Seoul, Nov 6 (IANS): North Korea appears to be diversifying its cybercrime to compensate for the decline in the value of the cryptocurrencies it stole to fund its nuclear and missile programs.
North Korea stole about $340 million worth of cryptocurrencies in the first three quarters of this year, according to a report by Kim Bomi, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy. This corresponds to 29.6% of the total damage reported in the report. But it’s still less than the unprecedented amount stolen last year.
According to a report by Yonhap News, Bomi blamed the decline on the sharp decline in the value of cryptocurrencies due to interest rate hikes in the United States and the bankruptcy of crypto exchange operator FTX.
Bomi also said countries are calling on North Korean state-backed hacker group Lazarus to hack last year’s token-based online video game Axie Infinity, leading to the theft of $620 million worth of virtual currency. It also noted that it is increasing monitoring and sanctions.
“North Korea has shown renewed interest in attacking the financial sector,” Bomi wrote.
“Ransomware attacks have also increased since last year.”
Bomi also said that North Korea appears to be relying on Russian exchanges to convert cryptocurrencies into cash.