“It’s not about anybody in their basement trying to mine cryptocurrencies”, explained Soo Kim, former CIA North Korea analyst, told CNN. Rather, it’s a way of life, she says.
The country is pursuing the self-sufficiency course with income from crypto hacks due to the challenges faced by the regime under Kim Jong-Un, such as food shortages and isolation from other countries. In addition, working as an “IT expert” is much better paid than other jobs in the East Asian state.
one investigation According to Coincub, North Korea tops the list of countries in terms of crypto crime, followed by the US and Russia. According to this, around 7,000 hackers stole almost 1.6 billion US dollars for North Korea. For example, the North Korean hacker group Lazarus is said to have been behind the worst DeFi hack of all time on the Ronin Bridge. The damage: 625 million US dollars.
However, there is still no end in sight. North Korean hackers’ methods aren’t perfect, Kim explains, but it’s also a new market for the country. Attacks could therefore be optimized in the future.