North Korean Hackers Amass $3B in Crypto Stealing Spree Over Six Years

By: Isha Das

According to US cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, a North Korean hacker group has accumulated around $3 billion in cryptocurrency since 2017, a hefty portion of which was stolen in the past year alone. In 2022, the crypto theft reportedly outstripped the value of North Korea's entire export earnings and nearly equalled half of the nation's military expenses.

Initially, the North Korean hackers had primarily targeted South Korea for its crypto but have since diversified their reach globally. Notably, the support from the North Korean government has contributed to a significant expansion in the scale of this illegal operation, as per the findings of the report.

In a nutshell, the scale of this cyber theft underlines the increasingly prominent role of cryptocurrencies in cyber crimes. It also highlights the challenges faced by regulatory authorities around the globe to monitor and curb such illicit activities in the largely anonymous and decentralized world of digital currencies.