North Korean hackers have reportedly stolen billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency as part of an effort to fund its missile program. The rogue state’s dictator Kim Jong Un is allegedly training criminals to impersonate tech workers and employers to execute sophisticated schemes that have reportedly earned North Korea a whopping $3 billion.
What Happened: Anne Neuberger, President Joe Biden's deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, spoke out against these heists. She told WSJ: "The real surge in the last year has been against central crypto infrastructure around the world that hold large sums, like Sky Mavis, leading to more large-scale heists."
Notably, Sky Mavis is the company behind the blockchain-based game “Axie Infinity,” where players battle virtual creatures called Axies.
North Korea has reportedly built a secret workforce of thousands of people around the world to help with its cyber attacks. These individuals are trained to pretend to be IT or tech workers and even conduct interviews with unsuspecting targets, posing as employers to lure them in.
The regime allegedly uses Western “front people” to get themselves hired at crypto companies. These actors then gain internal access to the company and leverage their position to enable the hackers to steal cryptocurrency.
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Why It Matters: This comes after an engineer last year from Sky Marvis was targeted by North Korean hackers. WSJ reports that after being contacted by a recruiter through LinkedIn, the engineer was sent a document claiming it was part of the interview process. However, the document was actually a malicious bit of computer code that allowed the hackers to access the engineer’s computer.
This breach then allowed the hackers to break into Sky Mavis and steal over $600 million – North Korea’s largest heist to date. Ronin Network was the blockchain that housed Axie Infinity. The game was continually rising in popularity over the course of the last year or so, but the largest hack in crypto history halted its growth.
The U.S. Treasury Department had identified the hackers as the Lazarus Group, a team of hackers from North Korea.
According to Neiberger: “Most nation-state cyber programs are focused on espionage or attack capabilities for traditional geopolitical purposes. The North Koreans are focused on theft, on hard currency to get around the rigor of international sanctions.”
Crypto heists, which involve sophisticated schemes and social engineering tactics to gain cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD, which highlight the need for increased cybersecurity measures in the cryptocurrency sector.
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