N.K. News Reports has reported that there is an increasing growth of stolen cryptocurrencies, known as an altcoin, in North Korea.
This stolen crypto money, furthermore, was allegedly are being done through untraceable means and convert these funds into cash.
Accordingly, sources are from the United Nations Panel of Experts report stating that the cybercriminals have amassed approximately $1.5 billion.
The modus is: the hackers purposely transact using privacy-focused altcoins transferring the stolen assets to loosely regulated cryptocurrency exchanges that have fewer customer identification requirements.
These mixers, according to authorities, are an advanced service that combines cryptocurrency funds of various users to reserve privacy and make tracking efforts more complicated.
A Senior analyst at cybersecurity firm called Mandiant Threat Intelligence, Fred Plan, said that North Korea-sponsored actors have a critical advantage that most cybercriminals do not have, and that is they are supported by nation-state already have significant capability to move money in other illegal transactions, like weapons sales and human trafficking among others.
In previous reports, North Korea is suspected of conducting various virtual heists and stealing funds that are amounting billions of dollars.
A classic and memorable example is the group Lazarus reportedly stole over $571 million between 2017 and 2018.
These cybercriminals garnered a sponsored hacks noted for more than 65% of stolen cryptocurrencies. Back in 2019, another U.N. report from Reuters also estimated that North Korea had pinched almost $2 billion in cash through cyberattacks to supply its nuclear program.
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