Last updated: February 05, 2023, 3:13 PM IST
The North Korean government uses these stolen cryptos to fund its nuclear weapons programs.
Most experts agree that the North Korean government is using these stolen cryptos to fund its nuclear weapons programs.
Cryptocurrency hackers stole $3.8 billion last year, making it the worst year ever for crypto investors, compared to $3.3 billion in 2021.
October was the biggest month ever for cryptocurrency hacking, as $775.7 million was stolen in 32 separate attacks, according to Blockchain analytics platform Chainalysis.
DeFi (Decentralized Finance) protocols as victims accounted for 82.1 percent of all cryptocurrency stolen by hackers — a total of $3.1 billion — up from 73.3 percent in 2021.
Of that $3.1 billion, 64 percent came specifically from cross-chain bridge protocols.
Cross-chain bridges are protocols that allow users to port their cryptocurrency from one blockchain to another, usually by locking the user’s assets into a smart contract on the original chain and then storing equivalent assets on the second chain.
“If a bridge grows large enough, any flaw in the underlying smart contract code or other potential vulnerability will almost certainly eventually be found and exploited by adversaries,” the report said.
North Korea-affiliated hackers, such as those from the cybercrime syndicate Lazarus Group, have been by far the most prolific cryptocurrency hackers in recent years.
By 2022, they have shattered their own records for theft, stealing an estimated $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency through various hacks, the report said.
Most experts agree that the North Korean government is using these stolen cryptos to fund its nuclear weapons programs.
About $1.1 billion of that total was stolen in hacks of DeFi protocols, making North Korea one of the driving forces behind the DeFi hacking trend that will gain strength in 2022.
“In addition to DeFi protocols, hackers connected to North Korea also send large amounts of money to mixers, which have typically been the cornerstone of their money laundering process,” the report said.
For much of 2021 and 2022, hackers affiliated with North Korea almost exclusively used Tornado Cash to launder cryptocurrency stolen in hacks.
Sinbad is a relatively new custodial Bitcoin mixer that started advertising its services on the BitcoinTalk forum in October 2022.
In December 2022 and January 2023, hackers linked to North Korea sent a total of 1,429.6 Bitcoin worth about $24.2 million to the mixer, the report said.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed)
