A confidential United Nations report has revealed North Korean hackers stole more crypto property in 2022 than in any other 12 months up to now.
The UN report, seen by Reuters, was reportedly submitted to a 15-member North Korea sanctions committee final week.
It discovered North Korean-linked hackers have been chargeable for between $630 million and more than $1 billion in stolen crypto property final 12 months and focused networks of overseas aerospace and protection firms.
The UN report additionally famous that cyber assaults have been more subtle than in earlier years, making tracing stolen funds more tough than ever.
“[North Korea] used increasingly sophisticated cyber techniques both to gain access to digital networks involved in cyber finance, and to steal information of potential value, including to its weapons programmes,” according to independent sanctions monitors in its report to the UN Security Council Committee.
Last week, a Feb. 1 report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis came to a similar conclusion, linking North Korean hackers to at least $1.7 billion worth of stolen crypto in 2022, the highest in history.
The firm named the cybercriminal syndicates as the most “prolific cryptocurrency hackers over the previous few years.”
“For context, North Korea’s whole exports in 2020 totalled $142 million value of products, so it is not a stretch to say that cryptocurrency hacking is a large chunk of the nation’s economic system,” Chainalysis said.
According to Chainalysis, at least $1.1 billion of the stolen loot was taken from hacks of DeFi protocols, making North Korea one of the driving forces behind the DeFi hacking trend that intensified in 2022.
The firm also found that aside from DeFi protocols, North Korea-linked hackers tend to send large sums to mixers.
“In reality, funds from hacks carried out by North Korea-linked hackers transfer to mixers at a a lot larger fee than funds stolen by other people or teams,” Chainalysis said.
Related: North Korean hacking activity ceases after regulators implement KYC: Report
North Korea has frequently denied allegations of being responsible for cyber attacks, but the new UN report alleged North Korea’s primary intelligence bureau, the Reconnaissance General Bureau uses several groups such as Kimsuky, Lazarus Group and Andariel specifically for cyber attacks.
“These actors continued illicitly to focus on victims to generate income and solicit data of worth to the DPRK, together with its weapons programmes,” the UN report stated.
Submitted earlier than the 15-member council’s North Korea sanctions committee final week, the total report is reportedly due for public launch later this month or early March.
