According to CoinDesk: As per TRM Labs, hackers with links to North Korea were involved in roughly a third of all cryptocurrency exploits and thefts in 2023, making off with approximately $600 million. This brings the total sum North Korea has purportedly accumulated from crypto projects over the past six years to almost $3 billion.
However, this figure marks a drop of about 30% in comparison to the previous year, as informed by TRM's head of legal and government affairs, Ari Redbord. In 2022, North Korea-affiliated actors reportedly stole around $850 million, a significant portion of which was attributed to the Ronin Bridge exploit.
Redbord stated that much of the stolen funds in 2023 were obtained in the year's final few months, with North Korea being linked to about $200 million of stolen funds in August 2023 alone. He noted a noteworthy trend of the perpetrators frequently resorting to social engineering tactics to acquire private keys for projects.
The overall amount stolen via hacks in 2023 was nearly half of that stolen in the preceding year, with figures standing at $1.7 billion and $4 billion, respectively. The decline is attributed to fewer major hacks, successful law enforcement actions, improved cyber controls, and to some degree, price volatility within the year.
North Korea's cyber attacks raise national security concerns as the proceeds are reportedly directed towards the development of weapons of mass destruction. During a recent trilateral meeting discussing North Korea's WMD efforts, officials from the United States, Republic of Korea, and Japan echoed these concerns.
