North Korean hackers have stolen $1.34 billion value of cryptocurrency throughout 47 cyberattacks that occurred in 2024, based on a brand new report by blockchain evaluation firm Chainalysis.
This quantity represents 61% of the full stolen funds for the yr, marking a year-over-year enhance of 21%.
Though the full variety of incidents in 2024 reached a record-breaking 303, the full losses determine is not unprecedented, as 2022 stays essentially the most damaging yr with $3.7 billion.
Supply: Chainalysis
Chainalysis says a lot of the incidents this yr occurred between January and July, throughout which 72% of the full quantity for 2024 was stolen.
The report highlights the DMM Bitcoin hack from Could, the place over $305 million was misplaced, and the WazirX cyberheist from July, which resulted within the lack of $235 million.
As for what forms of platforms suffered essentially the most injury, DeFi platforms have been adopted by centralized providers.
Concerning the means, the analysts report that non-public key compromises accounted for 44% of the losses, whereas exploitation of safety flaws corresponded to only 6.3% of stolen cryptocurrency.
This can be a signal that safety audits have a big impact on decreasing exploitable flaws on the platforms. Nonetheless, stricter safety practices within the dealing with of personal keys should be applied.
File yr for DPRK
State-sponsored North Korean hackers systematically goal cryptocurrency holders, platforms, and buyers as a method to generate income to search out their nation’s weapons growth program.
Their proceeds this yr have reached $1.3 billion, breaking the earlier document from 2022, which stood at $1.1 billion.
Supply: Chainalysis
“In 2023, North Korea-affiliated hackers stole approximately $660.50 million across 20 incidents; in 2024, this number increased to $1.34 billion stolen across 47 incidents — a 102.88% increase in value stolen,” reads Chainalysis’ report.
The analysts additionally notice that DPRK hackers carried out extra frequent assaults in 2024, which signifies the next capability to execute large-scale assaults.
The heist at DMM Bitcoin is attributed to North Korean hackers primarily based on the evaluation of blockchain proof and the circulate of funds from the Japanese trade to coin mixing providers.
Supply: Chainalysis
Earlier this month, Radiant Capital printed the outcomes of its investigation into its mid-October safety breach, the place $50 million was stolen, pointing the finger at North Korean state-affiliated hackers.
Nonetheless, North Koreans did not focus solely on large-sum assaults this yr, because the quantity and frequency of lower-value assaults, round $10,000, additionally elevated.
Supply: Chainalysis
In June, CoinStats introduced that North Korean hackers had compromised 1,590 cryptocurrency wallets on its platform.
Regardless of the drop in exercise after July, assaults at fintech platforms are certain to proceed in 2025, particularly because the cryptocurrency area is presently on an prolonged bull run with rising costs.
