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U.S Government Agencies Warn of More North Korean Cyber Attacks

Skylar Shaw

Apr 20, 2022 09:47

  • The US government issued a warning this week about new North Korean cyberattacks aimed against cryptocurrency.

  • The discovery comes after the Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercriminal gang, was implicated in the Ronin breach.

  • Following a prosperous 2021, North Korea and Russia are increasing their cyberattacks.


The fact that the Lazarus Group was behind this year's Ronin assault has sent up warning bells. The Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercriminal group linked to the state government, was behind the Axie Infinity breach in April.


The Ronin Hack, which took place in April, was the biggest ever, with hackers making off with $625 million, comprising 173.6 thousand ETH and 25.5 million USDC.

U.S Government Sounds the Alarm Bells of More Cyber Attacks

More North Korean cyberattacks are a danger, according to US government agencies this week.


The FBI and the US Treasury Department issued a joint notice with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Monday.


"North Korean actors have been observed targeting a variety of organizations in the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency industry, including cryptocurrency exchanges, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, play-to-earn cryptocurrency video games, cryptocurrency trading companies, venture capital funds investing in cryptocurrency, and individual holders of large amounts of cryptocurrency or valuable non-fungible tokens (NFTs)," according to the Monday alert.

The alert continued, "


"The behavior detailed in this alert include social engineering of victims using a number of communication channels in order to persuade them to download trojanized cryptocurrency programs for Windows or macOS."


In response to an increase in cybercriminal behavior, the FBI established a new Virtual Assets Unit in March.


Since then, the squad has been active, assisting in the investigation of North Korea's Lazarus Group's involvement in the Ronin hack.


The Ronin breach, which occurred in April, was only one of several carried out by North Korean hackers.

North Korean Cybercriminal Activity Funds Missiles and More

North Korea used stolen cryptocurrency to finance its ICBM development in February.


According to data from Chainalysis, North Korea accumulated more than $400 million in digital assets last year via cybercriminal activities. Investment businesses and centralized exchanges were the primary targets of cybercriminals.


The Lazarus Group and other North Korean hackers will have an incentive to ratchet up assaults for larger hauls before vulnerable platforms implement tougher security safeguards as a result of the Ronin breach in April.


On Sunday, Russian hackers launched an unsuccessful distributed denial of service (DDoS) attempt on Currency.com. In the digital asset market, Russian cybercriminals are also among the most aggressive.