Norway has confiscated about 7.5 billion won worth of virtual currency stolen by Lazarus, known as North Korea’s three major hacking organizations.
According to Reuters and Free Asia Broadcasting (RFA) on the 16th (local time), Norway’s economic and environmental crime investigation agency ‘Oeko Cream’ issued a press release on the same day and announced that 60 million of the cryptocurrency stolen by the North Korean hacker organization Lazarus in March last year were reported. It was announced that Norwegian kroner (approximately 7.5 billion won) was seized.
It is the largest confiscation in Norwegian history, Oekkocream said.
Previously, Lazarus was reported to have stolen $625 million worth of cryptocurrency through the hacking of the blockchain-based game ‘Exy Infinity’ in March of last year. This is equivalent to the cost of firing 31 ballistic missiles ($400-650 million).
Oeko Cream said that Lazarus was able to capture the flow of funds in the process of laundering and transferring the stolen funds in cooperation with the FBI and was able to recover the case.
Senior Prosecutor Marianne Bender said, “This money could have been used to develop the North Korean regime and nuclear weapons, so it is important to track this cryptocurrency flow and prevent withdrawals.”
The Norwegian investigative authorities added that they are working with Sky Mavis, the developer of Exy Infinity, to return the damage funds to as many victims as possible.
Previously, the FBI also recovered $30 million (approximately 40 billion won) worth of cryptocurrency from the Axi Infinity hacking funds in March last year. In addition, Binance and Huobi, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, also froze cryptocurrency accounts containing Lazarus stolen funds.
Meanwhile, North Korea has been using illegal cyber activities such as hacking, distribution of ransomware, stealing and laundering of cryptocurrency as a means of earning foreign currency as it has become difficult to earn foreign currency to secure funds for nuclear and missile development under the influence of the UN Security Council sanctions resolution. Known.
Citing a classified United Nations report, Reuters reported that North Korea stole the largest amount of cryptocurrency last year by targeting networks of foreign aerospace and defense companies.
Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company, estimated that the amount of virtual currency stolen by North Korean hacker groups over the past year amounted to about 1.7 billion dollars (about 2.19 trillion won).
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.