Good day everyone,
I hope you are all having a good day, welcome to CryptoGod-1's blog on all things crypto. In this post I will be looking at the recent Chainalysis Report which noted that North Korea managed to steal $1.3 Billion in crypto throughout 2024.
Chainalysis Report
A recent report from Chainalysis has noted a 102.88% increase from 2023 in terms of cryptocurrency hacking from North Korea. The findings showed that hackers affiliated with North Korea managed to steal $1.3 billion worth of crypto in 2024, which is over double what they managed in 2023. This represents 47 incidents throughout 2024 and it was noted that the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea’s (DPRK) crypto attacks are “becoming more frequent” as the country is “getting better and faster at massive exploits.” It stated "attacks between $50 and $100 million, and those above $100 million occurred far more frequently in 2024 than they did in 2023.” The report also highlighted that “This is in stark contrast to the previous two years, during which its exploits more often each yielded profits below $50 million.”
It was also noted that hacks linked with North Korean IT workers have been on the rise. The North Korean IT workers have been “increasingly infiltrating crypto and Web3 companies, and compromising their networks, operations, and integrity.” They make use of these methods in attempts to gain access to pertinent hacking information. This includes making use of false identities, manipulating remote working access, and operating as third-party hiring intermediaries.
Data does point to a large drop in North Korea's hacking activity after a meeting between North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin last June. According to the report it looks as though North Korea may have altered its cyber criminality strategy following the summit, and this came as they increased cooperability with Russia and redirected military sources to the war in Ukraine.
The latest data from Chainalysis arrived a mere week after the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 14 North Korean individuals working in the IT sector for running a years-long IT fraud scheme which was in violation of United States sanctions. These individuals made use of fake identities in order to commit wire fraud and money laundering as part of a scheme to siphon funds back to North Korea, according to a press release on the 12th of December. The US State Department also announced that it would offer a reward of up to $5m for anyone who could provide more information about the alleged scheme.
It was not just North Korea involved in hacking, as a total of $2.2bn in cryptocurrencies was stolen in 2024. North Korea was responsible for around half of that figure.
All in all the amount of cryptocurrency stolen by hackers in 2024 increased by 21% from last year. However it was still down on the record levels recorded in 2021 and 2022. The report also noted the need for the industry to address an increasingly complex and evolving threat landscape. The majority of crypto stolen this year was due to compromised private keys and this can be devastating for a user. With so many crypto exchanges holding substantial amounts of user funds, the impact of a private key compromise is a looming threat that needs to be securely avoided.
Among some of the biggest incidents in 2024 cryptocurrency hacks were the theft of the equivalent of $300m in bitcoin from Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, DMM Bitcoin, and the loss of nearly $235m from WazirX, an India-based crypto exchange.
Chainalysis went on to implore businesses in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry to work alongside U.S. officials in an attempt at preventing these attacks. The report finished with:
“By fostering stronger partnerships with law enforcement and equipping teams with the resources and expertise to respond rapidly, the crypto industry can reinforce its defenses against theft,. Such efforts are not only critical for protecting individual assets, but also for building long-term trust and stability in the digital ecosystem.”
Have a great day.
Peace. CryptoGod-1.
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