Hackers from the DPRK laundered $147 million stolen from HTX through Tornado Cash.
In March, North Korean hackers used the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash to launder $147.5 million stolen from the HTX exchange in 2023. This was reported by Reuters with reference to UN sanctions monitors.
In total, UN observers investigated 97 cyberattacks by North Korean hackers on cryptocurrency companies between 2017 and 2024, causing damage of about $3.6 billion.
11 cases of theft of digital assets worth $54.7 million occurred in 2024. Most of them were carried out by “DPRK IT specialists accidentally hired by small cryptocurrency companies.”
According to a previously published UN Security Council report, about half of North Korea's foreign currency income comes from cyber attacks, including on the crypto industry. According to their calculations, from 2017 to 2023, hackers caused cumulative damage equivalent to $3 billion.
Let us recall that in November 2023, an attack on the hot wallet of the HTX exchange and the Heco Bridge cross-chain bridge brought the attackers $110 million.
Prior to this, in September, HTX lost 5,000 ETH ($7.9 million at that time). After about two weeks, the hacker returned the stolen assets for a reward of 250 ETH#BTC #binance