South Korean police have officially confirmed that North Korean hacker groups Lazarus and Andariel were responsible for the 2019 theft of 342,000 Ethereum (ETH) from Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
This marks the first acknowledgment of North Korea’s direct involvement in a major domestic exchange hack. The stolen ETH, valued at over 1.4 trillion won (approximately $1 billion), was laundered through multiple exchanges across 13 countries, including major platforms in the US and China.
Authorities revealed that 57% of the stolen ETH was converted to Bitcoin at a 2.5% discount through exchange sites suspected to be North Korean-controlled. Despite the complexity of the laundering process, the joint efforts of South Korean police, the US FBI, and international agencies resulted in the recovery of 4.8 Bitcoin, worth 600 million won, from a Swiss exchange. This is a rare example of successfully recovering funds stolen in a large-scale cryptocurrency heist.
The Lazarus Group and its affiliate, Andariel, are notorious for conducting high-profile cyberattacks globally, targeting cryptocurrency exchanges and financial institutions to fund North Korea’s operations. This incident underscores the country’s increasing reliance on crypto theft as a revenue source.
The theft also sheds light on the broader issue of security vulnerabilities in the cryptocurrency industry. It follows a series of high-profile cases, such as the US DOJ charging five hackers for stealing $6.3 million in digital assets and other Lazarus-linked attacks, including a $238 million Bitcoin theft in August 2023. These incidents highlight the ongoing need for robust international collaboration to combat the rise in cybercrime and protect the integrity of cryptocurrency markets.
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