North Korea behind $ 1.5 billion encryption theft, FBI says

The US Federal Research Office on Wednesday accused North Korea of ​​being behind the theft of $ 1.5 billion in digital assets last week, the largest encryption in history.

The Dubai -based Bybit encryption exchange said last week that it had robbed 400,000 in Ethereum encryption.

According to the company, the attackers took advantage of security protocols during a transaction, allowing them to transfer the assets to an unrecognized address.

On Wednesday, the US government showed the finger in Pyongyang.

“(North Korea) was responsible for theft of about $ 1.5 billion in virtual assets by Cryptocurrency Exchange, bybit,” the FBI said in a public service statement.

The office said a team called Tradertraitor, also known as Lazarus team, was behind the theft.

He said that “they have quickly proceeded and have turned some of the stolen assets into bitcoin and other virtual assets scattered into thousands of addresses in multiple blockchains”.

“It is expected that these assets will be washed further and eventually converted into a Fiat currency,” the FBI added.

The Lazarus Group won the reputation a decade ago when it was accused of being lost in Sony Pictures as a revenge for “Interview”, a film that was ridiculed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

It is also supposed to be behind 2022 $ 620 million Ethereum and USD Coin robbers from Ronin in 2022, previously the largest cryptocurrency theft in history.

And in December, the United States and Japan accused it of theft of more than $ 300 million in encryption by DMM Bitcoin based in Japan.

North Korea’s Cyber-Warfare program dates back to at least in the mid-1990s and the country has been called “the most productive cyberspace in the world” by a cyberspace company.

Pyongyang’s program has increased in a unit of 6,000 government warriors known as an office of 121 operating from various countries, according to a 2020 US military report.

A United Nations Committee on North Korean tax evasion in sanctions last year estimates that the nation has stolen more than $ 3 billion in encryption since 2017.

Much of Piracy activity is reportedly directed by the Pyongyang General Recognition Bureau, the main foreign intelligence service.

The stolen money helps to finance the country’s nuclear weapons program, the team said.