In a new analysis from blockchain expert Chainalysis released Thursday (13/1/2022), revealed in the last year there were at least seven attacks by North Korea on cryptocurrency platforms that extracted nearly USD 400 million worth of digital assets.
"From 2020 to 2021, the number of hacks related to North Korea jumped from four to seven and the value extracted from these hacks grew by 40%," the analysis quoted us from The Guardian as saying.
"Once North Korea gets the rights to the funds, they begin a careful laundering process to cover and cash in." he continued.
The UN panel of experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea accuses Pyongyang of using stolen funds to support its nuclear and ballistic missile programs to evade sanctions.
North Korea did not respond to media inquiries but has previously released a statement denying the hacking allegations.
Last year, the US charged three North Korean computer programmers who worked for the country's intelligence services with years of massive hacking aimed at stealing more than $1.3 billion in money and cryptocurrency, affecting companies from banks to Hollywood film studios.
Chainalysis did not identify all of the hack's targets, but said it was centralized investment and exchange firms, including Liquid.com, which announced in August that unauthorized users had gained access to some of the cryptocurrency wallets it manages.
Hackers use phishing baits, code exploits, malware, and advanced social engineering to siphon funds from these organizations' "hot" wallets to addresses controlled by North Korea.
Many of last year's attacks were likely carried out by the Lazarus Group, a US-sanctioned hacking group, which says it is controlled by the general surveillance bureau, North Korea's main intelligence bureau.
The group has been accused of involvement in the WannaCry ransomware attack, the hacking of international banks and customer accounts, and the 2014 cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.
North Korea also appears to be stepping up efforts to launder stolen cryptocurrency, significantly increasing its use of mixers or software tools that collect and scramble cryptocurrencies from thousands of addresses, Chainalysis said.
The report also said researchers had identified $170 million in old, unwashed cryptocurrency holdings from 49 separate hacks from 2017 to 2021.
The report said it was unclear why hackers were still using these funds, but they could hope to outwit law enforcement interests before cashing in on them.
"Whatever the reason, the length of time (North Korea) is willing to hold these funds is illuminating, because it denotes a careful plan, not a desperate and hasty one." write the report.