Cyber hackers backed by North Korea carried out a theft of $1.7bn (£1.4bn) of crypto in 2022, taking the previous record of cryptocurrency threat up by at least four times, according to a report by a blockchain analysis firm.
The past year was on record “the biggest year ever for crypto hacking”, Chainalysis said in its report.
Isolated in the global market and reeling under international sanctions, cybercriminals in North Korea are allegedly turning to crypto theft to aid its booming nuclear arsenal.
“For context, North Korea’s total exports in 2020 totalled $142m worth of goods, so it isn’t a stretch to say that cryptocurrency hacking is a sizable chunk of the nation’s economy,” according to the report.
The theft by North Korean hackers accounts for 44 per cent of the $3.8bn cryptocurrency stolen in the past year, Chainalysis said.
Read more: independent.co.uk
Source: CRYPTO WORLD NETWORK NEWS
