North Korean hackers have carried out one of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts of all time. Axie Infinity, a popular NFT video game that lets users earn money as they play, announced in a blog post in March that they were the victim of a cyberattack. It was announced that the cost of the theft was 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC (a stable cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar).
According to the FBI, approximately $620 million worth of crypto was stolen in the attack. “The FBI, in coordination with the Department of the Treasury and other U.S. government partners, will continue to expose and combat the illegal activities of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including cybercrime and cryptocurrency theft,” the statement said.
Hackers reportedly managed to break the bridge of the Ronin Network, an Ethereum sidechain that allows players to exchange digital coins earned in the online video game Axie Infinity. It is claimed that two hacker groups, APT38 and Lazarus Group, which are thought to be working on behalf of the North Korean state, carried out the operation.
North Korea is one of the few countries that uses state-sponsored hackers for monetary gain as a way to increase the country’s income. In a report released by the US military in 2020, it was claimed that North Korea’s hacker army numbered about 6,000 people and that these hackers were working in other countries, including Belarus, China, India, Malaysia and Russia.
North Korean hackers are estimated to have stolen at least $400 million worth of digital assets in at least seven online heists against cryptocurrency platforms in 2021.
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