The North Korean regime is stepping up efforts to obtain funding for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Last week, $ 1 billion was stolen by the North Koreans. This is the eighth year the North Korea has committed the theft
North Korean hackers are behind the theft of up to $ 100 million worth of cryptocurrencies last week from an American company. The North Korean regime is stepping up efforts to obtain funding for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The assets were stolen on June 23 from Horizon Bridge, a service that allows assets to be transferred to others, three digital investigation companies claim.
The activity of the hackers since the robbery suggests that they may be linked to North Korea, and are among the most prolific cyber attackers. The style of attack and the high speed of payments, and the manner in which the theft was carried out to obscure the source of the funds, are similar to previous attacks attributed to other North Korean-related thieves, a blockchain company working to investigate the attack has released the findings.
“Initially it looks like a North Korean hack based on the behavior of a regular deal,” said Nick Carlsen, a former FBI analyst currently investigating North Korea’s cryptocurrency robbery for TRM Labs, a U.S.-based company.
North Korean hackers thought to be behind $100m cryptocurrency heist https://t.co/kHDtX6NsfE
— The Guardian (@guardian) June 30, 2022
There are strong indications that North Korea’s Lazarus group may be responsible for this theft, based on the nature of the subsequent hacking and laundering of the stolen funds, another company, Elliptic, said in a report on Thursday. “The thief is trying to obscure the trace of the transaction back to the original theft,” the report said. “It facilitates the redemption of funds on the stock exchange.”
Last week’s attack will be the eighth this year – which includes a billion dollars in stolen money that can be safely attributed to North Korea, the thefts make up 60% of all the money stolen so far this year. The foreign regime has resources for stealing cryptocurrencies in recent years and was responsible for one of the largest cryptocurrencies recorded in March this year, in which nearly $ 615 million was stolen, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
But North Korea’s ability to redeem its stolen assets could be hurt by a recent slump in cryptocurrency markets, which apparently mimicked millions of dollars from the regime’s money. If the crypto collapse continues, experts believe North Korea will look for other ways to fund its missile program.