FBI says North Korean hackers preparing to cash out after high-profile crypto hacks

[Eugene]

Source: TechCrunch

FBI says North Korean hackers preparing to cash out after high-profile crypto hacks

Carly Page@carlypage_ / 8:05 AM GMT-4•August 23, 2023

The U.S. government said it believes North Korean hackers are preparing to cash out millions of dollars stolen during a spate of high-profile crypto hacks.

On Tuesday, the FBI warned cryptocurrency companies about recent blockchain activity connected to the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency by malicious actors affiliated with the North Korea-backed Lazarus Group, also known as APT38 and “TraderTraitor.”

The FBI said that over the past 24 hours, it had tracked approximately 1,580 Bitcoin — worth more than $40 million — that the North Korean hackers are currently holding in six separate crypto wallets. The FBI said these funds were stolen during “several” cryptocurrency heists.

This includes the theft of virtual currency from Atomic Wallet in June, which saw the hackers compromise an estimated 5,500 customer wallets to steal funds worth more than $100 million. Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic previously said it assessed with a “high level of confidence” that the Lazarus Group was behind the attack, and noted that the laundering of the stolen crypto assets followed “a series of steps that exactly match those employed to launder the proceeds of past hacks perpetrated by Lazarus Group.”

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Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/23/fbi-north-korea-lazarus-crypto/

[comradebillyboy]

1. Crypto is super high risk. People who are looking to get rich quick think

crypto will be their salvation. But scams are the rule not the exception. Crypto is only good for blackmail, money laundering and extortion.