North Korean hackers just perpetrated one of the most significant bitcoin hacks in history. Axie Infinity, a famous NFT video game that allows users to make money while playing, reported in a blog post on March 29 that they had been the victims of a hack that resulted in the theft of 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC, a digital stable coin pegged to the US dollar. According to the FBI, the attack resulted in the theft of around $620 million in cryptocurrency.
In a recent statement, the FBI stated, “The FBI, in coordination with Treasury and other US government partners, will continue to expose and combat the [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s] use of illicit activities – including cybercrime and cryptocurrency theft – to generate revenue for the regime.” The US Treasury also added a bitcoin address related to Pyongyang that was used in the Axie Infinity hack to its sanctions list.
The hackers broke into the Ronin Network Bridge, an Ethereum side chain that allows users to trade digital currency earned in the online video game Axie Infinity. The FBI is blaming APT38 and the Lazarus Group, a group of unknown cybercriminals working for the North Korean government.
The Lazarus Group is well known for the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, in which hackers stole the personal information of thousands of Sony employees. The breach also demanded that Sony pull its upcoming comedy The Interview, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, and about a plan to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, from theaters.
The group’s identity is unknown, but it has been tied to a number of high-profile cyber-attacks. North Korean hackers attempted to steal up to $1 billion from Bangladesh’s central bank via the SWIFT international payment network in another well-known attack. Despite the fact that the hackers came close to succeeding, the scheme was eventually thwarted when a large number of unexpected requests raised suspicions at other banks.
North Korea is one of the few countries that employs state-sponsored hackers solely for financial benefit in order to boost the country’s revenue. According to a US military estimate from 2020, North Korea’s hacker army has roughly 6,000 members, with operations based in Belarus, China, India, Malaysia, and Russia. In at least seven cyber heists on cryptocurrency platforms in 2021, North Korean hackers are said to have made off with at least $400 million in digital assets.
