North Korea is continuing to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms and exchanges, illicit money that is an important source of funding for its nuclear and missile programs, U.N. experts said in a report quoting cyber specialists. According to an unnamed government, North Korean cyber-actors stole more than $50 million between 2020 and mid-2021 from at least three cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe, and Asia.
North Korea’s cyber-actors stole a total of $400 million worth of cryptocurrency in 2021.
The experts said in the report’s section on cyber activities obtained Sunday by The Associated Press that an unidentified cybersecurity firm reported that in 2021 North Korea’s cyber-actors stole a total of $400 million worth of cryptocurrency through seven intrusions into cryptocurrency exchanges and investment firms. These cyberattacks made use of phishing lures, code exploits, malware, and advanced social engineering to siphon funds out of these organizations’ internet-connected ‘hot’ wallets into DPRK-controlled addresses, the panel said, using the initials of the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea continues to develop its nuclear programs.
The cryptocurrency funds stolen by the DPRK cyber actors go through a careful money laundering process in order to be cashed out,” the panel of experts monitoring sanctions on North Korea said in the report to the U.N. Security Council. A year ago, the panel quoted an unidentified country saying North Korea’s total theft of virtual assets from 2019 to November 2020 is valued at approximately $316.4 million. In the executive summary of the new report, the experts said North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
