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After 5 years, the details of a major theft of funds from the Upbit exchange have been revealed.
South Korean police have confirmed the involvement of hackers linked to North Korean intelligence in a major theft of the Ethereum cryptocurrency in 2019. The amount of stolen assets at that time was estimated at $41.5 million.
More than half of the stolen funds were laundered through 3 crypto exchanges created by the hackers themselves. The rest of the funds were distributed among 51 platforms. The criminals infiltrated the crypto exchange where Ethereum was stored and withdrew 342,000 ETH. Today, their value exceeds $1 billion.
The name of the exchange is not specified in the statement, but in 2019, the South Korean exchange Upbit reported an unauthorized transfer of 342,000 ETH to an unknown wallet. Whether these 2 incidents are related to each other is not specified.
The investigation found that the attack was organized by the Lazarus and Andariel groups, which are associated with North Korean intelligence. The conclusions are based on the analysis of IP addresses and tracking the movement of assets. This was the first time that North Korea was officially named as the source of a cyberattack on a South Korean crypto exchange.
Law enforcement officers managed to track 4.8 BTC transferred to a Swiss crypto exchange. In October, the assets were returned to the South Korean platform. Today, their cost is about $427,800. North Korea denies involvement in cyberattacks and theft of cryptocurrencies.
According to the UN, from 2017 to 2024, North Korean hackers carried out 97 cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies, causing damage worth about $3.6 billion.
Source
South Korean police have confirmed the involvement of hackers linked to North Korean intelligence in a major theft of the Ethereum cryptocurrency in 2019. The amount of stolen assets at that time was estimated at $41.5 million.
More than half of the stolen funds were laundered through 3 crypto exchanges created by the hackers themselves. The rest of the funds were distributed among 51 platforms. The criminals infiltrated the crypto exchange where Ethereum was stored and withdrew 342,000 ETH. Today, their value exceeds $1 billion.
The name of the exchange is not specified in the statement, but in 2019, the South Korean exchange Upbit reported an unauthorized transfer of 342,000 ETH to an unknown wallet. Whether these 2 incidents are related to each other is not specified.
The investigation found that the attack was organized by the Lazarus and Andariel groups, which are associated with North Korean intelligence. The conclusions are based on the analysis of IP addresses and tracking the movement of assets. This was the first time that North Korea was officially named as the source of a cyberattack on a South Korean crypto exchange.
Law enforcement officers managed to track 4.8 BTC transferred to a Swiss crypto exchange. In October, the assets were returned to the South Korean platform. Today, their cost is about $427,800. North Korea denies involvement in cyberattacks and theft of cryptocurrencies.
According to the UN, from 2017 to 2024, North Korean hackers carried out 97 cyberattacks on cryptocurrency companies, causing damage worth about $3.6 billion.
Source
