North Korea Hacks 997.2 Billion In First Half Of This Year
North Korea, which leads the world in virtual asset hacking, also accounted for 66% of the world’s virtual asset takeover in the first half of this year.
North Korea has committed the largest-ever hacking crime against virtual currency exchanges and projects around the world and is using it as a key means of earning foreign currency for the regime.
According to blockchain analysis company TRM Labs on the 2nd, North Korea-linked hacking in the first half of this year amounted to $643 million (997.2 billion won), accounting for 66% of the hacking funds in the first half of this year.
Most of these occurred in drift hacking ($285 million) and calpDAO hacking ($292 million).
Drift hacking is a large-scale DeFi attack that occurred in April. Kelp DAO, which provides Ethereum-based financial services, was also hacked on a large scale in April due to a loophole in the bridge system.
The number of cryptocurrency hacks in North Korea has decreased by one-third compared to the first half of last year ($1.7 billion). However, it was the largest state-led hacking in the world.
Both hacking incidents are suspected to be behind Lazarus, a hacker organization under the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau.
Hacking virtual assets in North Korea is increasing every year.
According to blockchain analysis company Chainalysis, virtual assets stolen by North Korean hackers amounted to about $660 million in 2023, about $1.34 billion in 2024, and about $2.02 billion last year, amounting to $6.75 billion (about 10 trillion won) in cumulative damage alone.
It is estimated that the deodorization funds are used to maintain the regime and develop nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, according to TRM Labs, a total of 207 hacks occurred in the virtual asset industry in the first half of last year. This is more than double the 83 cases recorded during the same period last year.
However, the amount of damage was $972 million, less than half of the $2.3 billion recorded in the first half of last year.
This is the base effect of the historic hacking in the first half of last year.
In the first half of last year, Bybit was hacked for $1.5 billion. Most of the $2.3 billion is a single amount of the Bybit hacking incident.
In the first half of this year, 123 hacking cases occurred in the second quarter, the highest quarterly record. Most of them were exploitation of smart contracts.
Click Here For The Original Source.
