North Korea stole over $659 million in crypto heist during 2024, deploys fake job seekers

North Korean-backed hackers stole at least $659 million through multiple cryptocurrency thefts in 2024, while also deploying IT workers to infiltrate blockchain companies as insider threats, according to Japan. South Korea and the United States in one common statement rare (PDF) on Tuesday.

The announcement provided the first official confirmation that North Korea was behind it in July $235 million WazirX hackIndia’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. The July 2024 breach forced WazirX to suspend trading and later restructure the company.

Other major attacks included a theft of $308 million from Japan’s DMM Bitcoin, $50 million each from Upbit and Radiant Capital, and $16.13 million from Rain Management, according to the joint statement.

The statement says that the Lazarus Group, a known North Korean hacker threat group, has carried out social engineering attacks and deployed malware that steals cryptocurrency such as TraderTraitor for breaching exchanges, and also infiltrated companies to have North Korean IT workers pose as job applicants, according to the statement.

“The United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea advise private sector entities, particularly in the blockchain and freelance industries, to carefully review these notices and announcements to better inform countermeasures. mitigating the cyber threat and mitigating the risk of inadvertently hiring DPRK IT workers,” the governments said.

UN reports have estimated that North Korea stole $3 billion in cryptocurrency between 2017 and 2023 to fund their sanctioned nuclear weapons programs. Recent data from Chainalysis showed that North Korean hackers were responsible for 61% of all stolen cryptocurrencies in 2024, totaling $1.34 billion.