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North Korean hackers robbed cryptocurrency worth about 400 million dollars last year in at least seven major attacks on crypto platforms. "only 20% of the money stolen was bitcoin... and for the first time, ether accounted for the majority of the funds stolen at 58%," said chainalysis blockchain data analytics company.
north korean hackers stole $400 million in crypto last year
blockchain analytics platform chainalysis published an analysis on north korean hackers and their unlaundered cryptocurrency holdings thursday. The business described:
north korean cybercriminals had a banner year in 2021, launching at least seven attacks on cryptocurrency platforms that extracted nearly $400 million worth of digital assets last year.
"These attacks targeted mainly investment firms and centralized exchanges," the company explains.
The pirates "used phishing decoys, code exploits, malware, and advanced social engineering' to siphon funds from hot corporate portfolios to addresses controlled by the democratic people's republic of korea (dprk), Chainalysis added, elaborating:
once north korea gained custody of the funds, they began a careful laundering process to cover up and cash out.
Chainalysis noted that in 2021, North Korea's piracy activity was up one more time. From 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-related hacks increased from four to seven, and the value extracted from those hacks increased by 40%."
The company also detailed that Bitcoin now represents less than a quarter of the cryptocurrency stolen by North Korea, adding:
in 2021, only 20% of the stolen funds were bitcoin, whereas 22% were either erc-20 tokens or altcoins. and for the first time ever, ether accounted for a majority of the funds stolen at 58%.
"over 65% of the money stolen by north korea has been laundered by blenders this year, this is 42% in 2020 and 21% in 2019, suggesting that these threat actors have taken a more cautious approach each year," the firm concluded.
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