North Korean hackers have recently pulled off one of the biggest cryptocurrency hacks of all time . Axie Infinity , a popular NFT video recording game that allow users to make money as they roleplay , announce in a web log postthat they were the dupe of a cyberattack on March 29 that saw the loss of 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC , a digital stable coin that is peg to the US dollar .
fit in to theFBI , around $ 620 million worth of crypto was sneak in the attack .
“ The FBI , in coordination with Treasury and other U.S. government partners , will remain to disclose and battle the [ popular People ’s Republic of Korea ’s ] use of illicit activities – include cybercrime and cryptocurrency theft – to generate revenue for the regimen , ” the FBI said in a recentstatement .
The US treasuryalso expandedtheir sanctions list , add up the cryptocurrency computer address linked to Pyongyang that was used in the hack of Axie Infinity .
The hackers managed to breach the so - called Ronin internet bridge , an Ethereum side chain that allows actor to switch over the digital coins they make in the online video game Axie Infinity .
The FBI is putting the blame on APT38 and the Lazarus Group , a radical of nameless cybercriminals who operate on behalf of the North Korean state .
You may remember the Lazarus Group from the infamous Sony Pictures jade in 2014 , in which hackers acquired the personal information of thousands of Sony employee . The taxi also quest Sony sequestrate its then - upcoming filmThe Interview , a comedy movie starring James Franco and Seth Rogen about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong - un .
Little is know about the group , but they have been linked to a phone number of high - profile cyber attacks . Another ill-famed attack find out the North Korean hackersattempting to steal upto $ 1 billion from the national bank of Bangladesh via the SWIFT international defrayal internet . Although the hackers came close to succeeding , the architectural plan was ultimately foiled when the number of unusual asking kick upstairs suspicions at other banking company .
North Korea is one of the few nations that use country - backed hackerspurely for monetary gainas a agency to bolster the area ’s revenue . A 2020US military reportsays North Korea ’s hacker USA has around 6,000 personnel , with operatives also working out of other res publica , including Belarus , China , India , Malaysia , and Russia . It ’s figure that North Korean hackers contain off with at least$400 million Charles Frederick Worth of digital assetsin at least seven on-line heists on cryptocurrency platform in 2021 .
