North Korea Stole $739M Through Hacking Schemes This Year Alone

The cryptocurrency industry is reportedly plagued by hacking and scams. The scope of the problem reached a shocking $739 million in just the first quarter of 2024.

On the 4th, according to BeInCrypto, a specialized blockchain media outlet, the amount of cryptocurrency hacked in the first quarter of 2024 was approximately $739 million, with the most hacking crimes occurring in January.

There were 27 hacking attempts in January, 21 in March, and 18 in February, averaging around 20 cases per month. February seems to have had the fewest hacking attempts. Still, the hack resulted in a loss of about $453 million, which is considered to have had a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market.

Based on these figures, the average loss can be estimated at around $6.7 million. The most common vulnerability in cryptocurrency hacking is code issues, with 37 hacks reportedly resulting in losses of about $169.5 million.

Although access control attacks may occur less frequently, they incur larger costs and cause a loss of approximately $573 million.

PlayDapp, a virtual asset project by SuperTree, was reportedly subjected to an unprecedented series of hacking attacks. As a result, PLA token issuance was suspended due to concerns that Playdab had severe security issues.

Investigations revealed that the main cause of the hacking was vulnerabilities in smart contracts that allow anyone to issue tokens. As unauthorized coins entered the market, the market price of the PlayDapp PLA token plummeted.

Unauthorized users reportedly caused a total loss of $253.9 million through two token issuances. Following the hacking incident, PlayDapp suspended the issuance of PLA tokens and launched a new token, PDA.

This appears because the hacker had stolen the authority to issue PLA tokens. The hacking was also done to steal the authority to issue these tokens. New, unauthorized tokens were released into the market, which would usually be devalued by increased circulation. Immediately after the hacking, the price of PLA tokens fell by over 15%.

North Korea is reported to have stolen about $1 billion by hacking global cryptocurrency platforms last year. The number of hacks in North Korea is shocking, as the country’s hacking cases reached 20, amounting to one-third of the entire cryptocurrency market.

According to a report released by blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis in January, North Korean cyber hacker groups like Kim Soo Ki and Lazarus stole $1 billion, or approximately 1.3 trillion won, worth of cryptocurrencies through 20 attacks in 2023.

While this is a decrease from the previous year, 2022, when North Korea reportedly stole about $1.7 billion in virtual assets, or about 2.27 trillion won, the number of cases is five more than usual.

When it was revealed that North Korean hackers were stealing cryptocurrency by attacking DeFi (Decentralized Finance) protocols, related companies accelerated their security system enhancements.

Perhaps knowing this situation, North Korean hackers last year seemed to have conducted attacks by damaging the seed phrase, a password consisting of a key and several words, that are crucial security elements of private wallets. It is speculated that the cryptocurrency stolen by the hackers is being used as a funding source for nuclear program development.

Meanwhile, as the number of virtual asset hacking cases and the scale of damage increase, the view that one must protect one’s virtual assets is emphasized. There are countless ways to prevent the hacking of virtual assets, but there are methods that experts especially recommend.

Experts recommend using cold wallets to store Bitcoin on hardware. Because Bitcoin is stored offline through an external driver, it is harder for hackers to target and attack.

They also recommend encrypting online traffic using a VPN, protecting the services with antivirus or firewall software, and always keeping the software current.

However, it is problematic that virtual assets cannot wholly escape from hacking. Experts say that besides these recommended methods, it is necessary to take extra precautions to update passwords and use multi-factor authentication regularly.

As the cryptocurrency market expands and the number of users increases, phishing scams are rampant, Therefore, we must be careful of cocontacts that could lead to phishing scams, such as emails, phone calls, and text messages.