North Korea’s Military Linked to $42 Million Ethereum Heist in 2019, Confirms South Korean Police
South Korean authorities announced on Thursday that they have determined hackers associated with North Korea’s military intelligence were responsible for a major cryptocurrency theft in 2019, totaling 58 billion won back then.
The investigation revealed that more than half of the stolen funds were funneled through three crypto exchanges established by the hackers at a discounted rate compared to Bitcoin, with the remainder going through 51 other exchanges, according to the National Police Agency.
Hackers managed to breach a cryptocurrency exchange where Ethereum tokens were stored, making off with 342,000 tokens valued at over 1.4 trillion won today, as stated by the police.
Although the specific exchange was not disclosed, Upbit, a South Korea-based exchange, had reported the transfer of 58 billion won worth of Ethereum to an unknown wallet at the time of the incident.
While an official from the National Police Agency did not explicitly name the hacking groups, local media identified them as Lazarus and Andariel, both linked to North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau within the military.
The police findings were based on the analysis of Internet Protocol addresses used and the subsequent movement of the stolen assets, with assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. This marked the first instance of North Korea being pinpointed as the source of a cyberattack on a South Korean crypto exchange.
A UN panel previously suspected North Korea of carrying out 97 cyberattacks on cryptocurrency firms from 2017 to 2024, amounting to approximately $3.6 billion.
In a recent development, investigators tracked down 4.8 Bitcoin to a Swiss cryptocurrency exchange in October and successfully recovered the assets, valued at around 600 million won today.
North Korea has consistently denied any involvement in cyber hacking activities or cryptocurrency thefts.
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