In response to a brand new press report revealed by South Korea’s Nationwide Intelligence Service (NIS), North Korean hackers have stolen greater than 800 billion Korean received ($620 million) value of cryptocurrencies from decentralized finance, or DeFi, platforms this yr. The company additionally revealed it blocked a day by day common of 1.18 million assaults perpetrated by nationwide and worldwide hacking organizations in November.
Nonetheless, a NIS spokesperson revealed by way of native information outlet Kyunghyang Shinmun that all the $620 million stolen by North Korean hackers via DeFi exploits occurred abroad, including:
“In Korea, digital asset transactions have been switched to real-name transactions and safety has been strengthened, so there isn’t any harm.”Many funds have been misplaced in DeFi exploits this yr. Supply: Token Terminal
In 2021, South Korea applied new know-your-customer (KYC) cryptocurrency buying and selling guidelines requiring purchasers to create a real-name account with the identical financial institution as their cryptocurrency trade to deposit or withdraw funds. Each the financial institution and the trade are then required to confirm the consumer’s id. As well as, exchanges should get hold of a license from the Monetary Companies Fee earlier than commencing operations.
North Korean hacker syndicates, akin to Lazarus Group, have been linked to numerous high-profile DeFi breaches this yr, such because the $100 million Concord assault. Specialists stated that such assaults are a method of producing overseas foreign money reserves within the face of strict industrial sanctions imposed by the worldwide group. The NIS additionally warned that North Korean cyber assaults would intensify subsequent yr:
“It’s essential to investigate assaults as intently as defenses. As a result of one hacker group has all of the assault data and doesn’t overlook it. It’s essential to collect data associated to malicious code scattered by varied attackers to seek out significant insights.”
