According to a report released by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future on November 29, the Lazarus Group, a hacker group linked to North Korea, has racked up $3 billion (approximately 435 billion yen) over the past six years. The suspect stole crypto assets equivalent to 145 yen per dollar.

The report revealed that Lazarus Group stole $1.7 billion worth of crypto assets in 2022 alone. The funds likely went to projects in North Korea.

Chainalysis, a blockchain data analysis service, showed that $1.1 billion of this total was stolen from decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. A September report released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of the Analysis Exchange Program (AEP) also highlighted Lazarus Group’s exploits of DeFi protocols.

The US Treasury has introduced new sanctions against North Korea’s cyber activities, adding Sindbad to the specially designated Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions list. Sinbad is allegedly involved in laundering crypto assets stolen by the Lazarus Group.

The Lazarus Group is known to have used Sinbad’s mixer services to hide the source of stolen funds. These mixers hide the traces of individual transactions by mixing together transactions from multiple users.

Lazarus Group’s specialty is financial theft. In 2016, he hacked the Bangladesh Central Bank and stole $81 million. In 2018, they hacked the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, leaking $530 million, and attacked the Malaysian central bank, stealing $390 million.

｜Translation and editing: Rinan Hayashi
｜Image: Shutterstock
｜Original text: North Korean Hackers Lazarus Group Stolen $3B in Cryptocurrency