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North Korean hackers said to have stolen nearly $400 million in cryptocurrency last year
North Korean hackers stole nearly $400 million worth of cryptocurrency in 2021, making it one of the most lucrative years to date for cybercriminals in the severely isolated country, according to a new report.
Hackers launched at least seven different attacks last year, primarily targeting investment firms and centralized exchanges with a variety of tactics, including phishing, malware and social engineering, according to the report from Chainalysis, a firm that tracks cryptocurrency. The cybercriminals worked to gain access to organizations' "hot" wallets — digital wallets that are connected to the internet — and then move funds into DPRK-controlled accounts.
The thefts are the latest indication that the heavily sanctioned country continues to rely on a network of hackers to help fund its domestic programs. A confidential United Nations report previously accused the regime of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, of conducting "operations against financial institutions and virtual currency exchange houses" to pay for weapons and keep North Korea's economy afloat.
Last February, the US Justice Department charged three North Koreans for conspiring to steal more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies around the world and orchestrating digital heists of cryptocurrency.
"North Korea is, in most respects, cut off from the global financial system by a long sanctions campaign by the US and foreign partners." said Nick Carlsen, analyst at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. "As a result they have taken to the digital battlefield to steal crypto in, essentially, [a] bank robbery at the speed of the internet, to fund weapons programs, nuclear proliferation and other destabilizing activities."
The North Korean hacking efforts have benefited from the surging value of cryptocurrencies. The rise in cryptocurrency prices and usage has generally made digital assets increasingly attractive to malicious actors, leading to more blockbuster crypto heists in 2021.
According to Chainalysis, most of last year's thefts were carried out by the Lazarus Group, a hacking group with links to North Korea that has previously been linked to the hack on Sony Pictures, among other incidents. The group has been hit with US sanctions.
There is little the United States or other countries can practically do to combat the North Korean crypto hacking activities, other than sanctions and defensive cybersecurity measures, as criminals face no real chance of extradition.
As the cryptocurrency market grows more popular, "we are likely to see continued interest by North Korea to target crypto businesses that are young and building out cyber defenses and anti-money laundering controls," said Carlsen.
Cryptocurrencies tumble, with bitcoin falling 15% and ether down 20%
Bitcoin prices fell sharply on Friday, while ether prices also dived, wiping off nearly $150 billion from the crypto market.
Bitcoin fell about 15% and was trading around $36,000 late Friday, according to Coin Metrics. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, dived about 20% to trade around $2,500.
The declines in cryptocurrencies follow Wall Street losses on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite lost 7.6% this week, and the S&P 500 fell 5.7% for its third straight weekly decline.
Rising rates have prompted investors to shed positions in riskier assets. Earlier this week, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield traded above 1.9%.
The Federal Reserve have also indicated it plans to begin reducing its balance sheet, as well as tapering of bonds and raising interest rates.
Cryptocurrencies tumble, with bitcoin falling 15% and ether down 20%
Bitcoin prices fell sharply on Friday, while ether prices also dived, wiping off nearly $150 billion from the crypto market.
Bitcoin fell about 15% and was trading around $36,000 late Friday, according to Coin Metrics. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, dived about 20% to trade around $2,500.
The declines in cryptocurrencies follow Wall Street losses on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite lost 7.6% this week, and the S&P 500 fell 5.7% for its third straight weekly decline.
Rising rates have prompted investors to shed positions in riskier assets. Earlier this week, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield traded above 1.9%.
The Federal Reserve have also indicated it plans to begin reducing its balance sheet, as well as tapering of bonds and raising interest rates.
A common investment case for bitcoin is that it serves as a hedge against rising inflation as a result of government stimulus, but analysts are saying the risk is that a more hawkish Federal Reserve may take the wind out of bitcoin’s sails.
As yields pulled back later in the week, however, foreign exchange trading firm Oanda senior market analyst Edward Moya said it was “a little disappointing to not see bitcoin react more positively to the reversal in Treasury yields.”
Bitcoin prices have fallen sharply since November, tumbling more than 40% from a record high of about $69,000.
In a Thursday note, Oanda’s Moya had predicted that bitcoin could tumble below $40,000 as Russia’s central bank had proposed a ban over the use and mining of cryptocurrencies on Russian territory, claiming the digital currency poses a risk to “financial stability and monetary policy sovereignty.”
Russia is among the top three countries for bitcoin mining, he noted.
This has been in the talks for a while now. The problem with any Fed electronic currency is it can be tracked and with that comes a social credit score, take China for example. I believe if and when the Fed goes total digital currency on us there will be other forms of barter without Fed involvement for tax purposes.
I wont go on about taxation and our government, they have wasted billions on unsuccessful military occupations in other countries, yet still squeeze the taxpayers while driving up the deficit each and every year.
FYI, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have fallen sharply, wiping around $300 billion worth of value from the combined crypto market in just two days.
This is why you use the expcange to purchase the crypto and then you are supposed to transfer it to your cold storage wallet off exchange and offline. Then it cannot be hacked.
Of course, the government is preparing for the fact that sooner or later we will have to switch to crypto.
I doubt that. The governments are not going to give some internet company control of government funds. Also the crypto companies are going to want actual assets to purchase crypto. The majority of government funds are nothing more than numbers on a spreadsheet.
$600 million gone: The biggest crypto theft in history!
Hackers have stolen some $600 million in cryptocurrency from the decentralized finance platform Poly Network, in what it says is the largest theft in the industry's history.
A vulnerability in Poly Network allowed the thief to make off with the funds, the platform said Tuesday, begging the attacker to return the money.
"The amount of money you hacked is the biggest one in the defi history," Poly Network wrote in a letter to the attacker it posted to Twitter. "The money you stole are from tens of thousands of crypto community members... you should talk to us to work out a solution."
$33 million of Tether, according to Tether's CTO. (In a statement, Tether later said it froze the assets within 20 minutes of learning of the attack.) The cryptocurrency exchange Binance said it was "coordinating with all our security partners to actively help." Poly Network links together the blockchains of multiple virtual currencies to create interoperability among them.
Following the hack, Poly Network established several addresses to which it said the attacker could return the money. And it appears the hacker is cooperating: As of 7:47 a.m. ET Wednesday, Poly Network said, it had received about $4.7 million back. It was not immediately clear who was behind the hack.
By noon, much more money, about $261 million, had been returned, according to the blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis. In notes appended to some of the transactions, Chainalysis said, the attacker claimed to have hacked Poly Network "for fun " and that he or she undertook the attack as a challenge.
"I take the responsibility to expose the vulnerability before any insiders hiding and exploiting it!" the attacker wrote. "I understood the risk of exposing myself even if I don't do evil. So I used temporary email, IP or _so called_ fingerprint, which were untraceable. I prefer to stay in the dark and save the world."
Once the hack had gained the world's attention, there was virtually no way for the hacker to safely withdraw the funds, Chainalysis said, because every transaction is recorded and traceable.
"With the inherent transparency of blockchains and the eyes of an entire industry on you, how could any cryptocurrency hacker expect to escape with a large cache of stolen funds?" the company wrote in its report. "In most cases, the best they could hope for would be to evade capture as the funds sit frozen in a blacklisted private wallet."
Regulators have increased their scrutiny of crypto platforms as investors pour billions of dollars into digital currencies. Senator Elizabeth Warren recently asked SEC Chair Gary Gensler to investigate the SEC's ability to oversee trading on crypto platforms.
In response, last week, Gensler said: "Right now, I believe investors using these platforms are not adequately protected."
$600 million gone: The biggest crypto theft in history!
Hackers have stolen some $600 million in cryptocurrency from the decentralized finance platform Poly Network, in what it says is the largest theft in the industry's history.
A vulnerability in Poly Network allowed the thief to make off with the funds, the platform said Tuesday, begging the attacker to return the money.
"The amount of money you hacked is the biggest one in the defi history," Poly Network wrote in a letter to the attacker it posted to Twitter. "The money you stole are from tens of thousands of crypto community members... you should talk to us to work out a solution."
Poly Network urged other members of the cryptocurrency ecosystem to "blacklist" the assets coming from addresses used by the attacker to siphon away the funds — which included a mix of various coins including $33 million of Tether, according to Tether's CTO. (In a statement, Tether later said it froze the assets within 20 minutes of learning of the attack.) The cryptocurrency exchange Binance said it was "coordinating with all our security partners to actively help." Poly Network links together the blockchains of multiple virtual currencies to create interoperability among them.
Following the hack, Poly Network established several addresses to which it said the attacker could return the money. And it appears the hacker is cooperating: As of 7:47 a.m. ET Wednesday, Poly Network said, it had received about $4.7 million back. It was not immediately clear who was behind the hack.
By noon, much more money, about $261 million, had been returned, according to the blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis. In notes appended to some of the transactions, Chainalysis said, the attacker claimed to have hacked Poly Network "for fun " and that he or she undertook the attack as a challenge.
"I take the responsibility to expose the vulnerability before any insiders hiding and exploiting it!" the attacker wrote. "I understood the risk of exposing myself even if I don't do evil. So I used temporary email, IP or _so called_ fingerprint, which were untraceable. I prefer to stay in the dark and save the world."
Once the hack had gained the world's attention, there was virtually no way for the hacker to safely withdraw the funds, Chainalysis said, because every transaction is recorded and traceable.
"With the inherent transparency of blockchains and the eyes of an entire industry on you, how could any cryptocurrency hacker expect to escape with a large cache of stolen funds?" the company wrote in its report. "In most cases, the best they could hope for would be to evade capture as the funds sit frozen in a blacklisted private wallet."
Regulators have increased their scrutiny of crypto platforms as investors pour billions of dollars into digital currencies. Senator Elizabeth Warren recently asked SEC Chair Gary Gensler to investigate the SEC's ability to oversee trading on crypto platforms.
In response, last week, Gensler said: "Right now, I believe investors using these platforms are not adequately protected."
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