[NEW] Japan turns out to be the world's biggest victim of cryptocurrency theft by North Korea

It has been revealed that a North Korean hacker group has illegally obtained a large amount of crypto assets (virtual currency) from Japan through cyber attacks. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on the 15th.

The amount stolen from Japan since 2017 is $721 million (about 98 billion yen), accounting for 30% of the total global damage of $2.3 billion (about 312 billion yen). Vietnam came in second with $540 million (about 73.3 billion yen), followed by the United States with $497 million (about 67.5 billion yen) and Hong Kong with $281 million (about 38.1 billion yen).

According to the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), the $721 million stolen from Japan is equivalent to 8.8 times North Korea's export value in 2021.

This investigation was revealed through a joint analysis conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and the British company Elliptic.

It has long been pointed out that North Korea is stealing crypto assets from other countries to acquire foreign currency and using them to fund missile and nuclear development.

In a joint statement adopted on the 13th by the finance ministries and central bank governors of the G7 (Group of Seven), they stated that they "share serious concerns about the threat posed by North Korea's illicit activities related to fundraising," including the theft of crypto assets, with North Korea's repeated missile launches in mind. This is a warning that cyber attacks by North Korea must be prevented.

The Nikkei Shimbun has reportedly asked Elliptic to classify businesses whose crypto assets have been leaked to wallets used by the North Korean hacker group "Lazarus Group" by their base region.

North Korea's cyber attacks are mainly carried out in two ways: "hacking" and "ransomware."

This analysis seems to have revealed that the damage was mainly caused by hacking, with crypto assets stolen from exchanges. Elliptic stated that Japan and Vietnam in particular were targeted because "exchanges with poor security" According to a source, it is highly likely that the data leaks that occurred at least between 2018 and 2021 at three cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan were the result of attacks by North Korea. One of these is Zaif, where 7 billion yen worth of cryptocurrency was leaked in 2018.

Caution is being called for in Japan, the United States, and other countries around the world regarding hacking attacks by North Korea targeting cryptocurrency.

Reference:Nihon Keizai Shimbun
Image: Shutterstock