North Korea has allocated half of the $3 billion stolen in cryptocurrencies to its nuclear program

Losses to the crypto industry from hackers associated with Pyongyang amounted to $3 billion. Half of this sum was used to finance the ballistic missile program, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

The cybercriminals employed various schemes, including social engineering. One of the victims of the hackers was the well-known game studio Sky Mavis, creator of Axie Infinity. On March 23, 2022, an attack on the project's sidechain resulted in the loss of approximately $625 million worth of users' crypto assets.

An engineer working for a startup received a LinkedIn message from a recruiter discussing career prospects. During the interview process, the engineer was asked to review a document that turned out to be a "Trojan horse," allowing hackers to gain access to the company's systems. As a result of the theft, the project was on the brink of closure.

The incident caught the attention of the White House.

"This prompted us to focus all our efforts on countering this activity," said Anne Noyberger, the deputy advisor to the President on cybersecurity and new technologies.

According to officials, Pyongyang funds about half of its missile program through proceeds from cyber operations. Previously, this portion did not exceed one-third.

According to US authorities, North Korea has created a "shadow" army of thousands of IT professionals worldwide who can earn up to $300,000 per year.

According to TRM Labs analyst Nick Carlsson, it all started with pirate raids involving infecting computers of various government agencies and organizations with ransom demands.

Subsequently, the hackers honed their skills and moved on to larger and more complex operations, such as the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh Central Bank in an attempt to seize $1 billion, which was thwarted by experts from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Since 2018, North Korean criminals have focused on the crypto industry.

"From the very beginning, they were the most 'advanced' users of digital assets," acknowledged Erin Plant, Vice President of Investigations at Chainalysis.

According to Alexander Larsen, CFO of Sky Mavis, the "arms race" with North Korean hackers has just begun.

According to the United Nations, in 2022, North Korean hackers stole a record amount of cryptocurrency and targeted the networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies.

South Korea estimates losses of $630 million, while cybersecurity experts estimate the figure to be over $1 billion. Chainalysis analysts, on the other hand, mention approximately $1.7 billion in cryptocurrencies obtained through cyberattacks.

The UN has repeatedly warned that North Korea continues to develop its nuclear program, with funds acquired from attacks on Bitcoin exchanges serving as a significant source of financing. In 2019, UN sanctions observers reported that North Korea had accumulated around $2 billion for this purpose over several years.