.
North Korean cyberattacks are estimated to be 10 occasions bigger than assaults by different malicious actors. Hackers from the nation have additionally honed in on the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, preying on cross-chain bridges that proceed to deal with a major quantity of cryptocurrency transfers.
Associated: North Korea stole extra crypto in 2022 than every other yr: UN report
Cross-chain hacks, such because the Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge hack, resulted in $650 million of crypto stolen, with North Korean hackers collectively stealing around $800 million in three separate attacks in 2022 alone.
The methods used to carry out these cyberattacks vary, with phishing and supply chain attacks involving compromised private keys and seed phrases.
TRM Labs notes that North Korean hackers have become more industrious with on-chain laundering methods. In the past, cryptocurrency exchanges had been used to cash out stolen cryptocurrency, but this has evolved into highly complex “multi-stage money laundering processes.”
Hackers have evolved their methods in response to aggressive sanctions by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, law enforcement operations and improved blockchain tracing tools. TRM Labs unpacked North Korea’s 2023 Atomic Wallet hack as an example of the obfuscation methods now being used by hackers from the sanctioned state.
The incident occurred in June 2023, when hackers targeted noncustodial wallet provider Atomic Wallet and made off with $100 million of cryptocurrency from 4,100 addresses. TRM Labs speculates that a phishing or supply chain attack likely made the exploit possible.
Hackers drained user wallets across the Ethereum, Tron, Bitcoin, XRP, Dogecoin, Stellar and Litecoin blockchains, sending the stolen funds to new wallets.
ERC-20 and TRC-20 tokens were swapped to Ether (ETH) and Tron (TRX) using decentralized exchanges before being laundered with a mix of automated programs, mixers and cross-chain swaps.
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