The amount of cryptocurrency stolen by hackers linked to North Korea has dropped by 80% since 2022 – but one blockchain investigative firm says this is not necessarily a sign of progress.
As of September 14, 2023, hackers linked to North Korea had stolen a total of $340.4 million in cryptocurrency, down from the record $1.65 billion reported stolen in 2022.
“The fact that this year's numbers are down is not necessarily a sign of improved security or reduced criminal activity,” Chainalysis said in a Sept. 14 report. “We must remember that 2022 has set an incredibly high bar.”
In fact, we're just one major hack away from crossing the billions of dollars stolen threshold by 2023.
In the past 10 days, North Korea's Lazarus Group was involved in two separate hacks – Stake ($40 million) on September 4 and CoinEx ($55 million) on September 12, totaling losses of more than 95 million USD.
Chainalysis notes that with the two latest hacks, North Korea-linked attacks have accounted for about 30% of all cryptocurrency stolen in hacks this year.
