According to FBI, North Korea is responsible for $100 million cryptocurrency theft

According to US law enforcement, North Korean hackers stole $100 million worth of digital assets from a US crypto business last year.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed in a statement on Monday that the cyber robbery on cryptocurrency firm Harmony was carried out by the North Korean hacking outfits Lazarus Group and APT38 in June of last year.

The FBI reported that early this month, North Korean cyber criminals utilized the privacy protocol Railgun to launder more than $60 million in stolen Ethereum, some of which was routed to various virtual asset service providers and converted to Bitcoin.

California-based Harmony revealed in June that hackers had stolen $100 million in digital currency via Horizon bridge, a so-called blockchain bridge used to transfer cryptocurrencies across several blockchain networks.

The FBI said that it had frozen some of the cash with the assistance of some of the virtual asset service providers after previously issuing an advisory about a malware campaign known as “TraderTraitor” that was utilized in the crime.

According to the FBI, it will continue to “detect and disrupt” attempts to steal and launder cryptocurrencies used to fund the covert state’s illegal missile and nuclear weapons programs.

The use of illegal activities by the DPRK to fund its regime, including cybercrime and virtual currency theft, will continue to be exposed and combated, the FBI stated, using the acronym for the nation’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Third-generation dictator Kim Jong Un is in charge of North Korea, which is suspected by US and UN authorities of directing an expanding cybertheft operation to finance its projects, including the creation of long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.

According to South Korea’s spy agency, North Korean hackers stole an estimated $1.2 billion worth of virtual assets over the course of the previous five years, including 800 billion won ($650.5 million) in 2022 alone.

In a report published in January of last year, the blockchain analysis company Chainalysis claimed that from 2020 to 2021, the value of assets stolen in cyberattacks connected to North Korea increased by 40%.