North Korea has long been deemed as a notorious agent in the cryptocurrency industry especially after the Ronin hack. To further reiterate it, a United Nations report has claimed that North Korean hackers stole more crypto assets in 2022 than they have in any other year.
As per reports, the highly confidential UN report was apparently submitted to a 15-member North Korea sanctions committee last week and is due for public release by early March.
The report discovered that North Korean-linked hackers were responsible for stolen crypto assets that amounted to between $630 million and more than $1 billion last year after the hackers attacked foreign aerospace networks and defense companies.
Interestingly the UN report also pointed out the growing sophistication in the manner that these hacks were conducted. The report said that cyber attacks were more organized and detailed than they were in previous years which makes it evermore difficult for officials to trace the stolen funds.
The UN report has alleged that North Korea's intelligence bureau, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, uses hacking groups like Kimsuky, Lazarus Group and Andariel for cybercrimes. The report further stated that these groups target victims for creating revenue and solicit valuable information to the DPRK, including its weapons programmes.
"[North Korea] used increasingly sophisticated cyber techniques both to gain access to digital networks involved in cyber finance, and to steal information of potential value, including to its weapons programmes.".
Recently, a blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis also reported that North Korean hackers have overall stolen $1.7 billion worth of cryptos in 2022, which made 2022 the worst-ever year in terms of crypto hacking .
Chainalysis had also alleged that North Korea's total exports in 2020 was $142 million worth of goods, which could possibly imply that cryptocurrency hacking is a sizable chunk of the nation's economy. North Korean hackers are most likely to make large stolen transfers using mixers like Tornado Cash and Sinbad.
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