Ghetto imagesThe hackers, who thought they were working for the North Korean regime, had successfully transferred at least $ 300 million ($ 232 million) from their record cryptocurrencies of $ 1.5 billion.
Criminals, known as Lazarus Group, have removed the huge transportation of digital tokens in a hack on the cryptocurrency two weeks agoS
Since then, it has been a game of cats and mice to track and block hackers from successfully converting crypto into usable money.
Experts say the scandalous hacking team has been working for nearly 24 hours a day – potentially directs the money in the regime's military development.
“Every minute matters to hackers trying to confuse the money path and they are extremely complex in what they do,” says Dr. Tom Robinson, co-founder of Crypto Elliptic.
Of all the criminal participants participating in the cryptocurrency, North Korea is the best in cryptocurrency washing, says Dr. Robinson.
“I imagine that they have a whole room of people who do this using automated tools and years of experience. We can also see from their activity that they only make a few hours of rest every day, probably works in shifts to turn cryptocurrency into money.”
Elliptic's analysis is combined with Bybib, which says 20% of the funds are already “dark”, which means that it is unlikely to ever be restored.
The US and allies have accused the North Koreans of carrying out dozens of hacks in recent years to finance the military and nuclear development of the regime.
On February 21, criminals hacked one of the Bybib suppliers to secretly change the address of the digital portfolio, to which 401,000 crypto coins on Ethereum were sent.
Bybit thought he was transferring the funds to his own digital wallet, but instead sent it to the hackers.
Ghetto imagesBen Zhou, Bibib's CEO, assured the customers that none of their funds had been taken.
Since then, the company has completed the stolen coins with investors loans, but is in the words of Zhou's “War of Lazarus”.
The Lizar's Lazarus Bounty program encourages public members to track the stolen funds and freeze them where possible.
All cryptocurrencies are shown on a public blockchain, so it is possible to track the money as they move from the Lazar group.
If hackers try to use basic cryptocurrency to try to turn coins into normal money such as dollars, crypto coins can be frozen by the company if they think they are related to crime.
So far, 20 people have shared over $ 4 million awards to successfully identify $ 40 million from stolen money and signal cryptocurrencies to block transfers.
But experts are decreasing with regard to the chances of other means of recovering, given the North Korean expertise in the hacking and money laundering.
“North Korea is a very closed system and a closed economy, so they have created a successful hacking and laundry industry and are not interested in the negative impression of cybercrime,” said Dreite Dor of Check Company Check Point.
Another problem is that not all cryptocurrencies are as ready to help as others.
Crypton exchange is accused by Bybib and others of not stopping the criminals who are at the feet of money.
More than $ 90 million has been successfully completed during this exchange.
But by email of the elusive owner of exchange – Johan Roberts – disputes this.
He admits that they did not initially stop the funds, as his company was in a long -standing dispute with Bybib and says his team was not sure that the coins were definitely from the haak.
He says he now collaborates, but claims that the main companies that identify crypto customers abandon the private and anonymous benefits of cryptocurrency.
FbiNorth Korea has never admitted that it is behind Lazar's group, but it is believed to be the only country in the world to use its hacking forces for financial profit.
Previously, Lazarus Group hackers have headed for banks, but in the last five years have specialized in attacking cryptocurrency companies.
The industry is less protected by less mechanisms to stop drinking funds.
The last hacks associated with North Korea include:
- Upbit's Hack 2019 for $ 41 million
- Crypto of $ 275 million from Exchange Kucoin (most of the funds were recovered)
- Ronin's 2022 bridge attack, which saw hackers with 600 million dollars in cryptocurrency
- Approximately $ 100 million in cryptocurrency was stolen when attacking an atomic portfolio in 2023.
In 2020, the United States added North Koreans, accused of being part of Lazar's group on their most desirable cyber list. But the chances of people arrested are extremely small unless they leave their country.