Hackers in North Korea stole a complete of $659 million in crypto throughout a number of heists in 2024, in response to a joint statement issued at present by the US, Japan, and South Korea. The report specified 5 such incidents, just like the $235 million theft from the Indian crypto alternate WazirX that’s being newly attributed to the Lazarus Group. That group is estimated to have stolen billions throughout earlier assaults over the past decade, together with $625 million stolen from Axie Infinity in 2022.
As lately as September 2024, america authorities noticed aggressive concentrating on of the cryptocurrency trade by the DPRK with well-disguised social engineering assaults that in the end deploy malware, corresponding to TraderTraitor, AppleJeus and others. The Republic of Korea and Japan have noticed comparable developments and ways utilized by the DPRK.
A warning issued by the FBI last September famous that their strategies to realize entry for delivering these payloads embody “individualized faux eventualities,” corresponding to engaging victims with potential jobs and enterprise alternatives. All three international locations suggested companies within the trade to take a look at the newest warning to cut back their threat of “inadvertently hiring DPRK IT employees,” as described in this recent report by CoinDesk.
They’ve additionally used long-time frequent phishing ways in opposition to staff of crypto corporations, corresponding to convincing impersonations of trusted contacts or distinguished individuals of curiosity in associated industries, with lifelike photographs and knowledge doubtless lifted from public social media accounts of recognized connections.
