Cybercriminals connected to the North Korea regime are behind $139 million losses after an attack on US-based crypto project Harmony Protocol last year, according the FBI.
The US law enforcement agency this week published a statement about their investigation into the matter confirming their belief well-known North Korean hacker group Lazarus were behind the hack, which targeted a crypto “bridge” – a type of digital asset transfer mechanism that is a common target for hackers.
Exploiting security vulnerabilities in Harmony’s bridge, the attack occurred last June. Then, according to officials, $83 million in tokens was laundered by North Korean hackers into various crypto wallets using a privacy protocol known as “Railgun” on January 13.
Cybercriminals connected to the Hermit Kingdom are believed to have been responsible for high-profile hacks on web3 projects for several years now, and researchers say hackers connected to Kim Jong-Un’s Democratic People’s Republic of Korea aren’t just pooling the money for themselves but are often putting funds gathered from crypto hacks towards the regime, aiding in such things as their nuclear weapons program.
Last year, it is believed Lazarus compromised popular crypto project Ronin Bridge. In one of the biggest crypto heists ever, the hackers got away with $833 million in assets.
As per policy, the FBI say they will continue to work with their partners on this increasingly serious problem to “identify and disrupt North Korea’s theft and laundering of virtual currency, which is used to support North Korea’s ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs.”
