North Korean hackers are said to have stolen $1,300,000,000 in crypto in 2024, an estimated 61% of the total funds swiped this year

HardwareNorth Korean hackers are said to have stolen $1,300,000,000 in crypto in 2024, an estimated 61% of the total funds swiped this yearWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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If you’ve experienced a crypto-jacking from an online exchange in the past twelve months, there’s a decent chance your cyber cash may have been the victim of a North Korean hack. That’s according toa reportfrom blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, which says that a massive $1.3 billion worth of stolen internet funny money this year can be attributed to the actions of state-sponsored North Korean hackers.

“In 2023, North Korea-affiliated hackers stole approximately $660.50 million across 20 incidents; in 2024, this number increased to $1.34 billion stolen across 47 incidents—a 102.88% increase in value stolen” says the report (viaBleeping Computer).

A number of large scale hacks are primarily to blame, according to the report, although small scale attacks appear to also be on the rise.

Notable high-profile incidents in 2024 attributed to North Korean-sponsored hackers includea $50 million heist of Radiant Capital, “acryptocurrencythat operates on an omnichain money market, aiming to consolidate fragmented liquidity across various blockchain protocols.”

Yep. Anyway, Chainalysis says that while the number of crypto thefts overall is the highest its ever been this year, with 303 major incidents reported, 2022 still remains supreme when it comes to most money stolen, with a staggering$3.7 billion in cryptoestimated to have been lost.

Regardless, that $1.3 billion figure accounts for 61% of the $2.2 billion total of funds stolen from crypto platforms in 2024, according to the report.

Most of the incidents were said to occur between January and July, when 72% of the total yearly value was pilfered. The analysts noted that DPRK-associated hackers conducted more frequent attacks than average over the year as a whole, which may indicate more capacity to execute large-scale attacks than years previous.

Earlier this year, it was reported that CoinStats, a cryptocurrency portfolio management app with over 1.5 million users, suffered a security breach thatcompromised 1,590 crypto wallets.The attack was blamed on North Korean hackers, specifically theLazarus hacking group, a shadowy organisation said to be made up of an unknown number of individuals allegedly working for the government of North Korea.

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The group has previously been blamed for multiple online crimes, including a $12 million cyber heist from the Bandcom Del Austro in Ecuador, and anattack on the Bangladesh Bankin which 35 fraudulent transactions were issued via theSWIFT networkto transfer close to $1 billion in funds.

Only five of the transactions were successful, but it still amounted to $101 million being transferred to accounts traced to the Phillipines and Sri Lanka.

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